@12:56 - "Hey you "need" to weld that hook area spot closed by the threw bolt hole"!! If you don't it will seriously compromise the integrity of the motor mount bracket"!! Then bad things might happen!" (Cough / Snicker) (I just couldn't let that one go 😂)
On my brother’s Duster’s K frame, the drill bit walked sideways and tore that driver side hole open to that hook area. Left it that way. That was 14 years and god knows how many tens of thousands of miles ago. That K frame has since been installed in another car, currently being prepped to race autocross. Between the two, it’s been to New York and back. Wisconsin and back. Utah, California, Nevada, burnouts, gravel road donuts. The Duster flat towed my Barracuda off the side of the highway once. IT’S FINE. Thanks!
I have never rebuilt a complete front end. I always just replaced worn out ball joints, tie rods & stuff. Seeing the enitre rebuild is cool. Very informative. Great job!
Never thought about how much work is involved in rebuilding a front end, always just did stuff as needed not all at once, Great job and very informative!
Did all of that to my '72. My mom helped me get it put back together. My best friend's dad owned a chrome shop with huge acid tanks. Kind of mid-evil sort of place. Everything got dipped on a slow weekend before I stripped it down. The car came from Oklahoma, which for us in the mid-west is like u saying it is a Cali car. Unfortunately for me poly wasn't a thing back in '89, but another friend had all the gear and knew a trick or five about tweaking the caster. I will have to say, you covered just about every point that I found out the hard way. Oh and.... Deeeeeeemmmmon! I love those grills.
Been a very long time since I did a front suspension on a Mopar. I think it was my 70 Charger R/T and that would have been around 1978. This reminded me of the struggles me and my brother (RIP) went through .😅It did handle extremely well after the install as I remember. Thanks for the trip down memory lane...🤓
Awesome video Jamie, it's in my top 10. Great in depth on rebuilding the front end, funny thing is I am going to do the exact same thing on my 1973 Plymouth Satellite with all of the polyurethane bushings. Thank you, for showing me to make it right.
I enjoy your narration as your go through the processes. I recently did all this work to my 70 B body and had a lot of fun. I did a little more by welding on the LCA braces and K member gusset kit from Firm Feel. I wish I would have watched this video first as you brought up a few good points. But after painting and powder coating the front suspension looks great!
Jamie, I just did my 66 dart. I replaced everything on the front suspension and even rebuilt the steering box and the trw pump. The k frame was the hard part. When you thought you had it clean you find more greese and then more greese.
Nice job doing all the pain in the butt work, tearing down, cleaning, and painting. Looks really good and I guess you'll find out later on. How well it works. I spent the last 2 days cleaning green funk off what's left of the paint. Fixing wiring and overall maintenance. On my 1973 Dodge W 200 Power Wagon. I got it licensed and aired up the tires and took it for a long drive. Everything work good except for the dash lights. It still has no bed floor in the pickup. Hopefully, this next Spring I will have the time to rebuild the pickup bed with the help I got from your parts. I got quite a few thumbs up while I was driving that truck, I guess people still like 'Em.
This will be watched several more times as I’m gonna be tackling this same plethora of tasks on my 68 Dart, with the K member still in.. I’m not looking forward to it but it’s much needed.. disc brakes, bushings galore and swapping to manual steering. The lower control arm bushing though doesn’t seem as bad as I thought it would be. I WILL be going the poly bushing route on that one.. offset uppers will also be used.
Excellent job there Jamie that was a good filming job and a good explanation of all the ins and outs of the models and their differences well done there Sir
I have to do all of this on Fred the GTX this winter, so the prerequisite video-watching has been accomplished, with me gleaning useful tips from each. From yours, it's the poly bushing thing. As fearful as I am of squeaky-assed poly bushings, I've heard horror stories on the replacement rubber ones out there, so poly it is. Thanks as always! - Ed on the Ridge
@@DeadDodgeGarage you,v heard of blind rivets.. well, that K frame looks like dodge employed blind welders.. . that is bad.. i would be re welding most of those koky sht welds.. dodge still employ those welders. ie. jeep...
@@DeadDodgeGarage did my chall front end. never owned a val, well had 3, but never worked on them.. are they involved.. made plates for arms. all rubber. std.. borg s/box. 73 r/t clone..ausie..
Did this on my 69 Dart 340 in about 1980. Just used stock everything because I didn't know anything. Urethane bushings were available, but I didn't know to use them. Anyway I got it done somehow and to the alignment shop. Still wandered. Sold it shortly thereafter so it was a next owner issue. Hope THEY got it right. Wish I'd have had a Jamie instructional video for reference back then. Maybe I'd still have a 340 Dart. Nah. Would have lost it in the divorce. But that's another tale of woe.
ausie. bought a chall from cali. 13 yrs ago. r/t clone 340.couldnt reg here in s.a. as wrong color,???.. . just about replaced most parts. it drove no probs, but, i like it good.. the wheel align guy, not happy, there a prik to work on..1st missus took the kids, no house, 2nd took the house & 220k.. third, tried to crawl back.. best option, become muslim.. man rules.. not femenist bs, i deserve sht.. without man, they cant have kids, so why are we second fiddles.. fk that.. ausie. moonta bay. s.a. [ mate was allways broke, till his missus left, then couldnt believe how much he had. ]..
Thanks for the reminder that I need to call Firm Feel and check on the order I placed in the spring. Those guys put out nice stuff but they are soooo slow.
Jamie i dont know how hard it is to get the poly bushing into the old shell, but heres a trick from the BMW crowd. Spray the busing with a bunch of windex. It slides right in because the Windex works like a lubricant. Then it evaporates and dries and gets stuck right where it is
Just installed a firm feel stage 2 gear box yesterday. Steering feels so much better! Everything else in the suspension and steering has the firm feel treatment, including their tubular upper control arms. Performs great, couldn't be happier. I did a similar disc brake kit, kept it manual with a disc master. I wish it had a little more stopping power. Maybe i need slotted rotors like that, or the bigger style rotors, idk.
with all the wiring problems these old mopars always seem to have, it almost makes me wanna suggest it's worth building a new wiring harness for the car, just so you know for a fact all of the wiring and all of the wiring connectors that you used to make it, are good. and are organized and color coded. that's always nice. never gotta wonder what goes to what. just match the colors!
