Re: 63 Classic strut rod bushings

[Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 farna@xxxxxxx wrote:

> Subject: Re: 63 Classic strut rod bushings
> > 63 and 64 are unique in that the strut rod is not adjustable on
> > the front side (like later ones, and Americans) so you can't just
> > stuff a late-model bushing in it.

> I'd be interested in hereing about your fix Tom. I did just put later two piece bushings in mine for a while. It worked okay, but caster was hard to get set right.

http://wps.com/AMC/Strut-bushing/index.html

A LOT OF WORK went into this! It's lasted a year or whatever, some
13K miles, with no problems at all, alignment has held perfectly.

It did a fair amount of groaning the first 6 months or so, typical
of urethane in cars not designed for it; I greased them a couple
of times and they shut up, but at this point I think the contact
points have simply polished through use and only groan at the
extremes of travel (eg. up a steep driveway at an angle).

Someone pointed out that the big front washer could be drilled for
a zerk fitting -- good idea! All I did was turn to extreme lock,
and use a paintbrush to work a bit grease behind the front washer
(the rear rubber compresses enough to do this).

> I finally cut my strut rods in half and welded the rear half of
> a Concord set to them. Now that works really good! All AMCs used
> an adjustable strut rod from 1967 or 68 on, earlier were
> non-adjustable.

I don't have a welder, nor enough experience to trust my welding
in such a life-critical spot.

> Speaking of front ends, what alignment settings do you use on
> your Classic with radial tires? I'm thinking 3* caster, 0* to -
> 1/2* camber, and 1/8" toe-in as "ideal". I'm planning on setting
> the rear axle at 1/2* to 1* negative camber as well (Jag axle,
> remember). That shouldn't affect wear and may improve handling
> slightly.

I tell them always ('cept forgot to for the Hornet!) "maximum
caster, zero camber, 1/8" toe". Works on all Ramblers it seems. On
my autocross Spirit, same except -1 camber.

The hornet is dead-stock, whatever-caster, 0 camber, 1/8" toe.

The squealing I had when new-new has largely subsided, it was tire
scrub. The alignment is still way to Rambler for me (eg. for a
grandma car with no sway bars front or rear!) and I'll soon enough
add a rear bar (I added a front!) and then go through the
alignment, probably in the spring.  It runs and tracks now, that's
good enough for this summer.