Re: 63 Classic strut rod bushings/alignment

[farna@xxxxxxx]

After reading what a couple others have done on here and doing a web search, I settled on 4* caster and 1/4* negative camber front and rear with 1/8" toe-in. The camber was suggested by a Corvette site for "moderate performance" street driving -- a slight improvement over stock with no/minimal increase in wear. Remember, I have a Jag rear axle! 

I remember you and I going over the poly/rubber bushing combo now! I forget which of us came up with the idea first (not that it matters). 

You could easily take the strut rods to a welding shop. I ground a 30* bevel on mine, down until I had roughly two 1/4" diameter spots facing each other. Spaced those 1/8" apart while lying in the "V" of a piece of angle iron and started welding with a stick welder. Used 6010 rods for the initial welding, then used 7018 to fill in. Ground smooth when finished. After paint looks factory! An alternate method, and what I'd use with a wire feed welder, is to put a 1/8" deep/wide 45* bevel around the edges, butt together, weld around, then grind down. Now find a pipe sleeve that will go over the rod -- needs to be at least 1" long, but I'd go 2". Weld all around the ends of the sleeve. The rod is in compression, so should hold up just fine without the sleeve. 

You have a lathe though, so there is an even better method -- make tubular strut rods! Cut the control arm end about 3" from the control arm and thread. May have to turn down a little to fit a die. Get a piece of steel tubing thick enough to thread on the inside. Screw onto the threaded stub, cut the correct length, and use a piece of threaded rod (actually a big stud from an industrial fastener supply) on the other end. I think I'd make the tubing about the right length so that the big washer would go right against it on the bushing end. Then you can use a jam nut on the other end and adjut the length of the rod +/- almost an inch. 

I thought about that, and would have done it if I had a lathe available. Chucking that control arm end might be tough though. IIRC the 63 strut rod is round though, unlike the later ones which have an oval cross section. You should be able to find a die that will fit the 63 rod, but not sure you can find a piece of tubing or pipe with the correct ID to thread. I condidered making a new control rod end or cutting mine off and welding a threaded stud to it, but decided welding the two together would be best. 

Now I remember something else! I actually bought a die and 3" long coupler to cut the rod in the center, remove about 1/2" so a new type bushing would fit in front, and then thread both ends. Again, decided welding would be better. Still have $25+ die, and about $20+ in couplers and jam nuts!!

On June 21, 2005 Tom Jennings wrote:

> 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.
> 
> 
> > 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.


=============================================================
Posted by wixList Archiver -- http://www.amxfiles.com/wixlist