Thread: 73 charger squirrley steering

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Originally Posted by IC2

Caster - does it to you every time (so can camber, but not quite so likely)

Years ago I had a '68 Torino that I took it in for alignment - and the "mechanic" reversed the caster numbers from positive to negative(also screwed up the toe). When I complained that the car wouldn't drive in a straight line, that it was "squirrely" his response was that 'they all did it'. After having driven the car a good many miles and since new, assured him he was full of something very odorous. I went to another shop to get it fixed where that mechanic showed me what was wrong. That first mech - he was gone within a very short time afterwards.

Dave, his answer, ..."they all do that.." was probably accurate for every one he had set up before.

Any good front end guy should be able to find & fix this problem in less than 1/2 hour. I've had really good luck with alignment done at small, independent tire shops (NOT those that carry the name of a tire brand) because they generally only stay in business by standing behind their work. I would not take it back to the same place, trying to get them to diagnose the problem. You've obvioiusly found the guy in town that the tire shops love.

They are outsourceing it to another shop, whom is more familiar with the older cars, on their dime. I'll keep you posted.

BTW. I thought caster was a result of the spindle design, and wasn't adjustable.

It is, but theres almost always at least an aftermarket way to adjust caster. Shims and eccentrics are most common

If were talking about your 73 you can adjust caster & camber till you get tired of moving things around.

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

BTW. I thought caster was a result of the spindle design, and wasn't adjustable.

On that car at least, torsion bars, eccentrics and/or elongated holes (there are 'kits' to fix these problems on many MoPar models))

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

They are outsourceing it to another shop, whom is more familiar with the older cars, on their dime. I'll keep you posted.

BTW. I thought caster was a result of the spindle design, and wasn't adjustable.

What you've run into is not that unusual. The shiny new shops only know what's in their computers, and they often don't go back more than ten years or so and the kids that run the new hardware have often never seen something pre-'75 or even pre-2000. Hopefully this other shop has a guy who actually saw some of the muscle car era, or who can look at the upper A-arm and figure out that moving it fore&aft adjusts the caster. There're several kits out there offering improved adjustability of caster/camber, and also some with re-designed A-arms to improve handling as the suspension works. Good luck on your quest with this new shop!

Ok, the second shop got a crack at it. The report back is, it still wanders. Maybe it's the coupling on the column. I'll take a look at it myself, but I am about ready to push this car off a cliff.

Well, if it were mine I would still be looking for a good alignment shop. If it wanders, any good alignment guy ought to be able to tell you why. I'd say you're still dealing with kids with some schooling on how to work their machine, but no knowledge of the physical details that make things work on the car. Look for an old school tire shop that looks like crap, but sells more tires than anyone else in town, and ask them about your "wanderer". Just my $0.02

I concur. With the sheer number of new parts on this car, I should have a difinitive answer

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

I concur. With the sheer number of new parts on this car, I should have a difinitive answer

Just curious, did you install most/all of these new parts, or did you have the work done by a shop or a series of shops? It's not a big deal, and I'm not criticizing in any way - just wondering if you know the parts to be installed right, or you're assuming that others did things right.

things like this is why I bought a hunter alignment rack and a set of the old school string thingies------------

But a point i want to make---WONDER is not in any way caused by a loose coupling on the steering shaft--or the nut behind the wheel--it comes from road forces back into the system from the tire patch rearward---

If you have a vehicle that is doing what you say but definitely has all the specs correct, look for a binding part somewhere---this will nesscitate dropping the tie rods from the spindles and rotating the spindles thru there radius both directions at all height levels----even the slightest hint of a bind will result in a twitch on the road---this is very common occurrance with LOTS of NEW parts as the more new parts, the more possibilities of a defective part or installation.

Just found this thread. I would suggest telling the squirrel to stop steering the car.




O.K., I'll shut up & get back to work now.

I've run over a few squirrels in my life - but they usually don't give me a lot of problems afterward.. Don't think it is the same situation here..

With the front end up you should be able to grab a wheel and move it with spinning the steering wheel from sie to side with a certain amount of pressure. Like the other say, something must be to tight to cause the issue your having.
Do that and let us know.

Might also want to check to be sure that everything is tight. Idler arm?????