1953 Dodge

Ok so just picked this truck up and the alignment is totally out of wack. it has a late 70's torsion bar front suspension that is lowered as far as it will go. when i drive it, it seems to roll really bad and the tires are screeching constantly above 30mph, if i hit any sort of pot-hole or anything in the road i almost lose control of the truck. I looked at the tires and the tread on the inside of both tires is almost gone yet the outsides have almost 75% of the tread left.

now being it would be my first alignment should i take on the task or take it some place and have a professional do it?

If i were to do it, are there any really good tech articles on do it yourself alignment?

If i take it in for a pro to do it, what should i expect to pay?

Thanks.
JB

 

Toe-out will do that. The fronts look like they are leaning in on top, too. Take it to a good shop, one that has some understanding of modified vehicles, or at least is willing to work with what you have. Many will not touch a swapped front end.

 

take it to a pro who understands modified rides...good looking truck!

 

tires screeching constantly is your toe-in or toe -out. that is ***uming the suspension was put in right. you can adjust that yourself. should be 1/8 inch wider at the back of the tire

there is a chance that you will not be able to get it correctly aligned at the height that looks the coolest... it may have to be raised up. there is only so much adjustment available

 

Nice truck . How mutch is the chop ?

 

Nice looking truck. Since it has a torsion bar Mopar front, the previous owner/builder probably lowered it by loosening the torsion bar adjustment bolts until it sat where he wanted it. Problem with this is it throws off the geometry of the front end. Fatman makes 2" dropped spindles for Mopar fronts. This lets you have the lower stance and the rest of the front end geometry gets put back where it belongs.

 

Truck was chopped 6 inches. with the lower bucket seats the truck has, the head room is crazy. i prolly have 8 inches of head room.

This was a hell of a steal, has a late 70's 318 motor that is strong as hell. Has power brakes, and power stearing.

The previous owner had it for sale as a rat rod, with a chain steering wheel, and a 3 foot shifter with a shrunken head on top. First thing i did was put a new wooden grant steering wheel and an actual shifter. Went the old school look with an 8-ball shift knob and fuzzy dice. There is no rott so idk why he called it a rat. a few dents fixed and some painting and ill be good to go.

Oh yeah picked this up for under $2500

 

Ok you suk.

 

If it's lateral torsions aka Volare, I can help. This is actually something you can do pretty quickly on yer own. There's plenty of adjustment in them upper control arms slots. Get a level and block up one lower arm at a time just high enough to take the load offa the wheel/ not the wheel offa the ground. Set the level bubble slightly inward so it's touching the outside line of it's 'level' perimeter(as measured across the rim, not the tire too) and tighten the upper ctl arm bolts back dn. That's about 2deg. I've found that will keep the tires wearing evenly no matter what anybody says about a "pro shop" . The trick is to make em both the same so it doesn't tend to wander to one side. Do both sides then set yer toe to 1/8" closer @ the front side of the tires than the rear side at the highest measurable point. That's not gonna be a true center as you cannot possibly get to the exact center of the wheels vertical point w/o parallel vertical bars which you can make with some flat stock and a square. But it's good ballpark. You should be able to drive it like that w/o problem if you aren't mashing the bumpstops and getn that nasty hop confused with bumpsteer. I've had a few aligned as stock Dodge/Chrysler F or M bodies for good measure tho. But I don't dump em on the bumpstops either. Also you might consider that if yer runnin radials that those weren't standard equipmt on them F/M-bodies till 79, so there's a difference in the alignment specs per the tires you intend to run. Stock for 76 was E or F-70-14 on the 'performance' models, I've seen both. By '79 15" rims were avail. and were 205-75 R15 and are toe'd in a liitle different. Hope that helps ya if yer doin this on yer own. Did you get it runnin better yet? Changing the time will necessitate carb adjustments(sometimes just settin the idle screw on the linkage down again) to match it properly. Keep us updated with yer progress, it's a great lookin truck!!!

 

I just bought a 51 waiting for it to get here from utah. A chop is in the plans.

 

Hey, gunna take a look at all the suspension stuff this next weekend.

Yes I adjusted the timing and did some additional carb adjustment and then proceeded to do a 10 second burnout in the street. Totally stoked.

Thanks for your help.

 

dayum! very cool truck, I want to see better pictures, maybe some of the inside cab window railing in the chop area if you dont mind. I have a 53 also and that chop is perfect! and still wear a 10 gallon hat.

 

Also see if there is a lowering tosion bar kit. I've see them on late model trucks. I does sound like a "tow in" issue but I'd bet your camber isn't great ether. Sometimes when you loosen torsion bars they make you dive right into turns without any imediate recovery. Very Scarry!