I'm currently rebuilding my whole front suspension on my 73 charger and it's interesting to see the difference between mine and the pre 73 style. I'll be doing my 70 duster in the near future and your tricks for the upper control arms will come in handy!
That factory weld 'splatter' comes off easy with a small cold chisel. Just remember to don safety glasses. They grenade all angles. Re the trim job on the engine mount bosses and new holes. That rear hole had a diamond crescent cutout right beside the hole you drilled. Would you weld in a filler for this? The hole to side distance was pretty small. Surprised you didn't have a box full of drum backing plate to spindle bolts (2 types) spare. The lower one's that holds the steering arm in place i believe are a higher grade bolt. I used these on my light trailer when i installed new leaf springs and needed 4 each side for the clamps. Handy. My bro and I ran Valiants on the Speedway here. They were classed "Streetstocks". A quarter mile dirt oval with concrete outer wall roughly 5 feet high. Contact with this and other cars was common. (known as a 'contact' class'). So mangled/bent wheels and suspension was common. Spare parts were much needed. And wheels. Lotsa wheels
It’s interesting looking at this conversion and the caliper location. The Australian versions of the A body came with the calupers to the rear with steering box and idler arm mounts on the chassis
Rebuilt 3 different mopar b body front ends, all while the k frame and drivetrain still in the car. Probably the most rewarding work ever (besides engine building) knowing that your classic mopar wont careen into a gaurdrail when you hit the brakes
My 72 Duster is all original, everything including the glass, interior, body panels, absolutely 0 rust , only have 72000 original miles. Nothing has been done to it, except oil changes, and new tires, and the odd brakes. Been in my family since it was born in 72. I stocked up in body parts, 3 grilles, 3 sets of taillights. Plus a set of buckets, which i dont use, as mine is a bench in the front.
Nu Calgon Nu brite coil cleaner or Zep purple degreaser are awesome for degreasing items, and man they come out clean. Make sure the cleaner has the acid or acidic sign on the side. That is the key to success. I mix up a bucket of cleaner, and let stuff soak for a day or so. Then the old grease just washes off. It often times last through multiple projects for me. I love this option for when I have time to let soak. It also works great in a yard sprayer or spray bottle on the fast. but you will need to scrape the chunks off. I even used it in a parts washer for a guy I was doing a front end rebuild among other things for at his place. I just don't know if it would hurt the pump long term. Wear gloves, and safety glasses. The stuff stings, but doesn't hurt.
Great video, I did it the hard way, under the car not knowing this video would come out, great video and great info and I’m still learning a lot even though experiencing this myself clueless to mopar front ends and learning many times how not to do things ha
I really like poly bushings on everything that needs to rotate or swivel, but for bump stops and rebound items old time rubber is the best. i have split so many poly bump stops.It's unreal. looking forward to the progress on this one.
I have replaced bushings on my 69 dart they fought tooth and nail coming out. On my other dart i bought a pair of after market original style control arms. They fit decent just a slight shaving to the end were the ball joint was so far so good .
I’m looking forward to seeing what sway bar you are going to put the front. I ordered one for my 66 Barracuda, waited 6 months for it and I am not overly impressed with its construction. Hopefully it makes the round about here more enjoyable.
I wish I had know about these poly bushings years ago. I used the poly graphite bushings from PST years ago and fought the ever loving crap outta those inner and outer sleeves on the lower control arms
No, this is a factory type big bolt pattern kit. We got it from Dr Diff, but it’s the same type of kit I’ve bought before from Right Stuff Detailing - just with drilled and slotted rotors.
I have the original lower arms off my dad’s 67 coronet built at Lynch road and under all the gunk I found semigloss black paint. You always see these with the duplicated cosmoline/raw metal finish.
The lower arms on my ‘66 Charger were also black - but they weren’t supposed to be… many years before I had it, someone had overhauled the front end, and powder coated at least the K frame and lower control arms. I know 100% someone was in there because they had improvised strut rod bushings and bushing hardware. Also, because in no case should those lower arms be black…
Love this video. I just started removing the front suspension on my 71 satellite. Let's see if it will handle great. I have a question, why not go with tubular upper control arms and larger torsion bars?
I’ve had a 70’s era Dodge D150 for all of my life. I’ve recently began working on it again. I’ve acquired a hand full of parts trucks over the years I order to upgrade mine to the best possible truck I can build. I was able to get a screaming deal on a lightly wrecked ‘79 with just about everything option an aging gearhead could want to make their project comfortable as well as cool. While parting out and inspecting front end parts for reuse I realized most likely what happened to cause this truck to wreck in the first place. The center link was installed upside down. This most likely what caused the truck to end up slamming the wheel into a curb and ripping the idler arm out of the frame and the owner giving up on it. I felt bad for him when I finally figured out what happened. He put a lot of time and money into that truck. His lose my gain I guess. Be careful and mindful of how your front end goes back together. Pictures on your phone is your friend.
Another useful video. I replaced the upper and lower bushings on the Challenger but back around 1982 or so. I just used Moog parts (which back then were still made in USA), and got an alignment at a shop; I don't think I ever heard about urethane back then. I even still had bias ply tires on it (BF Goodrich Belted T/A). Access to my Uncle's shop and a lift Saturday afternoon through Sunday night! Luckiest teenager I knew was me ;) except when I didn't know how to do something and was still trying to put things together at 1AM Monday morning! Actually I had talked to Global West about their delrin bushings but they only made uppers for Mopar, and the cost, even then, was startling. Question; given all the nice pieces going in for handing did you or the owner consider either adding a gusset or two to support the steering box mount points while you had it apart, or use the Firmfeel sector shaft support? I'm hoping to do the gusseting on mine when I get to that point; sector support TBD. I have a police box to replace the original. Thats going to be a truly neat car when its done.
those control arms would be good if you wanted to pull a page from Garage 54, and weld on Rebar to reinforce them. though a taller wall to nestle the bar in against to weld it in against would be nice. but as it sits, would be ideal to do.
