three suspension questions

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dusterbd13

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ok, I'm working towards tearing back into my 70. got a long list of things that need attention to make it as good a driver as my 64.

1. strut rods: I have an old pair of American muscle adjustable strut rods, that have some damage. what are guys running now, and why? mostly a touring/handling car.

2. rear springs: my espo 340 repop springs from the late 90s are pretty sacked. thinking about super stocks, but cant find the spring rates on the various weight ratings. anyone got them, and the rates for the XHD springs?

3. steering coupler is shot. again. for the 4th time since ive owned the car. other than the $texas$ borgeson joint, any solutions? power steering/floor shift, but don't mind modifying/welding.
 
I made a joint for my manual steering box from an old jeep shaft I had laying around. Cutting / measuring / head scratching required
 

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There's a much cheaper joint than Boregeson, I'm sorry I forget who markets it.
 
The MP -002 & -.003 Super stock springs are around 150 lb/in....
 
Cheapest one I found was on eBay 3/4 smooth to a 3/4-36 spline for like $31-$32... Think it was a speedway china special, but appears to be the same unit marketed by others for $60-$70. Believe the power one would need to be 3/4 smooth to 5/8-36 spline
 
For the strut rods, I have the RMS ones, which are basically the same functionally as the hotchkis ones. Rod end on one side. They make a big difference vs the bushings.

I have ESPO 340 springs still in mine and like the balance with the hotchkis sway bars

for the steering I'd swap to a Borgeson steering box. I have a plunge coupler (BAC) on mine but haven't had issues with them wearing out.
 
1. Most of the aftermarket strut rods out there are pretty much the same, adjustable with a steel shaft and a heim joint at the K member end. PST, Hotchkis, RMS all use that formula. Firm Feel doesn't use a heim, their set up looks just like a stock style strut rod except the ends thread in to make it adjustable, putting the articulation on the bushings like stock. And QA1, which uses the same heim type set up as the others, except they use an aluminum tube instead of steel. I think the heim set ups allow for less binding, but you do have to clock the heims right. As for the QA1's using aluminum, I have a set of aluminum adjustable strut rods on my Challenger. They're the same design as the QA1's, made by the company QA1 bought out (CAP). They have over 50k miles on them with 1.12" torsion bars, and I beat the crap out of my Challenger, it was my daily until I started driving the Duster, and it's seen plenty of dirt roads and snow in that time. So, the aluminum isn't an issue. I also don't think it's a significant advantage, so, whatever way you want to go.

2. The 002/003 SS springs are in the 150 to 160 lb/in range. Too stiff to run with a rear sway bar. They also aren't the same side to side, with a different # of leafs, different arch, and spring rate side to side. If you want to use them, use two of the same side. Even the "lower arch" side sits the rear end pretty high up in the air though. They're for drag racing, not handling.

The A-body XHD springs are 110 lb/in. Most of the handling springs are set up to be around 130 lb/in. The mopar oval track springs are available again, they're 120 lb/in and work well with a sway bar. I have a set of AFCO springs on my Duster, basically the same as the Mopar oval track springs at 121 lb/in and zero arch. I run them with a Hellwig rear sway bar.

3. You might want to check out this thread if you don't mind cutting and welding. I shortened my steering shaft, welded in a 1" DD section with a telescoping joint and installed a Borgeson damped coupler. Does require a little cutting and welding.

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=228107

IMG_1167_zps1597d539.jpg
 
67Dart273 said:
I found this.......

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=221285

and

https://www.wellerracing.com/Sweet-Mfg-Steering-U-Joint-34-Smooth-TO-34-36-Spline_p_2111.html

Some cheaper yet

http://www.bryke.com/steering_accessories.html
Click to expand...

The problem with just throwing a u-joint style coupler on there is that you eliminate the ability of the steering shaft to take any fore/aft movement. The stock steering coupler actually can slide fore/aft a couple inches. Now, I don't think that the steering system needs to allow for that much fore/aft flex, but it should have some.

The other issue is that the splined to 3/4" round/smooth u-joints are almost all designed to be welded on, they're for racing. And if you want to weld one on that's fine. The other way, which is to drill a hole in the steering shaft and U-joint and install a pin is problematic. The factory pin that's installed has a tight, machined tolerance. Ie, not what most people are getting when they just drill a hole in the steering shaft in their garage and pound in a roll pin. Any additional tolerance on the pin will cause wear on the hole, which will end up being slop in the steering.

Those are the reasons why I did what I did when I upgraded my steering shaft. Yes, it was probably overkill. But I'm planning on putting 100k miles on my car, and I sure as heck don't want a roll pin falling out of the steering shaft because the hole was wallowed out.
 
the newer Dodge pickups {like a 1998 for example} have a very good steering setup with U joints and a slider section. Not sure if the splines would be the same though.
Adjustable strut rods would be good. Its hard to find poly bushings for an a body that fit correctly. [maybe they are available by now but not sure about that, ...it would be nice...] FWIW
 
I believe Rick Ehrenberg once made an article about welding a simple splined collar to an existing steeringcoupler for use with the Borgenson box.
The cheap splined collar also came from Borgenson I recall.

I did this mod on my car, nice a simple with no drama :)


IMG_3309_zpsnzofxulw.jpg


IMG_2723_zps98f34ed2.jpg
 
BigBlockMopar said:
I believe Rick Ehrenberg once made an article about welding a simple splined collar to an existing steeringcoupler for use with the Borgenson box.
The cheap splined collar also came from Borgenson I recall.

I did this mod on my car, nice a simple with no drama :)


IMG_3309_zpsnzofxulw.jpg


IMG_2723_zps98f34ed2.jpg
Click to expand...

FWIW, that's basically the exact part you can buy pre-made from bergman auto craft.
 
72bluNblu said:
The problem with just throwing a u-joint style coupler on there is that you eliminate the ability of the steering shaft to take any fore/aft movement. .
Click to expand...

I used to use exactly that argument, but many guys seem to have done this with no ill effects.

So far as welding an extension onto a stock PS unit, I actually welded two factory couplers together, one cut down.
 
67Dart273 said:
I used to use exactly that argument, but many guys seem to have done this with no ill effects.

So far as welding an extension onto a stock PS unit, I actually welded two factory couplers together, one cut down.
Click to expand...

Just because people have gotten away with it doesn't mean it's the right way to do it.

Unfortunately, guys do a lot of things that seem to have "no ill effects" that would bite them in the *** if they drove their cars more than a few thousand miles per year.

Even with poor tolerances, the roll pin won't wear out the steering shaft over night. On a weekend cruiser it would probably take years just because of the low frequency of use. As far as the fore/aft plunge, my guess is that the plastic shear pins in the stock steering shaft just break. That allows the steering shaft to act like a telescoping shaft to take up the slack, even though it was only intended to be collapsable in case of an accident.

Maybe I'm wrong, and the engineers at Chrysler just over-engineered the crap out of the stock steering coupler and steering shaft. But they thought it was important, which is why I still accounted for fore/aft movement when I modified mine.
 
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