Gerst Tubular Suspensions

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Fst73_410 said:
Sounds good. I know that with HDK you can use the mustang II drop spindles or the Wildwood drop spindles. Hope its the same. But will still be awhile for me.
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You can do the same on the gts
 
65PlumCrzy said:
I could have sworn I seen that the front frame rail was sectioned for the the k-frame. If not, then I stand corrected. I looked at so many different things when I was researching the front end, I could have easily confused it with something different I saw. Did n't mean to offend HemiDenny. I really enjoy looking at his work. I only wish I could afford his front and rear kits, they look great when finished.
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Yeah. you must have had it confused with something else. His process is 100% bolt in and it is reversible. In fact, you don't even have to cut anything off like you do on the others.
 
65PlumCrzy said:
I could have sworn I seen that the front frame rail was sectioned for the the k-frame. If not, then I stand corrected. I looked at so many different things when I was researching the front end, I could have easily confused it with something different I saw. Did n't mean to offend HemiDenny. I really enjoy looking at his work. I only wish I could afford his front and rear kits, they look great when finished.
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There was a member on here a few years ago building a Dart and notched his frame rails to get the K frame higher.....He could have just bought a HDK Slammer or Super Slammer to get a lower stance. He will custom make you a K frame to suit your needs. So, you are right, you probably saw that but, it was totally not necessary.
 
Fst73_410 said:
can we change the coils for qa1s? That's what I run in the rear so I would want to keep it the same. What do the brakes in the basic kit look like? I am torn between the two. How much drop are the spindles? I saw it mentioned only allowing for 1 in lower or higher with the vikings.
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Hi there,
to answer a couple of your questions, yes, you could run qa1 shocks if you want, my kits come with double adjustable viking coilovers (which is actually a split off off qa1, much better product, and all American made unlike most of qa1 shocks, while not a big deal to some people, I just prefer to keep things built in America).

The reason I prefer to only adjust inch above or 1 inch below ride height is simply to keep your shock stroke as centered as possible, for instance, the shocks I run have a recommended ride height of 12.625 to 13.375 inches, by lowering more than an inch, effectively you've limited yourself on the compression side of the stroke, and gained more than desired on the rebound end of the stroke, so if you want more than 1 inch lower, just simply order a dropped spindle, that way you can achieve the desired ride hieght, while not compromising your suspension travel, the shocks I run have a 4.625 inch stroke, which gives 6 inches of travel at the wheel. Also, the oem style brakes look very comparable to your 73+a body discuss brakes, and still maintain the big mopar bolt pattern. My website is being updated as I've had some technical trouble, so hopefully all that will be addressed by the end of the week, any questions, feel free to contact me.

Thanks!
Carl
 
Thanks Carl! Again lol, it's Mike. Thanks for writing it out for me and others!

71Street said:
Hi there,
to answer a couple of your questions, yes, you could run qa1 shocks if you want, my kits come with double adjustable viking coilovers (which is actually a split off off qa1, much better product, and all American made unlike most of qa1 shocks, while not a big deal to some people, I just prefer to keep things built in America).

The reason I prefer to only adjust inch above or 1 inch below ride height is simply to keep your shock stroke as centered as possible, for instance, the shocks I run have a recommended ride height of 12.625 to 13.375 inches, by lowering more than an inch, effectively you've limited yourself on the compression side of the stroke, and gained more than desired on the rebound end of the stroke, so if you want more than 1 inch lower, just simply order a dropped spindle, that way you can achieve the desired ride hieght, while not compromising your suspension travel, the shocks I run have a 4.625 inch stroke, which gives 6 inches of travel at the wheel. Also, the oem style brakes look very comparable to your 73+a body discuss brakes, and still maintain the big mopar bolt pattern. My website is being updated as I've had some technical trouble, so hopefully all that will be addressed by the end of the week, any questions, feel free to contact me.

Thanks!
Carl
Click to expand...
 
Spun Bearing said:
Yeah. you must have had it confused with something else. His process is 100% bolt in and it is reversible. In fact, you don't even have to cut anything off like you do on the others.
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Just for the record, depending on your car, you may not have too on the GTS either.

It's truly amazing just how much variance there is under these cars. I had to cut my bump stops off. However, before doing so, my buddy down the road has a 74 duster, his bump stumps are located almost .5 inches farther forward on the frame than mine were. I don't know why, his is unrestored, not wrecked. So with his being farther forward, he probably could have gotten by withoutcutting his off if he ever installed a GTS. As mine just barely wouldn't clear.
 