Information rich thick and chocolatey. I wonder how poly LCA bushings work in an FMJ transbar setup that is supposed to have lots of deflection of the wheel. It would probably save the other T-bar and roll bar bushings that act as the replacement for a strut rod. Maybe I answered that.
@@DeadDodgeGarage Good answer we hired the new model visiting San Diego from London years ago and I knew it was great because my wife was traumatized by it and still has bad dreams about it!
Nice tips, never knew about the offset upper A arm bushing, yea, that would be nice. Would love to see the lift install, looking at some used ones now.
I love Chrysler torsion bar suspension's and they are so much easier to service than a GM or Ford setup. People forget that these cars were designed to run on tiny Bias Ply tires which are completely different to modern radials. Torsion bars, shocks, and upper control arms need to be replaced or modified to work properly with modern radials.
47:10. I literally just finished this whole process on my 74 Dart this week. During one of your recent lives I asked if you could swap the cam bolts around for ease of adjustment. You said, "You can.... but your alignment guy will laugh at you., just ask my brother." In this video you say he will "hate you" if you do that. I still don't understand why. Also, I can't get an answer from anybody if it is ok to set the alignment specs for both wheels the same. Would that cause drifting? I'm interested in Interstate travel with no crown in the road. thanks.
FYI - Jake Hill got 2nd place in a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda at the Goodwood sports car race in 2024, racing against Alfa Romeos and BMWs. Racing against cars that are supposedly designed to go around corners real fast. “A” body ULTIMATE CORNERING POWER!!!
Hey Jamie! Great video. It has me thinking about my 2WD D250 318 truck. I have an issue with the driver side wheel sitting farther forward in the wheel well than the passenger side does. I have no clue what could be causing that. But these offset bushings have me wondering is there’s a solution out there? Have you seen that issue before? Could it just be a dogs**t alignment?
Ehhhh, hard to say. Lots of possibilities… I would be scrutinizing every part of the front end for something bent, shifted, assembled wrong. A very goofed alignment could potentially do something like that I suppose. But camber would probably be obviously goofed as well.
Seeing your adj strut rod length comment has me nervous. I'm halfway through my2000 ram van front end and assumed the strut rod bolts set the alignment. They come in from behind the tire and run in compression not tension. Am I just to crank the frame end bushing nuts to the moon or find some dimension? There is no worry about the control arm end.
Used the Moog lower control rubber bushings. Driver side failed pretty quickly after going over a really rough R.R. crossing kinda fast ( wasn't familiar with the crossing). Ordered new Moog bushings one was totally not centered in the sleeve. Low quality parts strike again. Next time poly.
I need to do this exact job on my R-body '79 St. Regis which essentially is a reskinned four door Cordoba. I have the later rubber bushing style K frame. I'm actually replacing the K-frame outright with a rust free one that's been gone over at the welding shop. Any advice what's different or pitfalls to watch out for?
I'm replacing a few bushings and making some adjustments this winter. What if the spacer on my recently procured sway bar rear link is longer than the one that is in there currently? Just MORE pushy pushy on the end of the bar resulting in a firmer curve carve or something less attractive?? It seems everyone makes aftermarket rear links that "fit" my car but they're all different!! Grr. Also, do you have a shop recommendation for that final front end alignment for our 50 something year old A bodies between Olympia and say Ocean Shores? thanks in advance.
If when you install the idler arm with the washer & it's loose, do you just get a few washers from O'Reilly and shove'em in there? You seem to have a well supplied shop, do you have a power washer? Just curious.
I am currently building a 1966 D100 hundred. I want to keep it relatively stock with the polymoder. Just cutting the original exhaust To the stock manifold Dual exhaust, And I'd like to find A original bore barrel manifold, To mount an Edlebrock carburetor, The motor on. Ly has About sixty six thousand mile, I know i'm believable, It will need valve seals, Probably pull ahead clean them up, Lap em. Outside of that hopefully, It's only gonna be a cruiser with big tires
Good video. Only thing i noticed of concern if that is you had the strut rod washer cups backwards from what factory does. The cups should cup the bushing. Plus on b bodies and even d100s there is that annoying pin to remove that can be a bear. I sent texts on the strut rod bushing so let me know if its for that kit you used. I am curious. I found this video very good with lots of tech insights. ❤ and remember you can teach a old dog new tricks😂
No, those washers are specifically labeled by the manufacturer (stamped into the washers) to be installed the way I installed them, and I did explain that. Yeah, those roll pins are the absolute worst. I just had to deal with that on a ‘Cuda.
@DeadDodgeGarage I wonder if it's to curb the squeaking issue I have run into from time to time. I have greased them to shut them up and know that's not the best plan but it works. For a while lol I have had so many of these cars creak and squeak its not funny.
Every single Borgeson equipped rig I’ve ever seen had the steering linkage sitting crooked. Grease fittings bashing into torsion bars. I’ve tried to fix that… with no luck. So personally I don’t see the appeal.
@ I’m not sure how to send a photo but I uploaded a 9 sec video of the repair manual…. Basically a spreader. Let me know if you see the video, might be something you or someone else can use
I don’t know, but I did think the brand was neat. Haha. That one was in the shop when I bought it. My nice Wilton was left behind at the old one, firmly attached to a steel work bench…
Ugh. This video is both 1 week to late, and right on time. I'm refreshing Everything on my '67 Charger. Parked since '86, revived then driven maybe 1k miles. All the rubber bushings that where not that bad, quickly deteriorated to dust. That's the worse upper bushings you've seen? Mine where metal on metal.... I have the right side finished, last week. Drivers side this weekend. Thanks to this vid, I now need to swap the strut rod washers on the assembled right side, but will do them correct on the drivers. More grease on the lower poly bushings. I wrecked the original R/H upper arm due to one of those reinforcement sleeves, but had 2 spare upper arm sets pulled from a local Mopar yard. Upper ball joint socket, heat, lube, breaker bar, and full 4ft jack handle as a cheater bar to break those loose. Thank you Midwest environment. Protip - Install the torsion bar last. Not once into the lower arm, forgetting the strut rod. Then not twice after you get the strut rod, but forget to clock the adjuster finger and get to bang it out a third time. Cheers DDG, another Great Video aiding fellow Mopar nuts!
