Need info/guidance, please. Car is a 1973 Plymouth Custom Suburban wagon. Bought the car in around 2003 but have only been able to work on it in the last few years. Couple of years ago I rebuilt the front end with new bushings on the UCAs and LCAs, new tie rod ends, Ball joints, all the standard stuff. Installed the Firm Feel front and rear sway bars. Replaced the steering column rag joint and sliding joint guts. Installed a rebuilt power steering box. I adjusted the cam and camber and toe as I did for my son's 70 Fury, 1/8-1/4 toe-in, max positive caster and a tiny bit of negative camber, both sides. He reports he can cruise on the freeway and just hold the car straight in the lane with his finger on the steering wheel. My wagon, not so much. My driving observations are the car is easy to drive around on streets. But on the freeway it definitely needs my attention and both hands on the wheel. Bumps induce a weird corkscrew motion with the passenger side rebounding more than the driver side. Sometimes a road imperfection will induce bump-steer, not a lot but noticeable. Took the car to get aligned, and the techs say they cannot align due to frame damage on the driver side up front. My untrained eye cannot see it but I believe the tech based on how it drives. My question; can frame damage in a MOPAR unibody be repaired? If the damage is not actually in the sub-frame, does that mean the frame rail in the unibody that the sub-frame attaches to is damaged? Car sits even when viewed from the side, but seems about 1-2 inches lower on the driver side. Can this be fixed? Thanks for your time!
As I am looking at the front of the car on a level surface like a parking lot, the driver's side of the car is lower. Using a naval term, the car is listing to port. Using a ruler, the LCA shaft is about 3/4 inch lower on the driver side than the passenger side. Keep in mind that I have turned the right side adjusting screw in 22 times to achieve close to proper ride height. The left side was at 24 with the list. I took a half turn out of the right and added a 1 turn to the left to try and get it level. Looks better. The very end of the left side sub-frame rail, around the rear-most bolt that secures the sub-frame to the body, shows damage where it looks like it impacted a rock or something. Not sure what the previous owner was doing with the car but it is starting to seem as if it was taken off-road. No, I brain-farted when the tech told me about the damage and di not get to see what he saw.
Before I did the front end, it had a port list, about the same as after. And remembering back to driving it before the rebuild, the car had the same weird motions when hitting an uneven spot on the freeway. But the steering so much tighter now. The old rag joint was shot and the steering box was leaking and loose.