Look what's in the November issue of Mopar Collector's guide.....

12218304_10205197522926500_1147466587_o_zpsjst09iea.jpg
 
I'm considering a coil over conversion or a complete k member change on my Dart. There are two questions that were asked and never answered that I am interested in. Hub to hub width? And travel at the wheel?
 
justinp61 said:
I'm considering a coil over conversion or a complete k member change on my Dart. There are two questions that were asked and never answered that I am interested in. Hub to hub width?Adjustable down to <58inches, And travel at the wheel?6.5 at 58.5 and 6.25 at 58.0
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Answers in red
 
One thing I was wondering about and I haven't seen yet, what's the weight comparison of this setup over stock? Since the setup is mostly built from .25" steel, this makes me think that the weight will actually be quite high considering some other setups get away with using thinner steel. And as far as that goes, how would the weight compare to an HDK or similar setup? It just seems like I'm seeing a lot more steel and weight is all.
 
clinteg said:
One thing I was wondering about and I haven't seen yet, what's the weight comparison of this setup over stock? Since the setup is mostly built from .25" steel, this makes me think that the weight will actually be quite high considering some other setups get away with using thinner steel. And as far as that goes, how would the weight compare to an HDK or similar setup? It just seems like I'm seeing a lot more steel and weight is all.
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Actually, I mentioned this earlier in this thread, or maybe it was another, but its at least roughly 75-90 lbs lighter than my factory setup, which was power steering, swar bar and drum brakes. If you were a manual car with disc brakes, I'd guess you'd save 60-75 lbs. as far as how it compares weight wise to other aftermarkets, that I'm not positive on. rms I think advertises a 100 lb weight savings With any of the aftermarket kits, you're gonna save weight. I know I weighed it on our bean scales, and it came in at 130 lbs total, with everything. Not sure what exactly a stock setup weighs, but I know it's over 200
 
Just to get an idea how much weight can be taken out of a stock front end. My 69 Dart had power steering and I had added 73 bbp disk. I removed the ps and went to manual and lost 38.8lbs. Afterwards I removed the bbp disk and replaced them with a set of from strange, changing only the hubs, rotors and calipers lost just a little over 50#. So there is almost 90 pounds already. I'm guessing that my car won't see much weight loss from the conversion.
 
justinp61 said:
Just to get an idea how much weight can be taken out of a stock front end. My 69 Dart had power steering and I had added 73 bbp disk. I removed the ps and went to manual and lost 38.8lbs. Afterwards I removed the bbp disk and replaced them with a set of from strange, changing only the hubs, rotors and calipers lost just a little over 50#. So there is almost 90 pounds already. I'm guessing that my car won't see much weight loss from the conversion.
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probably just another 10 to 20 from the T-bar setup. Just guessing. I did got the GTS for a few reasons, weight reduction actually was towards the bottom of the reasons list. I do know that mine weighed with brakes, 130 lbs, without was around 90 lbs, stock with power steering setup is pushing 250.

This is what I got after weighing the stock stuff

stock K -frame assembly ..................................51.4 lbs
stock upper arms..............................................4.2 lbs(combined
stock torsion bars and front shocks......................22.4 lbs
stock powersteering box with hoses, linkages.........56.7 lbs
stock lower control arms.....................................10.8 lbs/pr(with ball joint attached)
strut bars..........................................................3.8/pair
stock spindles, rotors, calibers...............................98.4 lbs combined

total...................................................................247.7


since a ps to manual swap can be done with a stock k, throw out the powersteering and linkage/hose so -56.7 lbs

stocker now, 190lbs

so say aftermarket brakes save 30 lbs(using the wilwood kit i have to compare to stock)

160 is now your total weight


GTS Weight with manual rack, disc brakes and forged spindles: 130 lbs


so roughly 20 to 30 lbs. head to head, with aftermarket brakes as you have setup. As you said, most of the savings came from the powersteering swap.

Here's the thing, you can get a power rack and it doesn't weigh much more than a manual rack.......
 
I may be a jerk here but I just listened to a seminar by Fat Man Fabrications and his big beef with front steer suspensions is Ackermann. Actually, the lack of Ackermann causes severe bump steer. Any comments out there?
 
dukeboy_318 said:
probably just another 10 to 20 from the T-bar setup. Just guessing. I did got the GTS for a few reasons, weight reduction actually was towards the bottom of the reasons list. I do know that mine weighed with brakes, 130 lbs, without was around 90 lbs, stock with power steering setup is pushing 250.