Because it doesn’t fit in these cars at all? The Jeep box is a particular flavor of Saginaw that makes a great upgrade for classic GM vehicles. My brother has one in his Impala. That’s nowhere near a drop in swap for a classic Mopar.
It would be hard to quantify. It will certainly firm up the lower control arm mounting position, while allowing for freer suspension travel, but the difference may not be that noticeable. The big improvements come from the other changes we make.
The part number goes to the rear, I believe. If they are new, either goes on either side. If they have been run, it is suggested to put them back in the same positions they were in.
i like taking a drill bit and walking it around the outside of the bushing. If its an old bushing then it will fall right out. New you just end up drilling a hole in it
Absolutely love the channel but can we get an m body front end guide if you have the car available to do it. I know your not into those cars as much. But I'm on a penny pincher budget and have an 87 diplomat as a project, there is not much info on these cars other than the Dutch guys garage ( he covers f body but hates m's) any help would be gratefully appreciated. BTW utg turned me on to your channel. Edit im in Illinois or id buy the parts and pay to watch you do it without interfering
I’ve never done an M body and I don’t know that I ever will. Indeed I would have to have a car, and it would have to need all that, and it would have to be worth doing for me. I know info is scarce. The only good news is that the family is so big - FMJ are all kinda sorta the same thing. Hopefully you can find some info somewhere.
Only early As with a V8 do (64-66.) 67-76 are the same slant or V8, but they updated the steering linkage in ‘73, so it’s the same bar for all A ‘67-72 and the same again ‘73-76.
I just had the S21 (?, believe that is the code) steering box on my '88 Gran Fury cop car gone through & tweaked slightly. I have the Firm Fell iso-clamp delete pieces & the Moog pitman arm roller bearing kit, but was not about to ship to Washington & wait 6-8 weeks then paid to ship it back to NC- it would be $1K if I did that. Had Jeff at CJR in Clemmons go through the box & do the tweaking- $293 out the door. I'll do the sway bar upgrade, debating the torsion bars for the future on it...are you doing the 11.75" rotor upgrade? The rotors look like Rich's Rotors/"Rotor Pros" offerings. The calipers? Those are factory, my Valiant has the 11.75" on front with the same dual bleeders- on back I have the 11.25" rotors from Doc Diff
@@DeadDodgeGarage Stock is 10.75", the easy upgrade is using the late-B /R- body rotor, caliper bracket & pad on the '73 -up disc spindle (same bearing across the board)
@12:56 - "Hey you "need" to weld that hook area spot closed by the threw bolt hole"!! If you don't it will seriously compromise the integrity of the motor mount bracket"!! Then bad things might happen!" (Cough / Snicker) (I just couldn't let that one go 😂)
On my brother’s Duster’s K frame, the drill bit walked sideways and tore that driver side hole open to that hook area. Left it that way. That was 14 years and god knows how many tens of thousands of miles ago. That K frame has since been installed in another car, currently being prepped to race autocross. Between the two, it’s been to New York and back. Wisconsin and back. Utah, California, Nevada, burnouts, gravel road donuts. The Duster flat towed my Barracuda off the side of the highway once. IT’S FINE. Thanks!
I have never rebuilt a complete front end. I always just replaced worn out ball joints, tie rods & stuff. Seeing the enitre rebuild is cool. Very informative. Great job!
Never thought about how much work is involved in rebuilding a front end, always just did stuff as needed not all at once, Great job and very informative!
Did all of that to my '72. My mom helped me get it put back together. My best friend's dad owned a chrome shop with huge acid tanks. Kind of mid-evil sort of place. Everything got dipped on a slow weekend before I stripped it down. The car came from Oklahoma, which for us in the mid-west is like u saying it is a Cali car. Unfortunately for me poly wasn't a thing back in '89, but another friend had all the gear and knew a trick or five about tweaking the caster. I will have to say, you covered just about every point that I found out the hard way. Oh and.... Deeeeeeemmmmon! I love those grills.
Been a very long time since I did a front suspension on a Mopar. I think it was my 70 Charger R/T and that would have been around 1978. This reminded me of the struggles me and my brother (RIP) went through .😅It did handle extremely well after the install as I remember. Thanks for the trip down memory lane...🤓
Awesome video Jamie, it's in my top 10. Great in depth on rebuilding the front end, funny thing is I am going to do the exact same thing on my 1973 Plymouth Satellite with all of the polyurethane bushings. Thank you, for showing me to make it right.
I enjoy your narration as your go through the processes. I recently did all this work to my 70 B body and had a lot of fun. I did a little more by welding on the LCA braces and K member gusset kit from Firm Feel. I wish I would have watched this video first as you brought up a few good points. But after painting and powder coating the front suspension looks great!
Jamie, I just did my 66 dart. I replaced everything on the front suspension and even rebuilt the steering box and the trw pump. The k frame was the hard part. When you thought you had it clean you find more greese and then more greese.
Yeeeep… seriously, I put hours in on this one.
@DeadDodgeGarage What about C bodies?....
You could do one on your 'Belly
Oh goodie. This will be my reference video when my 66 Coronet front end gets rebuilt.
Nice job doing all the pain in the butt work, tearing down, cleaning, and painting. Looks really good and I guess you'll find out later on. How well it works. I spent the last 2 days cleaning green funk off what's left of the paint. Fixing wiring and overall maintenance. On my 1973 Dodge W 200 Power Wagon. I got it licensed and aired up the tires and took it for a long drive. Everything work good except for the dash lights. It still has no bed floor in the pickup. Hopefully, this next Spring I will have the time to rebuild the pickup bed with the help I got from your parts. I got quite a few thumbs up while I was driving that truck, I guess people still like 'Em.
This will be watched several more times as I’m gonna be tackling this same plethora of tasks on my 68 Dart, with the K member still in.. I’m not looking forward to it but it’s much needed.. disc brakes, bushings galore and swapping to manual steering. The lower control arm bushing though doesn’t seem as bad as I thought it would be. I WILL be going the poly bushing route on that one.. offset uppers will also be used.
