Wheelbase doesn't match, 25.9" tire hits on front right, 70 duster

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Schneiderman

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I've got a 1970 duster that I got from the original owner, with no signs of serious damage. The car runs and drives great- goes down the road perfectly straight, handles good, feels good.

I got new rims and tires for it. 215/70R14 in the front, tirerack.com says the firestone firehawk Indy 500 tires are 25.9". I have seen others say they have run up to 26" without problems.

The left tire fits, just barely. The wheelbase on the left side of the car measures about 107".

The right tire hits on bumps, at the very front edge of the tire, where the corner of the wheel well is on the front. The wheelbase on the right side is about 108".

Measurements of the fenders from various points suggest that the fenders line up exactly.

I'm at a loss. What could be wrong, how do I get this tire to fit? It's so close. It fits on the car, it only hits on bumps. The car drives great with the tires that came with it, so I am very reluctant to mess with the suspension or alignment, but I don't know. Any advice will be much appreciated.
 
are you running an SB in a slant 6 with slant 6 torsion bars?
 
Check your front suspention, are both of your strut rods (and bushings) ok? Get it on an alighnment rack and see if caster is out of spec.
 
'68-340-S said:
Check your front suspention, are both of your strut rods (and bushings) ok? Get it on an alighnment rack and see if caster is out of spec.
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I just don't know too much about suspension. I'll try to take some pics tomorrow, everything is original and the age shows. I don't know when I might find the time to get it to alignment shop, which includes finding one around here that I could trust...
 
Strurt rod bushings or even a bent strut rod ( people have wraped a tow rope around them ). Or ride heigth ( spring and torsion bars ).
 
Based on what I have seen under the car, if bad bushings could cause this then they might be the problem or might at least be contributing to it. Any suggestions on what bushings I should use to replace if I find them to be bad? This car will not be raced or anything, just want to make it a reliable driver and be able to use my new rims and tires on it.
 
You should be able to get just the strut rod bushings from a parts store, if not try p-s-t.com. Maybe it's time to rebuild the front end pst has good kits stock or performance (and the price isn't that bad). If you can post some pics of the front end (I'm thinking it's the strut rods and/ or bushing at the ends of them that have failed or been bent).
 
I'm running the same tires up front on 5.5" rallys. No problem at stock height. When I cranked down the torsion bars to tuck the front, I got some rubbing on the RHS front on hard fast (think U-turn) lefts. Nothing that left a mark, though. I never measured anything up front, but my rear track is definitely shifted to the right by 1/4". Build quality on these cars leaves a lot to be desired.
 
Here are some pictures, not spectacular because I left the wheels on the car (otherwise I would have to drive it down the street, move other cars out of the way, get the tools, jack and jack stands out... etc...). But maybe you guys can tell me what you see wrong.

Left side:
100_1116.jpg

100_1118.jpg


Right side:
100_1124.jpg

100_1126.jpg


Adjustment:
Left:
100_1129b.jpg

Right:
100_1132b.jpg
 
cant really tell by the pics but yur one bushing looks thicker then the other on the outside of the strut rod.
 
From the looks of things that I see in the pics, car probably needs complete suspension rebuild. Have you asked previous owner if has any maintance records. If and how long ago front end work done. 40 yr. old car.
 
I just posted this same question about a week ago about my 67 Dart. I bought a set of 26" front tires also and on my car the right front tire will hit the fender when you turn it. Drivers side is fine. I did some measuring and found that the passenger side tire sits forward 5/8" farther than the drivers side tire. Now it looks like I am not the only one. I have also looked at pictures of other Darts and I can physically see the difference in fender to tire distance on those cars as I can on mine. Also I have completely rebuilt the whole front end on my car.
 
:read2:I don't think you need to grease any ball joints, thats for sure. when you measured the distance 107 vs 108 where you on a alignment rack? did you just eye up the front wheels being straight? Are the new rims narrower that the old ones? you have a lot of things to re do or start doing........ :read2:
 
johnparts said:
cant really tell by the pics but yur one bushing looks thicker then the other on the outside of the strut rod.
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Yeah, it does seem to be.

69Valiant4spd said:
From the looks of things that I see in the pics, car probably needs complete suspension rebuild. Have you asked previous owner if has any maintance records. If and how long ago front end work done. 40 yr. old car.
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The PO gave me all maintenance records, I'll check again but I don't remember seeing anything about front end work in there.

duster360 said:
I just posted this same question about a week ago about my 67 Dart. I bought a set of 26" front tires also and on my car the right front tire will hit the fender when you turn it. Drivers side is fine. I did some measuring and found that the passenger side tire sits forward 5/8" farther than the drivers side tire. Now it looks like I am not the only one. I have also looked at pictures of other Darts and I can physically see the difference in fender to tire distance on those cars as I can on mine. Also I have completely rebuilt the whole front end on my car.
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You rebuilt the front end and still have the same problem? That's discouraging :???:

HemiMark said:
:read2:I don't think you need to grease any ball joints, thats for sure. when you measured the distance 107 vs 108 where you on a alignment rack? did you just eye up the front wheels being straight? Are the new rims narrower that the old ones? you have a lot of things to re do or start doing........ :read2:
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No, the car was on the ground. Yes, I just eyeballed the wheels being straight. The new rims are 14x6, the old rims were stock (14x5.5?).

I'm 21 years old, paying my own way through college, with not a whole lot of experience with fixing cars. I don't have an alignment rack. And at this point it's not worth it to me to bring it to someone who does and pay them to do a crappy alignment job when I don't know what the problem is and they won't be able to identify it either (all the alignment places around here are staffed by potheads and dropouts, you wanna take your car to them?). If I were an expert (like you?) maybe I would have had this fixed by now without asking for help. Obviously, I'm not an expert, so please, I'm asking for help on what I should do, not on everything that you think I've done wrong. If you want to prove how much you know then tell me what's wrong or what I need to do to determine what's wrong.
 
Why bother with all the details and expense? I had new 15 inch wheels and BF Goodrich TA's put on my 1968 Dart. I found that the very front bottom edge of the fender rubbed on the tire on turns.

It was as simple as loosening one bolt on the fender reinforcement rod from where it bolts to the bumper bracket. It had an elongated hole in it and I pulled it out all the way, tightened it up and done. No more rubbing.

just my two cents
 
Turn the wheel all the way to the right to check passenger side. Jack it up on the lower control arm to unload the ball joints. Rock the tire top to bottom and watch the ball joints. Any movement Ball Joints are shot. Also check the upper control arm bushings, push in and out on top of tire to see if they move.
 
So I finally had some real time to actually get under the car and take a good look at everything. Turns out, while the tire was hitting, it wasn't a big problem. Moving the fender support seems to have solved that problem. But with the big tires on the front there was still a noise that sounded like something hitting. I put tape in various places and took it for a ride, and found out that the upper control arms are actually just barely scraping the wheels when I turn the wheel a certain amount.

I've decided that I will probably rebuild the whole front end, and try to find a really good alignment shop when it's all done.

For the record, the wheels I am using came from a guy who had them on his demon with no problem, so once the front end is rebuilt I do not foresee any problems coming from the wheels themselves. They are 14x6 but I don't know the backspacing.
 
They came stock (if you had ralley rims) E70 14. A f70 14 would fit. I'm testing 15", due to bbp and discs. I think a 23" tire will fit.
 
Also. I don't now why. The wheelbase is off 1/2" from side to side, from factory. I found this while installing 4 link. Checked a 69 Charger; 1/2" difference, also.
 
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