Alarming steering!!

[Hemimad]

Got the 70RR on the road. Took it to the MOT station for its maiden long journey and it's wandering all over the place. I seem to be constantly sawing at the wheel and each correction is an over correction which made driving down the A55 a new experience!

The front end is all rebuilt, nothing is loose but set up to how it was before, not that I've ever driven it before or any other Mopar, so is this what it's like???

The power steering has a few inches of dead, but looking at the wheels, there isn't any dead movement. The dead inches do move the wheels but without feeling through the steering wheel when on the move. Is there something that can be done to improve the way it goes in a straight line, more toe in or castor??

[Mick70RR]

Sounds to me like the front wheels are toeing out. Get the tracking checked.

[Rebel]

If it's not toeing out, it could just be standard Mopar power steering, there's very little feel from the road and the power steering is far too light.

There is some adjustment possible on the steering box, both on top of the box and where the steering column goes into the box, this might improve the response and handling a bit, if you go too far the steering will feel notchy though.

Failing this, the steering box might need rebuilding or replacing

[morgan]

A bit vague is pretty normal, but shouldnt be uncontrollable. ( although i used to find motorways harder to straight line than b roads).
Best advice i can offer is get the thing aligned ( caster,camber etc) and preferably by Roger at Monkfish. Transformed my car - even with a rubbish steering box!

[Blue]

Yep, check the tracking and dial in as much caster as you can get and it should be fine.

[Matt]

Sounds like it's toeing out.

Set up correctly it won't 'drive like a modern car', but one finger on the wheel at 70mph on a smooth road shouldn't be a problem.

The upper wishbone adjusters need to be *really* tight, or they'll move under heavy braking. Check the factory torque setting and use it. This caught me out once.

When you say 'set up how it was before', were the settings measured with gauges before and after ? Doing it by eye is not nearly close enough.

When you get the alignment done, don't use the factory settings.
There's a better post somewhere else on this subject (probably by Dave Robson if I remember) , but as has been said above, you need a little toe-in, a little negative camber , and as much positive caster as you can get whilst maintaining the camber setting. On a 68-70 B-Body with factory suspension parts this is likely to be be about 2.5 degrees caster IIRC.

Postive caster helps with the self-centreing action of the steering, and more caster is available using aftermarket parts like offset upper wishbone bushes, or new wishbones.
The factory stuff does produce an acceptable result if correctly set up though.

[MattH]

I echo the above, lots more caster than the factory specs as they were designed for crossplies not radials.

Its good to see this question being raised a few times lately, it shows cars are getting back on the road and being driven.

[Hemimad]

Thanks for the advice everyone, there are quite a few great tips that I will try and report back

[Hemimad]

Verdict in. UCA's at fault, changed the caster to positive, a little negative camber.....what a difference! I know it will need setting up properly but at least I can get there without weaving all over the road. Booked in to have the tracking set so it can only improve.

Thanks for the advice.

Dave C

[charger01]

Keep coming down the A55. Im in Rhuddlan & D.b is in Colwyn Bay Be nice to see it in the flesh.