Excellent job there Jamie that was a good filming job and a good explanation of all the ins and outs of the models and their differences well done there Sir
This is some great information. Definitely a lot of time saving pointers. Thanks!
How funny. I just re-watched the video from when you pulled the K frame and motor two days ago.
Perfect timing 👍😁
Nailed it!
That car's going to be a hit!
Always wondered where all that under carriage grime wound up. You've got it :-)
That's why i'm so glad I found your channel, my 66 D100 , is my dream truck, finding part has been Challenging,
Real time work filming.novel.
Your real world advice works miracles on otherwise sometimes dry context.
I have to do all of this on Fred the GTX this winter, so the prerequisite video-watching has been
accomplished, with me gleaning useful tips from each. From yours, it's the poly bushing thing.
As fearful as I am of squeaky-assed poly bushings, I've heard horror stories on the replacement
rubber ones out there, so poly it is. Thanks as always!
- Ed on the Ridge
Very well thought out video, and some great tools. Thanks
Nice work, Jamie. It's always interesting to see the subtle differences in design between manufacturers.
Such a nice clean rust free A body.
California is a place of amazement and wonderment.
@@DeadDodgeGarage you,v heard of blind rivets.. well, that K frame looks like dodge employed blind welders.. . that is bad.. i would be re welding most of those koky sht welds.. dodge still employ those welders. ie. jeep...
@@DeadDodgeGarage did my chall front end. never owned a val, well had 3, but never worked on them.. are they involved.. made plates for arms. all rubber. std.. borg s/box. 73 r/t clone..ausie..
That's going to be an awesome build!
Did this on my 69 Dart 340 in about 1980. Just used stock everything because I didn't know anything. Urethane bushings were available, but I didn't know to use them. Anyway I got it done somehow and to the alignment shop. Still wandered. Sold it shortly thereafter so it was a next owner issue. Hope THEY got it right. Wish I'd have had a Jamie instructional video for reference back then. Maybe I'd still have a 340 Dart. Nah. Would have lost it in the divorce. But that's another tale of woe.
Alas… these things happen. I’ve gotten rid of multiple cars for dumb reasons I could easily fix now.
ausie. bought a chall from cali. 13 yrs ago. r/t clone 340.couldnt reg here in s.a. as wrong color,???.. . just about replaced most parts. it drove no probs, but, i like it good.. the wheel align guy, not happy, there a prik to work on..1st missus took the kids, no house, 2nd took the house & 220k.. third, tried to crawl back.. best option, become muslim.. man rules.. not femenist bs, i deserve sht.. without man, they cant have kids, so why are we second fiddles.. fk that.. ausie. moonta bay. s.a. [ mate was allways broke, till his missus left, then couldnt believe how much he had. ]..
@@harrywalker968 apparently either you haven't heard of prenuptial agreements or they don't have them where you are if you aren't in the USA.
THAT is why it's best to have a prenuptial agreement. They CAN'T take it away from you if you had it before you were married
Wow! Wasn't expecting this to go there!!
Thanks for the reminder that I need to call Firm Feel and check on the order I placed in the spring. Those guys put out nice stuff but they are soooo slow.
Yeahhhh… tom keeps one of their boxes in stock on the shelf for exactly that reason.
Jamie i dont know how hard it is to get the poly bushing into the old shell, but heres a trick from the BMW crowd. Spray the busing with a bunch of windex. It slides right in because the Windex works like a lubricant. Then it evaporates and dries and gets stuck right where it is
It’s very easy. Nice!
Just installed a firm feel stage 2 gear box yesterday. Steering feels so much better! Everything else in the suspension and steering has the firm feel treatment, including their tubular upper control arms. Performs great, couldn't be happier. I did a similar disc brake kit, kept it manual with a disc master. I wish it had a little more stopping power. Maybe i need slotted rotors like that, or the bigger style rotors, idk.
with all the wiring problems these old mopars always seem to have, it almost makes me wanna suggest it's worth building a new wiring harness for the car, just so you know for a fact all of the wiring and all of the wiring connectors that you used to make it, are good. and are organized and color coded. that's always nice. never gotta wonder what goes to what. just match the colors!
Buying a brand new one that’s already correct and plugs right in is a little easier 😅
I'm currently rebuilding my whole front suspension on my 73 charger and it's interesting to see the difference between mine and the pre 73 style. I'll be doing my 70 duster in the near future and your tricks for the upper control arms will come in handy!
Yes, that isolated setup is way different. It’s essentially a downsized C body front end. Cool!
That factory weld 'splatter' comes off easy with a small cold chisel. Just remember to don safety glasses. They grenade all angles. Re the trim job on the engine mount bosses and new holes. That rear hole had a diamond crescent cutout right beside the hole you drilled. Would you weld in a filler for this? The hole to side distance was pretty small. Surprised you didn't have a box full of drum backing plate to spindle bolts (2 types) spare. The lower one's that holds the steering arm in place i believe are a higher grade bolt. I used these on my light trailer when i installed new leaf springs and needed 4 each side for the clamps. Handy. My bro and I ran Valiants on the Speedway here. They were classed "Streetstocks". A quarter mile dirt oval with concrete outer wall roughly 5 feet high. Contact with this and other cars was common. (known as a 'contact' class'). So mangled/bent wheels and suspension was common. Spare parts were much needed. And wheels. Lotsa wheels
Solid 411 in this episode 👌
It’s interesting looking at this conversion and the caliper location. The Australian versions of the A body came with the calupers to the rear with steering box and idler arm mounts on the chassis
Right. I’ve seen pictures of the steering. It’s very different.
Rebuilt 3 different mopar b body front ends, all while the k frame and drivetrain still in the car. Probably the most rewarding work ever (besides engine building) knowing that your classic mopar wont careen into a gaurdrail when you hit the brakes
My 72 Duster is all original, everything including the glass, interior, body panels, absolutely 0 rust , only have 72000 original miles. Nothing has been done to it, except oil changes, and new tires, and the odd brakes. Been in my family since it was born in 72. I stocked up in body parts, 3 grilles, 3 sets of taillights. Plus a set of buckets, which i dont use, as mine is a bench in the front.
