Front suspension rebuild advice pls

[freighdog]

Hi all,

I'm hoping to rebuild the front suspension on my '67 Dart this winter and could do with some advice. I have read some of the threads on here regarding disassembly etc and I have a stack of new parts. Could you guys tell me if I have anything missing from the parts list and anything I should look out for whilst removing and installing them.

Here's the list of what I've got;

2x SPC upper control arms
2x recon lower control arms
Hotchkis lower pivot shaft set
Moog arm bumpers
Dorman frame bumpers
Moog front LCA shaft bushing
Moog strut rod bushing

dart suspension parts.jpg (143.2 KiB) Viewed 1631 times

(why is that upside down??)

The hotchkis kit came with its own bushings that I think are poly, but I was told to go for rubber, hence the Moog ones. The hole in the LCA for the bushing is too small for either of those to fit though, does it look like the outer shell is still in place?

20171009_154743.jpg (107.92 KiB) Viewed 1631 times

The LCA's are later model with sway bar tabs, but they should fit ok, right?

I was going to get Geoff from Monkfish Garage to do it all for me, but it seems like he's not in the business anymore. So any recommendations on how to set the UCA's up so they are drivable and where to get the alignment done after it's all in?

Any help is much appreciated!

[Dave999]

ok

to fit the moog lowers you will need to cut/crush/bash those shells out
easier to weld in a washer to the open end and use a press.

HOWEVER are your hotchkiss pins designed only to work with their bushes or do they work with originals.
i.e are they fat and work with no inner crush sleeve/shell and a urethane bush or are they thin and are designed to press into a rubber bush with a metal inner?? check first

if they only work with theirs you will need to use theirs and that is that.

press the pins into the new ones FIRST. support the middle
then press the lot into the arm using a tube that fits over the pin and presses on the edge of the outer shell. you need a press
do not get paint or oil on them

bolt the strut rod to the arm loose
do not loose strut rod bushes into K frame

mount it up but do not do up the lower pins. just get the nut on and pull them into the K frame not tight.
those two big nuts are the last you do up when the car is at ride height

i'd say the same about the upper arm bushes as well. only do them up when camber and castor is set with wheels on ground and at ride height. but your funky upper arms don't use rubber bushes..well i think they don't

while you are under there i'd suggest a pitman arm
and a new idler with a urethane bush rather than the rubber. this is a halfway house between rubber and a ball bearing based idler kit.
Nolathane in Aus and a range of US suppliers make them but again in some cases (higher quality kit) you will have to press the bush and shell out of the idler arm and or course need to note which way it was in there so it can be replaced with the urethane set up

the sway bar mounting can be fun.

1) the bushes for the bar are a pig to get into the original mounts. aftermarket are fine but triangular orginals need to bush covered with soap and the mount and bush sandwiched between two plates and slowly eased in under pressure using a range of screwdrivers and knuckle skin.

2) the link rubbers and washers are always just too tall for the amount of thread available. it pays to assemble off the car crushing the plastic doughnuts a bit by leaving it assembled for a few days then dismantle and put on the car.


strut rod bushes

strut rods with split pin do up till you can fit the pin
bushes with metal crush sleave do up until the nut bottoms on the crush sleeve.
follow the writing on the strut rod bush washers. Chrysler could not decide which way they went year to year model range to model range

becasue you have carlos fandango upper arms.
set it up so the wheels have no camber. upper arm sides both x turns out.
add castor
rear one in 1/2 turn front one out 1/2 turn
set tracking so wheel is in middle and car runs straight

and go to a place to do a proper alignment

camber castor then tracking.

Roger at Monkfish performance did Morgans charger.

Dave

[freighdog]

Thanks Dave, lots of good stuff to digest. I'll check out the pivot shafts again, if the originals are good I'll probably just change the bushing. Do you think it's worth getting new shafts to use the rubber bushes instead of the poly ones?

I have a sway bar, but I think it's for a later K frame as I can't get it to fit any which way! I'll get one of those somewhere down the line.

I'll see if I can get some of the other bits you suggested. I should be travelling to the states for business later this year, so I'll be down the shops!

[freighdog]

Just looked for pitman and idler arms. Seems they were a one year only design on the '67 I'll be keeping my fingers that they are okay.

[Dave999]

lower pins and bushes

fat pins are used with urethane bushes that have no steel centre tube hence the pin is the same thickness as a standard pin where the centre tube has rusted onto the pin

think you will find your old pins are good once you get them out of the steel tube in the old rubber bushes

if not a quick going over with the wire brush then 800 and 1200 wet n dry will make them nice enough to be pressed into the new bushes

obviously new pins are a nice thing so don't be ignoring your new ones on my say so. it will become apparent that they are or are not the same as the originals when you can put them side by side

obviously urethane bushes are not bonded on so the worries about only doing things up tight once at ride height don't count. as the bush and pin are free to move

bonded rubber would just rip if you did the bush up with the suspension at full droop and then let the car off the jack

Dave

[Dave999]

Just looked for pitman and idler arms. Seems they were a one year only design on the '67 I'll be keeping my fingers that they are okay.

if they are not I have pictures to illustrate how to repair both using aluminium bushes and grease fittings

pitman arm and idler has rubber bush for the T pin that presses through to the drag link
its inside the crimped on back

it can be replaced with aluminium bush as per standard GM HOLDEN parts which is where the Australian mopar chaps got the idea.

just have to do nice neat weld to put the back back on and hope your MOT man doesn't pull the Welding on steering parts is BAD card out of his overalls

dave

[freighdog]

Thanks Dave. I hadn't really thought about the steering stuff, but obviously they need to be reasonable to adjust toe angle. I'll take a better look at it this weekend.

That repair info on the arms would be great, I know a good welder so that won't be a problem ( and, seeing as I have his tig kit in my garage, I have some leverage too! )

Thanks again for all your advice Dave.

[Dave999]

Pitman and idler repairs the Aussie Way

nicked from an engineering chap called David kemp In Oz

keep in mind these are aussie parts

yours may vary in dimensions

use pictures for the idea

use PDfs to gain insight

can't promise dimensions are correct for US parts

se grooves cut into base of bush for pitaman.
grease needs to go down middle and outside of bush

ally softer than iron so the bush in both cases is the sacrificial part

but will last 100 years

keep in mind with no damping in steering at all a metal spoked wheel will break a finger if you hit a curb


Dave

[Dave999]

ilder pictures

idler arm (cast iron) just runs round the bush which is clamped tight onto the idler mount

grease fitting necessary

works as well, if not better than a ball bearing conversion

Dave

[freighdog]

That's great Dave, thanks for that.

[freighdog]

keep in mind with no damping in steering at all a metal spoked wheel will break a finger if you hit a curb

This happened to my Grandfather when he was driving his tractor through a forest and hit a tree stump. He always told me "Thumbs up for off road" ie. keep your thumb on the outside of the steering wheel. I have always driven like this since.