1969 Dart Pro touring daily driver **Crashed**
To move the idler arm mount I built a jig on the old k member very similar to what someone else on this forum had done before. But when it was transferred something was definitely wrong, the idler arm mount sat way too high on the new k member, it is tacked on in the last photo and the difference in height is very obvious.
The height of idler arm and pitman effect whether the centre link is level, this is quite an important so it was clear that the jig was a fail.
I don't know why it did not work or why it was so off, the one explanation reasonable is that the old k member was more warped than expected from the crash and that the jig multiplied this difference. In other words, a small difference on the left is a big difference on the right. It could also be down to the poor tolerances from factory, or a combination of all things.
Because I rewelded the old k member so carefully and added gussets everywhere it was a lot of effort to remove the mount, I had to cut a whole leg from the member but eventually it came free.
To move the idler arm mount I built a jig on the old k member very similar to what someone else on this forum had done before. But when it was transferred something was definitely wrong, the idler arm mount sat way too high on the new k member, it is tacked on in the last photo and the difference in height is very obvious.
The height of idler arm and pitman effect whether the centre link is level, this is quite an important so it was clear that the jig was a fail.
I don't know why it did not work or why it was so off, the one explanation reasonable is that the old k member was more warped than expected from the crash and that the jig multiplied this difference. In other words, a small difference on the left is a big difference on the right. It could also be down to the poor tolerances from factory, or a combination of all things.
Because I rewelded the old k member so carefully and added gussets everywhere it was a lot of effort to remove the mount, I had to cut a whole leg from the member but eventually it came free.