Thanks for the great information, it made my job way easier.
Nu Calgon Nu brite coil cleaner or Zep purple degreaser are awesome for degreasing items, and man they come out clean. Make sure the cleaner has the acid or acidic sign on the side. That is the key to success.
I mix up a bucket of cleaner, and let stuff soak for a day or so. Then the old grease just washes off. It often times last through multiple projects for me. I love this option for when I have time to let soak.
It also works great in a yard sprayer or spray bottle on the fast. but you will need to scrape the chunks off.
I even used it in a parts washer for a guy I was doing a front end rebuild among other things for at his place. I just don't know if it would hurt the pump long term.
Wear gloves, and safety glasses. The stuff stings, but doesn't hurt.
I use Super Clean 😁
So you're saying im going to need to take two months and two days to do this rebuild on my B body? Hehehe .awesome video, jamie
Well… maybe 😅
Great video, I did it the hard way, under the car not knowing this video would come out, great video and great info and I’m still learning a lot even though experiencing this myself clueless to mopar front ends and learning many times how not to do things ha
I really like poly bushings on everything that needs to rotate or swivel, but for bump stops and rebound items old time rubber is the best. i have split so many poly bump stops.It's unreal. looking forward to the progress on this one.
Agreed! If anyone made poly upper offset bushings, I would buy them often.
I have replaced bushings on my 69 dart they fought tooth and nail coming out. On my other dart i bought a pair of after market original style control arms. They fit decent just a slight shaving to the end were the ball joint was so far so good .
I’m looking forward to seeing what sway bar you are going to put the front. I ordered one for my 66 Barracuda, waited 6 months for it and I am not overly impressed with its construction. Hopefully it makes the round about here more enjoyable.
All right! I was waiting for this day to come, that car will be awesome
It really, really will be. I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel now.
I've been waiting for this.
Me too 😅
I use the rubber control arm bushes, I should of used the others , top video mate
Thanks!
Me too
I have a 73 duster in this color..
You are.
Very thorough and I appreciate it
I wish I had know about these poly bushings years ago. I used the poly graphite bushings from PST years ago and fought the ever loving crap outta those inner and outer sleeves on the lower control arms
Great video Jamie, this will help me later on
Which brake kit was used? Pirate Jack?
No, this is a factory type big bolt pattern kit. We got it from Dr Diff, but it’s the same type of kit I’ve bought before from Right Stuff Detailing - just with drilled and slotted rotors.
I have the original lower arms off my dad’s 67 coronet built at Lynch road and under all the gunk I found semigloss black paint. You always see these with the duplicated cosmoline/raw metal finish.
The lower arms on my ‘66 Charger were also black - but they weren’t supposed to be… many years before I had it, someone had overhauled the front end, and powder coated at least the K frame and lower control arms. I know 100% someone was in there because they had improvised strut rod bushings and bushing hardware. Also, because in no case should those lower arms be black…
@@DeadDodgeGarage
Any possibility rust belt cars got painted?
Love this video. I just started removing the front suspension on my 71 satellite. Let's see if it will handle great. I have a question, why not go with tubular upper control arms and larger torsion bars?
We did go with larger torsion bars… and I explained why not to go with tubular arms. I can give you about 800 reasons not to.
I’ve had a 70’s era Dodge D150 for all of my life. I’ve recently began working on it again. I’ve acquired a hand full of parts trucks over the years I order to upgrade mine to the best possible truck I can build. I was able to get a screaming deal on a lightly wrecked ‘79 with just about everything option an aging gearhead could want to make their project comfortable as well as cool. While parting out and inspecting front end parts for reuse I realized most likely what happened to cause this truck to wreck in the first place. The center link was installed upside down. This most likely what caused the truck to end up slamming the wheel into a curb and ripping the idler arm out of the frame and the owner giving up on it. I felt bad for him when I finally figured out what happened. He put a lot of time and money into that truck. His lose my gain I guess. Be careful and mindful of how your front end goes back together. Pictures on your phone is your friend.
Another useful video. I replaced the upper and lower bushings on the Challenger but back around 1982 or so. I just used Moog parts (which back then were still made in USA), and got an alignment at a shop; I don't think I ever heard about urethane back then. I even still had bias ply tires on it (BF Goodrich Belted T/A). Access to my Uncle's shop and a lift Saturday afternoon through Sunday night! Luckiest teenager I knew was me ;) except when I didn't know how to do something and was still trying to put things together at 1AM Monday morning!
Actually I had talked to Global West about their delrin bushings but they only made uppers for Mopar, and the cost, even then, was startling.
Question; given all the nice pieces going in for handing did you or the owner consider either adding a gusset or two to support the steering box mount points while you had it apart, or use the Firmfeel sector shaft support? I'm hoping to do the gusseting on mine when I get to that point; sector support TBD. I have a police box to replace the original.
Thats going to be a truly neat car when its done.
And I'm also sticking with pin type calipers... I dont know yet which sway bar I'll use so not sure about front or back mount.
I like the color. Looks like a nice solid car.
It’s incredibly solid.
Thank goodness we still have car washes with Degreaser 😊
here in aus, hot wash went out in 80,s. something to do with greens, epa pollution, mud, greese,oil.. or something..
those control arms would be good if you wanted to pull a page from Garage 54, and weld on Rebar to reinforce them. though a taller wall to nestle the bar in against to weld it in against would be nice. but as it sits, would be ideal to do.
I am planning to reinforce a set of upper arms for my Charger. I didn’t figure on using rebar though. Haha. I love those guys
Information rich thick and chocolatey. I wonder how poly LCA bushings work in an FMJ transbar setup that is supposed to have lots of deflection of the wheel. It would probably save the other T-bar and roll bar bushings that act as the replacement for a strut rod. Maybe I answered that.
Can’t comment on that as I’ve never messed with them. All I know is that they’re weird. Haha.
Good video, I even learned something!😁
Nice episode and good info!
