Handling is not right, dangerous at best.

[kylewhunt1]

My 70 Cuda is the worst handling muscle car I have ever owned. 70s technology aside, I think there is something geometrically incorrect with my car. If I am not on a 100% level driving surface that was just paved, the car is all over the place. It wants to track with every rut or imperfection in the road. If I hit a hole or something in the road it will jerk in that direction and is very difficult to recover. If I accelerate hard, it will torque to the power side, if I let off, it once again dramitacally pulls to the opposite. I have replaced everything trying to find out the problem but I am lost now.

Any ideas?

[quapman]

Well, if you have new ball joints, upper & lower control arm bushings, tie rod ends, idler and pitman arms and got an alignment, that pretty much leaves your steering box and/or worn or maladjusted wheel bearings.

[Strawdawg]

Or, cheap/lousy tires and worn out bushings..but, it sounds like you replaced them

[_Russ_]

If you've replaced a bunch of stuff, if you havn't already, get a wheel alignment and take it from there.

My work ute is the same. Really need to replace all the rubbers/bushings throughout the suspension. Down to metal on metal at some points. haha.

[Road_Runner]

Definitely sounds like something majorly wrong, are you doing all your own work or having it done by a requtable shop?  If you'redoing it yourself have you gotten the front end aligned after replaceing all this stuff?  Definitely could be a sloppy loose steering box if you haven't checked that.  One other thing you should check is whether your brakes are dragging or grabbing.  You didn't say if it was pulling in one direction or another but if it mostly pulls in one direction that can be a symptom of brake issues.  If you haven't taken it to a good front-end shop yet that would be my next step for sure.  Good luck.

Later, Jim

[brads70]

You said you did get an alignment after all the new parts. What spec's did you use?  You will want 3 degs caster , 1/2 deg camber and 1/8 toe in.

[the_engineers]

How wide are your fronts? My 235's love to find and fixate on every little nasty in the road. Feels pretty squirrely sometimes...

[dutch]

sounds like crappy shocks to me, but I`m sure you`ve got some fresh koni`s underneath.... 

[HP2]

My 70 Cuda is the worst handling muscle car I have ever owned. 70s technology aside, I think there is something geometrically incorrect with my car. If I am not on a 100% level driving surface that was just paved, the car is all over the place. It wants to track with every rut or imperfection in the road. If I hit a hole or something in the road it will jerk in that direction and is very difficult to recover. If I accelerate hard, it will torque to the power side, if I let off, it once again dramitacally pulls to the opposite. I have replaced everything trying to find out the problem but I am lost now.

Any ideas?

What consititutes everything? Where all the non-repaceable parts verify for straightness during this operation? What tires do you have, in what sizes? What are your alignment specs? What have you done to the rear suspension?

Tracking ruts is typical of bias ply tires and/or bias ply alignment specs with wide  radial tires. Excessive tire stagger front to rear can highlight this problem further. Problems with structural integrity in the k-frame, uper control arm mounts,  or t-bar mounts can also exacerbate these issues. The torque steer is usally bad bushings, bent leafs, or structural issue with the leaf spring mounts or  badly offset rear housing location.

[73EStroker]

You said you did get an alignment after all the new parts. What spec's did you use?  You will want 3 degs caster , 1/2 deg camber and 1/8 toe in.

Same issue with me - new everything but I cannot get that much camber and caster according to the alignment dudes. Hence Brad - the Hotchkiss UCAs I have yet to install. Kylewhunt1 you may have to do this as well. Also if you are running a rebuilt steering box then the tension on the preload springs will have to be checked as it is usually assembled by dorks that have not got a clue. But as Brad says - you need that caster along with the camber. Correct toe in is important as well

[burdar]

If you can't get the alignment into spec, there is an offset upper control arm bushing that will allow for some extra movement. 

Also, I wonder what LCA bushing is being used.  Some people don't like the Poly bushings because the LCA's can move front to back.  Also, the strut rods should be checked...they can bend fairly easily.

If everything in the suspension is good(including the steering box) and the proper alignment has been performed, the only thing I can think of is something in the steering colom.  Maybe a worn coupler or even stripped splines that are jumping teeth.  It's a longshot but everything needs to be considered.

[brads70]

The first season I had my car on the road I darn near crapped my pants at every turn and braking was horrible as well. Everything was stock on my car then. These cars ( as compared to modern cars) handle HORRIBLY in stock form. My 05 Suburban out handled and out braked my beloved Challenger. Literally! I'm not exagerating!
 My first car ever ( in the 80's) was a 73 Challenger.... I had forgotten how "bad" these cars were handling wise.   Still the coolest looking cars on the road though! 
This is what I did......
http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=73985.0

First I would suggest getting an alignment again with the specs I mentioned above ( or as close as you can get) Moog makes offset upper control arm bushings to help get to those spec's.
This of course is assuming as HPS mentioned that everything is structurally sound.

[HP2]

Well, it looks like the original poster only posts on here once every 3-6 months, so we might have to wait a while to get this one resolved.

[brads70]

Well, it looks like the original poster only posts on here once every 3-6 months, so we might have to wait a while to get this one resolved.

cat got his tounge? 

[kylewhunt1]

Hey HP2, between defending the country from terrorist, ensuring no sicko messes with my kids, ensure my kids do well in school, balance a marriage and work on two other hot rods, I think I do pretty well to find time to get on the internet.

Now, with that out of the way.

Here's a run down of the parts replaced: upper/lower ball joints, all bushings and bolts, front disc brake conversion (all bearings, etc), steering box from Year One, outer/inner tie rods, adjusting sleeve, pitman arm, 1 1/8" front sway bar, sway bar links, Mopar torsion bars, Mopar leafs, 1"rear sway bar with links, shackles, shocks all around and Boss rims with 245/45Z-18s all around.

Here's the alignment specs: Camber - left= 0.1; right= 0.2, Caster - left= 1.4; right= 1.1; Toe - left= 0.17; right= 0.16. It does seem like its "crowning", meaning, I reach a happy spot in the middle but I have to fight it. Its like the tires are pointing away from each other. Now the guys that did the alignment said hes worked on Mopars for a 100 yrs, blah, blah, same old story.

So who knows about that but I have a lot invested in this car so its no slouch and my upgrades I am waiting to do at the moment is a complete FAST fuel injection, Keisler A41 trans (4L60E) conversion and of course MSD ignition. Based on the numbers you told me Brad, this thing isnt no where close. I will take this back to the guy and tell him to put it as such and we will go from there. She will be down until I get everything back in, new engine, trans, FI, etc....never ends!!!