Torsion bars lift or lower

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Rustypeashooter

Rustypeashooter

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sorry this is my first mopar 75 duster, I was wondering if you can adjust the torsion bars on the car like a truck? Can you lift or lower the front end or does mess all the geometry up?
 
Id suggest a search of the forum on this
Quick answer is yes you can, adjuster is under the lower control arm, and yes...it will mess with the steering alignment/geometry
 
Wagon of Death said:
Id suggest a search of the forum on this
Quick answer is yes you can, adjuster is under the lower control arm, and yes...it will mess with the steering alignment/geometry
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Thanks, I kinda wanna lift it but not sure how much lift I could get out of it
 
Was thinking of making like a gasser style duster but I guess the leaf spring gasser front suspension would be easier after reading some of the threads
 
If you go to low you bottom out, if you go to high you top out on the shocks. I think there's a little bit of variance, but I believe you're going to want to choose how you want it and have it aligned and leave it..
 
you'll need to align the front end if you raise/lower the torsion bars
 
The front end has a very small window during which it holds its caster camber pretty good. But even moving up and down in the window, the toe-in will be shuttling around a bit, which affects the steering. After that, the camber starts shifting, and the caster disappears, and of course the toe-in is still moving and the tire is scrubbing sideways with every change in road surface. The window is about 1.5 inches from top to bottom. The total available wheel-travel I'm guessing,is maybe 4to5 inches.
If you look at the control arms, you will see that they are of different lengths and set at different angles. This means that any change in ride height or suspension travel will move the tops of the wheels in or out. When the suspension height is in the window, this design works really well. When you jack it way up, it works really badly.
Best advice I got is use the tire diameter to alter your ride height and leave the alignment in the window, and forget trying to get a gasser look on the street with the factory suspension.
But you better be careful using the tire diameter as well, cuz that screws with the scrub-radius and that introduces a special kind of nervous wander that gets old real fast.
 
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Maybe it's just me, but I don't believe I could sleep at night if I made a Duster look like a Gasser, just too period incorrect. That's more of an early seventies Pro-Stock piece... But a mid sixties to 1971 Swept-Line short box truck or home made panel van based on one (and it already has a straight axle under it), I could get into that!
 
Garrett Ellison said:
Maybe it's just me, but I don't believe I could sleep at night if I made a Duster look like a Gasser, just too period incorrect. That's more of an early seventies Pro-Stock piece... But a mid sixties to 1971 Swept-Line short box truck or home made panel van based on one (and it already has a straight axle under it), I could get into that!
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Some people just wanna be different man, I don’t wanna be like every other duster
 
Rustypeashooter said:
Some people just wanna be different man, I don’t wanna be like every other duster
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Two thoughts.

1: it’s your car.
2: it’s a 1975 Duster, not a 70 hemi cuda.

Both equal the same thing, do what you want to it. Ignore the naysayers.

That said, gasser styling one of these has been done before and usually with terrible driveability. Be prepared to re-engineer at lot of structural support on the car. Sub frame connectors and front frame rails especially
 
dukeboy_318 said:
Two thoughts.

1: it’s your car.
2: it’s a 1975 Duster, not a 70 hemi cuda.

Both equal the same thing, do what you want to it. Ignore the naysayers.

That said, gasser styling one of these has been done before and usually with terrible driveability. Be prepared to re-engineer at lot of structural support on the car. Sub frame connectors and front frame rails especially
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Thanks....I’ve built a lot of cars jeeps trucks rock crawlers etc....so I don’t mind fab work....I just wondered if anyone else had done it already to get an idea
 
Rustypeashooter said:
Thanks....I’ve built a lot of cars jeeps trucks rock crawlers etc....so I don’t mind fab work....I just wondered if anyone else had done it already to get an idea
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There was a guy who did it with a 74 Dart Swinger a few years back on here. It’s been listed for sale off and on since as it was nearly unsafe to drive or so he said. Getting steering geometry correct and safe to drive is a challenge for most
 
dukeboy_318 said:
There was a guy who did it with a 74 Dart Swinger a few years back on here. It’s been listed for sale off and on since as it was nearly unsafe to drive or so he said. Getting steering geometry correct and safe to drive is a challenge for most
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Yeah I was thinking about maybe a straight axle coil spring front with a 4 link set up like on a Jeep xj and making a track bar, or even using the front long arm kit they use on a xj long arm lift kit
 
Rustypeashooter said:
Yeah I was thinking about maybe a straight axle coil spring front with a 4 link set up like on a Jeep xj and making a track bar, or even using the front long arm kit they use on a xj long arm lift kit
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You’re still gonna have to get the geometry correct for the car. Keep in mind, gassers were designed for weight transfer for drag racing. Not for the street. The High front roll center, the Ackerman and scrub radius. Plus more all comes into play to make it safe to drive on the street. Do your homework and math and make sure you do it right. And you’ll be just fine
 
I like the idea a whole lot better with the coil overs and modern link type suspension, I can appreciate different if it's properly engineered.
 
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