Been waiting for this vid 😎
Love the content - admire your knowledge, attention to detail and most of all application! But why MOPARS?
Because the 1968 Dodge Charger is the coolest car ever made, and the most impressive thing 15 year old Jamie had ever seen or heard.
@@DeadDodgeGarage Good answer we hired the new model visiting San Diego from London years ago and I knew it was great because my wife was traumatized by it and still has bad dreams about it!
Nice tips, never knew about the offset upper A arm bushing, yea, that would be nice. Would love to see the lift install, looking at some used ones now.
My shop progress videos never did will so I stopped filming stuff like that. I’m far from an expert anyway.
I love Chrysler torsion bar suspension's and they are so much easier to service than a GM or Ford setup. People forget that these cars were designed to run on tiny Bias Ply tires which are completely different to modern radials. Torsion bars, shocks, and upper control arms need to be replaced or modified to work properly with modern radials.
Yep. Do those things, and you’ve got an awesome suspension system.
This will come in handy shortly! 👍
It sure will! Haha.
@@DeadDodgeGarage oh my!! My Memebership logo turned lime green!!!!!! My favorite!!!❤️
47:10. I literally just finished this whole process on my 74 Dart this week. During one of your recent lives I asked if you could swap the cam bolts around for ease of adjustment. You said, "You can.... but your alignment guy will laugh at you., just ask my brother." In this video you say he will "hate you" if you do that. I still don't understand why. Also, I can't get an answer from anybody if it is ok to set the alignment specs for both wheels the same. Would that cause drifting? I'm interested in Interstate travel with no crown in the road. thanks.
And remember! I always finish my projects.. eventually
Well, always might be a bit optimistic
FYI - Jake Hill got 2nd place in a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda at the Goodwood sports car race in 2024, racing against Alfa Romeos and BMWs. Racing against cars that are supposedly designed to go around corners real fast. “A” body ULTIMATE CORNERING POWER!!!
The potential is there! Just a small collection of little mods add up to an awesome package.
Thanks for the info Jamie
Hey Jamie! Great video. It has me thinking about my 2WD D250 318 truck. I have an issue with the driver side wheel sitting farther forward in the wheel well than the passenger side does. I have no clue what could be causing that. But these offset bushings have me wondering is there’s a solution out there?
Have you seen that issue before? Could it just be a dogs**t alignment?
Ehhhh, hard to say. Lots of possibilities… I would be scrutinizing every part of the front end for something bent, shifted, assembled wrong. A very goofed alignment could potentially do something like that I suppose. But camber would probably be obviously goofed as well.
Remember reading about using heavier C body tie rod end with shortened sleeves, also see aftermarket ones made of aluminum. . . Thoughts?
Have read that. I don’t see any issue with the stock pieces. You’d have to be doing some serious driving to find issue with the tie rods.
Seeing your adj strut rod length comment has me nervous. I'm halfway through my2000 ram van front end and assumed the strut rod bolts set the alignment. They come in from behind the tire and run in compression not tension. Am I just to crank the frame end bushing nuts to the moon or find some dimension? There is no worry about the control arm end.
…neither? Lol. There should be a torque spec for that. Never done it on a van. No, they do not set the alignment.
Used the Moog lower control rubber bushings. Driver side failed pretty quickly after going over a really rough R.R. crossing kinda fast ( wasn't familiar with the crossing). Ordered new Moog bushings one was totally not centered in the sleeve. Low quality parts strike again.
Next time poly.
Can you feel bad tire rods and an idler arm through manual steering?
I need to do this exact job on my R-body '79 St. Regis which essentially is a reskinned four door Cordoba. I have the later rubber bushing style K frame. I'm actually replacing the K-frame outright with a rust free one that's been gone over at the welding shop. Any advice what's different or pitfalls to watch out for?
I'm replacing a few bushings and making some adjustments this winter. What if the spacer on my recently procured sway bar rear link is longer than the one that is in there currently? Just MORE pushy pushy on the end of the bar resulting in a firmer curve carve or something less attractive?? It seems everyone makes aftermarket rear links that "fit" my car but they're all different!! Grr. Also, do you have a shop recommendation for that final front end alignment for our 50 something year old A bodies between Olympia and say Ocean Shores? thanks in advance.
Sometime after new year's , i'm gonna be comma member
I'd like to see a video on a home brewed alignment. If you haven't done a video on that subject already
Sounds good thank you
Wilton really does make the best hammers
Dude, they sure do. I don’t know if they’re truly UNBREAKABLE but they’re pretty dang solid.
If when you install the idler arm with the washer & it's loose, do you just get a few washers from O'Reilly and shove'em in there? You seem to have a well supplied shop, do you have a power washer? Just curious.
I am currently building a 1966 D100 hundred.
I want to keep it relatively stock with the polymoder. Just cutting the original exhaust To the stock manifold Dual exhaust, And I'd like to find A original bore barrel manifold, To mount an Edlebrock carburetor, The motor on.
Ly has About sixty six thousand mile, I know i'm believable, It will need valve seals, Probably pull ahead clean them up, Lap em. Outside of that hopefully, It's only gonna be a cruiser with big tires
So what was the torque spec on the ball joint arm to knuckle bolts?
Don’t remember. They’re pretty good sized bolts. Somewhere in the 100 lb ft range I imagine.
Good afternoon,,,,,, Yeee Yeee
Good video. Only thing i noticed of concern if that is you had the strut rod washer cups backwards from what factory does. The cups should cup the bushing. Plus on b bodies and even d100s there is that annoying pin to remove that can be a bear. I sent texts on the strut rod bushing so let me know if its for that kit you used. I am curious. I found this video very good with lots of tech insights. ❤ and remember you can teach a old dog new tricks😂
No, those washers are specifically labeled by the manufacturer (stamped into the washers) to be installed the way I installed them, and I did explain that. Yeah, those roll pins are the absolute worst. I just had to deal with that on a ‘Cuda.
@DeadDodgeGarage I wonder if it's to curb the squeaking issue I have run into from time to time. I have greased them to shut them up and know that's not the best plan but it works. For a while lol I have had so many of these cars creak and squeak its not funny.
