The Wanderer

I finally got the
chance to complete the ’73
knuckle disc conversion on my
’66 Chrysler. The calipers are
installed rear-hung, as OEM.
The good news is brakes work.
The main reason for this
question is to ask you about
steering sensitivity. I haven’t
gotten the car aligned yet and
that may be the remedy to my
issue. I did change one upper
ball joint, the idler arm and all
4 tie-rod ends when I did the
conversion. Yesterday, while
taking the car out on its first
run, I noticed the steering to be
overly sensitive. I have power
steering which may or may not
be a contributing factor. With
this power steering I can’t really
feel the road at all. The steering
responds with the slightest of
movement of the steering wheel
and is especially noticeable at
freeway speeds. Around town
at lower mph it’s fine, but getting
up to freeway speeds 50-60
mph it feels pretty scary as if the
car could go out of control with
the slightest of movement from
center. I feel like I’m driving on
pins and needles trying to keep
the steering wheel perfectly
straight. Any small movement
the car reacts and if I’m too
quick with the correction I feel
I could lose control. I know all
steering has some bit of freeplay,
but the steering responds
even within the free-play limits.
Perhaps I’m just used to manual
steering or rack and pinion on
my p/s vehicles.
The car was my dad’s and
sat in storage for 20 years
before I pulled it out last Nov.
After getting it up and running I
drove it a couple of times before
tackling the front disc conversion.
The car has 66K original
miles.
I just read your writeup on
wheel alignments posted on
Allpar.com. My next trip will be
to the alignment shop, but your
“SKOCH CHART” only showing
specs for A. B, E and R-body
cars, all years AND “Bent T-bar
cars” (F, J, and M-body) that
need lots more caster—as
much as 5 degrees.
Would Firm Feel’s tubular
upper control arms be a suggested
improvement to my
steering issue?
Do you have any specs for
my C-body and any other comments
or suggestions?

The alignment (or lack of)
is quite likely the root cause of
your problem, negative caster
or toe-out will cause exactly
what you describe. Use the
B-body specs. The basic procedure
is to adjust the rear of
both UCAs as far inboard as
possible, then adjust the front
for a tad of neg. camber, then
adjust whichever side has
more pos. caster so that both
side are equal. If you find an
alignment shop with an old guy
he’ll do this in 10 minutes.
Firm Feel’s UCAs allow more
positive caster and are a great
upgrade, especially with modern
tires.