This is what I got after weighing the stock stuff

stock K -frame assembly ..................................51.4 lbs
stock upper arms..............................................4.2 lbs(combined
stock torsion bars and front shocks......................22.4 lbs
stock powersteering box with hoses, linkages.........56.7 lbs
stock lower control arms.....................................10.8 lbs/pr(with ball joint attached)
strut bars..........................................................3.8/pair
stock spindles, rotors, calibers...............................98.4 lbs combined

total...................................................................247.7


since a ps to manual swap can be done with a stock k, throw out the powersteering and linkage/hose so -56.7 lbs

stocker now, 190lbs

so say aftermarket brakes save 30 lbs(using the wilwood kit i have to compare to stock)

160 is now your total weight


GTS Weight with manual rack, disc brakes and forged spindles: 130 lbs


so roughly 20 to 30 lbs. head to head, with aftermarket brakes as you have setup. As you said, most of the savings came from the powersteering swap.

Here's the thing, you can get a power rack and it doesn't weigh much more than a manual rack.......
Click to expand...

dont forget the power steering pump and bracket .
 
383Scampman said:
I may be a jerk here but I just listened to a seminar by Fat Man Fabrications and his big beef with front steer suspensions is Ackermann. Actually, the lack of Ackermann causes severe bump steer. Any comments out there?
Click to expand...

Please don't take this wrong, Ackerman has absolutely nothing to do with bumpsteer,Ackerman is the relation between the location of the outer tie rod end in relation to the lower ball joint,also they only time you would have Ackerman problems, is when you don't use the correct spindle, if you have a spindle designed for front steer, Ackerman for front steer will be designed accordingly, in conjunction with the wheelbase of the car, the location of the tie rod end outside of the lower ball joint, and opposite for a rear steer application, front steer is no better or worse than rear steer in the field of actual performance if it's designed correctly, Ackerman does not effect bump steer, it effects the difference in the amount each front tire turns. Watch the video again, I think you're confusing something, I've watched the video, and never seen what your talking about.
Hope that makes sense.
 
dukeboy_318 said:
probably just another 10 to 20 from the T-bar setup. Just guessing. I did got the GTS for a few reasons, weight reduction actually was towards the bottom of the reasons list. I do know that mine weighed with brakes, 130 lbs, without was around 90 lbs, stock with power steering setup is pushing 250.

This is what I got after weighing the stock stuff

stock K -frame assembly ..................................51.4 lbs
stock upper arms..............................................4.2 lbs(combined
stock torsion bars and front shocks......................22.4 lbs
stock powersteering box with hoses, linkages.........56.7 lbs
stock lower control arms.....................................10.8 lbs/pr(with ball joint attached)
strut bars..........................................................3.8/pair
stock spindles, rotors, calibers...............................98.4 lbs combined

total...................................................................247.7


since a ps to manual swap can be done with a stock k, throw out the powersteering and linkage/hose so -56.7 lbs

stocker now, 190lbs

so say aftermarket brakes save 30 lbs(using the wilwood kit i have to compare to stock)

160 is now your total weight


GTS Weight with manual rack, disc brakes and forged spindles: 130 lbs


so roughly 20 to 30 lbs. head to head, with aftermarket brakes as you have setup. As you said, most of the savings came from the powersteering swap.

Here's the thing, you can get a power rack and it doesn't weigh much more than a manual rack.......
Click to expand...

Your numbers look good but I think you need to add back the 12.5 or so pounds that manual steering box weighs. So that would put it in the 40 pound lighter range. Thanks for posting.
 
justinp61 said:
Your numbers look good but I think you need to add back the 12.5 or so pounds that manual steering box weighs. So that would put it in the 40 pound lighter range. Thanks for posting.
Click to expand...

Manual box I weighed was actually 15
 
Spun Bearing said:
I'm still waiting to hear on that installed hub face-to-hub face measurement.
If you can get it down to the mentioned 58.5" it's still 1/4" a side wider than
an HDK and anything wider is a non-starter for me. I want my front wheels to
be tucked in like a stocker; not way out to the fender lips and running VW tires
for clearance. This (and the price) is what made me shy away from the RMS.




.
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Just saw this on his website
Q: What is the track width, hub to hub of the GTS kit?

A: The GTS kit has an adjustable track width. The actual track width varies from model to model (A, B/E, C etc) as well as which brake kit. Generally speaking, on an A body, it is adjustable from 59 to 61 inches.
 
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