I love this.
You don't like the borgeson box? It's my favorite I had a flamin river and it sucked
Every single Borgeson equipped rig I’ve ever seen had the steering linkage sitting crooked. Grease fittings bashing into torsion bars. I’ve tried to fix that… with no luck. So personally I don’t see the appeal.
Back on the
peanut 🥜 butter duster 💙 !!
That’s a good one. Haha.
Hey Jamie! About to do a rebuild of the suspension and a disc brake conversion on my 63 Valiant wagon. Which brake kit did you use?
All of the brake parts came from Dr. Diff (except booster and master.) There are several other options out there utilizing essentially the same stuff.
@DeadDodgeGarage thanks! I'll look into them.
Cool this should be a good one.
I used a 1/2 bolt, nut and socket used to push the tapered ball joint ends apart and smack with a hammer once with the pickle fork and it was easy….
I’m having trouble picturing what you mean.
@@DeadDodgeGarage they have something similar in the repair manual. If I take a picture how can I add it to my text?
@ I’m not sure how to send a photo but I uploaded a 9 sec video of the repair manual…. Basically a spreader.
Let me know if you see the video, might be something you or someone else can use
Cool stuff. I'm always amazed at what a little bit of paint can do. Was your Olympia vice made in Olympia, Wa.?
I don’t know, but I did think the brand was neat. Haha. That one was in the shop when I bought it. My nice Wilton was left behind at the old one, firmly attached to a steel work bench…
Ugh. This video is both 1 week to late, and right on time. I'm refreshing Everything on my '67 Charger. Parked since '86, revived then driven maybe 1k miles. All the rubber bushings that where not that bad, quickly deteriorated to dust. That's the worse upper bushings you've seen? Mine where metal on metal.... I have the right side finished, last week. Drivers side this weekend. Thanks to this vid, I now need to swap the strut rod washers on the assembled right side, but will do them correct on the drivers. More grease on the lower poly bushings. I wrecked the original R/H upper arm due to one of those reinforcement sleeves, but had 2 spare upper arm sets pulled from a local Mopar yard. Upper ball joint socket, heat, lube, breaker bar, and full 4ft jack handle as a cheater bar to break those loose. Thank you Midwest environment. Protip - Install the torsion bar last. Not once into the lower arm, forgetting the strut rod. Then not twice after you get the strut rod, but forget to clock the adjuster finger and get to bang it out a third time.
Cheers DDG, another Great Video aiding fellow Mopar nuts!
Why don't you like the Jeep GC ps box idea? I've always put any bushing in the freezer about an hour before installation, only time shrinkage is good😃
Because it doesn’t fit in these cars at all? The Jeep box is a particular flavor of Saginaw that makes a great upgrade for classic GM vehicles. My brother has one in his Impala. That’s nowhere near a drop in swap for a classic Mopar.
@@DeadDodgeGarage Rick from Mopar Action first "engineered" that set up
How much will those poly lca bushings improve handling over stock rubber replacements?
It would be hard to quantify. It will certainly firm up the lower control arm mounting position, while allowing for freer suspension travel, but the difference may not be that noticeable. The big improvements come from the other changes we make.
@@DeadDodgeGarage Excuse my lack of suspension knowledge, but what would the biggest changes be?
Do you change the torsion bars to the larger v8 t-bars
This car is getting 1.03” bars actually. I would highly recommend upgrading the bars for any intended use case except drag racing.
Hi Jamie , is there a wrong way to install torsion bars . c body ?
The part number goes to the rear, I believe. If they are new, either goes on either side. If they have been run, it is suggested to put them back in the same positions they were in.
@@DeadDodgeGarage Thanks for replying to me , kind regards from Australia
How far is the Dead Dodge Garage from Seabeck? (Near Bremerton). My Plymouth project is on life support.
Hour 45 or so. I’m in Grays Harbor. We can talk about the possibility if you’d like! DeadDodgeGarage@gmail.com
i like taking a drill bit and walking it around the outside of the bushing. If its an old bushing then it will fall right out. New you just end up drilling a hole in it
Exactly what I did, but with a screwdriver.
Absolutely love the channel but can we get an m body front end guide if you have the car available to do it. I know your not into those cars as much. But I'm on a penny pincher budget and have an 87 diplomat as a project, there is not much info on these cars other than the Dutch guys garage ( he covers f body but hates m's) any help would be gratefully appreciated. BTW utg turned me on to your channel. Edit im in Illinois or id buy the parts and pay to watch you do it without interfering
I’ve never done an M body and I don’t know that I ever will. Indeed I would have to have a car, and it would have to need all that, and it would have to be worth doing for me. I know info is scarce. The only good news is that the family is so big - FMJ are all kinda sorta the same thing. Hopefully you can find some info somewhere.
Don't V8 A Bodies have a special, deeper bend center link for oil pan clearance?
Only early As with a V8 do (64-66.) 67-76 are the same slant or V8, but they updated the steering linkage in ‘73, so it’s the same bar for all A ‘67-72 and the same again ‘73-76.
I just had the S21 (?, believe that is the code) steering box on my '88 Gran Fury cop car gone through & tweaked slightly. I have the Firm Fell iso-clamp delete pieces & the Moog pitman arm roller bearing kit, but was not about to ship to Washington & wait 6-8 weeks then paid to ship it back to NC- it would be $1K if I did that. Had Jeff at CJR in Clemmons go through the box & do the tweaking- $293 out the door. I'll do the sway bar upgrade, debating the torsion bars for the future on it...are you doing the 11.75" rotor upgrade? The rotors look like Rich's Rotors/"Rotor Pros" offerings. The calipers? Those are factory, my Valiant has the 11.75" on front with the same dual bleeders- on back I have the 11.25" rotors from Doc Diff
Awesome! I’m not sure what size rotor this is, it’s whatever Doctor Diff sent us - we’re using all of their stuff on the rear as well.
@@DeadDodgeGarage Stock is 10.75", the easy upgrade is using the late-B /R- body rotor, caliper bracket & pad on the '73 -up disc spindle (same bearing across the board)