Yesterday, I was riding with Aaron in his Dart and he reminded me that it recently started pulling to the left. Running about 30 mph, he let go of the steering wheel and the car immediately dove hard to the left. I thought he meant it would gradually tail off a straight line course. This sucker went HARD to the left.
We were going to a welding supply shop, so once we got there, I got down and took a quick look underneath. The first thing I noticed was the lower control arm bump stops were toast. The passenger side was being crushed by the frame, and the driver side was gone completely, leaving about 1-1/2" space between the frame and control arm.
Granted, we put the old ones back on when we rebuilt the car, but they seemed to be OK at the time. I guess the hammering they have gotten in the past year, since Aaron began driving the car, finally took its toll on them. That's alright, we'll replace them this week while he is on Spring break (if I can find some).
Here's the question:
Should this have anything to do with how the car dives to the left? After the welding shop, we took his car to the shop that originally did the alignment. They said the steering issue was not uncommon for these old Darts, and it was probably the proportioning valve on top of the steering gear box. He suggested slightly loosening the two mounting bolts and lightly tapping the valve sideways towards the left side. After a quick test drive, we will know if that fixed the steering or if it needs a little more adjustment.
It sounds reasonable that the steering issue could be in the gear box, but there is one other thing I noticed last night as Aaron was changing his engine oil and had the car up on stands. The driver side torsion bar adjusting bolt was not seated in the hole/recess on the bottom of the adjuster. It was slightly off to the side. I don't know if that would matter or not, but we are going to back the bolt off and get it into the hole where it belongs.
I guess what I am asking is if the ride height has been compromised by the torsion bar adjuster being misaligned, causing the bump stops to be destroyed (age being a factor), causing the front to sag more on the driver side, causing the car to swerve? That really doesn't seem to make sense, because the ride height was originally set to specs and should not have allowed the front end to sit on the bump stops anyway. Aren't they there just to prevent over-travel.
I know there is the possibility that some of this is purely coincidence, but the fact remains that the car is not safe in its present condition. Our course of action is to replace the bump stops, check ride height, test drive, adjust gear box valve as instructed by professional, test drive, repeat as necessary.
Let me know what you think,
Jerry
We were going to a welding supply shop, so once we got there, I got down and took a quick look underneath. The first thing I noticed was the lower control arm bump stops were toast. The passenger side was being crushed by the frame, and the driver side was gone completely, leaving about 1-1/2" space between the frame and control arm.
Granted, we put the old ones back on when we rebuilt the car, but they seemed to be OK at the time. I guess the hammering they have gotten in the past year, since Aaron began driving the car, finally took its toll on them. That's alright, we'll replace them this week while he is on Spring break (if I can find some).
Here's the question:
Should this have anything to do with how the car dives to the left? After the welding shop, we took his car to the shop that originally did the alignment. They said the steering issue was not uncommon for these old Darts, and it was probably the proportioning valve on top of the steering gear box. He suggested slightly loosening the two mounting bolts and lightly tapping the valve sideways towards the left side. After a quick test drive, we will know if that fixed the steering or if it needs a little more adjustment.
It sounds reasonable that the steering issue could be in the gear box, but there is one other thing I noticed last night as Aaron was changing his engine oil and had the car up on stands. The driver side torsion bar adjusting bolt was not seated in the hole/recess on the bottom of the adjuster. It was slightly off to the side. I don't know if that would matter or not, but we are going to back the bolt off and get it into the hole where it belongs.
I guess what I am asking is if the ride height has been compromised by the torsion bar adjuster being misaligned, causing the bump stops to be destroyed (age being a factor), causing the front to sag more on the driver side, causing the car to swerve? That really doesn't seem to make sense, because the ride height was originally set to specs and should not have allowed the front end to sit on the bump stops anyway. Aren't they there just to prevent over-travel.
I know there is the possibility that some of this is purely coincidence, but the fact remains that the car is not safe in its present condition. Our course of action is to replace the bump stops, check ride height, test drive, adjust gear box valve as instructed by professional, test drive, repeat as necessary.
Let me know what you think,
Jerry
