Strut Bar Bushings

[70VCode]

Hey Everyone,

Was driving my 70 Charger home from work and it started this awful rattling sound from the front left when braking. Happened a couple more times while braking on my way home, so I threw on the 4 ways and limped it home. I also noticed that it did start to pull to the left after a little bit. I got some time to check it out today and this is what I found.

There was a little play in the drivers side bearing when the car was up in the air grabbing the wheel at 12 and 6. I grabbed the wheel at 3 and 9 and there was no movement. But I tried the 12 and 6 on the passenger side and there was still a little play but not as much. I got the wheel and drum off and everything appeared to be okay with the brake.

What I did find, or I guess did not find is there was no bushing on the drivers side strut on the front of the K frame. The bushing on the passenger side on the is crushed and split. I did find that when the car was on the ground I could move the drivers side strut rod by hand... so I believe I found that issue.

Now the question I have is should I just replace the bushings, or should I get the adjustable solid strut rods from QA1? I was going to put disk brakes on it once the tires age out (about 3 years left) so I may get the adjustable strut rods at some point any way. Is there any other benefit for going with the solid strut rods?

I appreciate any input, Thank you.

 

[RemCharger]

If it's just a driver I wouldn't bother

 

[j-c-c-62]

Hey Everyone,

Was driving my 70 Charger home from work and it started this awful rattling sound from the front left when braking. Happened a couple more times while braking on my way home, so I threw on the 4 ways and limped it home. I also noticed that it did start to pull to the left after a little bit. I got some time to check it out today and this is what I found.

There was a little play in the drivers side bearing when the car was up in the air grabbing the wheel at 12 and 6. I grabbed the wheel at 3 and 9 and there was no movement. But I tried the 12 and 6 on the passenger side and there was still a little play but not as much. I got the wheel and drum off and everything appeared to be okay with the brake.

What I did find, or I guess did not find is there was no bushing on the drivers side strut on the front of the K frame. The bushing on the passenger side on the is crushed and split. I did find that when the car was on the ground I could move the drivers side strut rod by hand... so I believe I found that issue.

Now the question I have is should I just replace the bushings, or should I get the adjustable solid strut rods from QA1? I was going to put disk brakes on it once the tires age out (about 3 years left) so I may get the adjustable strut rods at some point any way. Is there any other benefit for going with the solid strut rods?

I appreciate any input, Thank you.

In some cases, maybe, but you have shared nothing that would indicate they would be beneficial for your application.
Save your money.

 

[Kern Dog]

The strut rod bushings can and do wear out.

When you apply the brakes, the whole wheel and tire want to move rearward since it is the tires that make contact with the road to slow the car. If the frontmost bushing is worn, it will allow the lower control arm to move rearward causing a momentary shift in alignment. Caster will change and the toe will too.
You need to replace the strut rod bushings and get a front end alignment. You can buy just the strut rod bushings. I got a set of the urethane ones from PST, they cost $30. I like urethane here because they don't squish and distort as easy as rubber.
I don't see the need for adjustable strut rods. If you need more caster than stock parts allow, there are other ways to get there. In my opinion, the adjustable strut rods can result in early failure of the lower control arm bushings because people might pull the strut rods forward to get the big caster numbers. This puts the lower control arm bushing in a bind.

 

[70VCode]

In some cases, maybe, but you have shared nothing that would indicate they would be beneficial for your application.
Save your money.

Okay fair. Could you elaborate on when having adjustable strut rods would be beneficial?

The strut rod bushings can and do wear out.

View attachment 1737682

When you apply the brakes, the whole wheel and tire want to move rearward since it is the tires that make contact with the road to slow the car. If the frontmost bushing is worn, it will allow the lower control arm to move rearward causing a momentary shift in alignment. Caster will change and the toe will too.
You need to replace the strut rod bushings and get a front end alignment. You can buy just the strut rod bushings. I got a set of the urethane ones from PST, they cost $30. I like urethane here because they don't squish and distort as easy as rubber.
I don't see the need for adjustable strut rods. If you need more caster than stock parts allow, there are other ways to get there. In my opinion, the adjustable strut rods can result in early failure of the lower control arm bushings because people might pull the strut rods forward to get the big caster numbers. This puts the lower control arm bushing in a bind.

Thank you for that. I am not going after crazy caster numbers currently. Before I would be doing something like that I would want to do some torque boxes and sub frame connectors then probably get different upper control arms. I heard that the point of the adjustable rods was to keep the lower control arm perpendicular to the frame rail. And I didnt know if it was worth upgrading these parts since it takes the same amount of work to change the bushings as it does to install new parts. but currently I am running crappy BFgoodrich tires, so not much going on in the competitive driving side of things. Spirited drive yes, but nothing on the track.

 

[Don Frelier]

If you have a nice 70 V code, then I wouldn't change any of the original parts.
Doesn't seem like a car to do resto mod type stuff with.