What is your guys opinions on Dodge front suspension?

[Back N Black]

In particular on a 2 gen. I'm in the process of putting the steering and suspension back together on my 69 Charger. I noticed on the driver's side, the sleeve that the lower control slides into is ripped and the hole is egg shaped. In my opinion  the set up is crap, with the strut rods and only one attachment point for the lower control arm is Micky Mouse at best.  I can't believe that they put high horsepower engines in these cars.     

[Mike DC]

I strongly disagree. 

You're talking about one hard point having metal-fatigued out of serviceabilty after 40 years.  Demand much?  The old design might look weird but it clearly works.  And the LCA mounting setup might seem weak but it also means the arms don't weigh much for the size & strength they offer. 


This suspension is 40 years old, and yet the geometry and overall durability compare pretty darn favorably to the stuff you get on a modern sedan today.  These cars lived under taxi cabs & cop cars & Hollywood stunt cars for decades.  Those crews all LOVED the durability of the Mopars compared to the other available cars of the period.  (After some trial & error, the "Dukes of Hazzard" crew decided that vertical drops of anything less than 5 feet did not compromise a Charger's basic functioning for the rest of the filming day.)

And nobody accuses modern cars of being even as durable as the old cars were in those jobs, let alone being any improvement.  A lot of modern A-arms and struts look nice & elegant but they can't survive a pothole worth a sh*t.  They're just too fragile. 

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Wanna see a WEAK front end in a classic musclecar?  Look at an early Mustang/Comet chassis.  Those things were SCARY when they got driven hard even as brand-new cars. Control arms & strut-bars too weak, shock towers bending out of whack just from flat-ground driving stresses alone, etc.


The GM stuff of the era definitely wasn't weak, but it also weighed a ton compared to the Mopar/Ford stuff. 

[myk]

Well, they put high horsepower engines in these cars with primitive suspensions because...that's what they developed back in the day.  I'm no engineer but I'd guess that designing a mega horsepower motor is alot easier than designing the perfect suspension and chassis system.  Those things can't be made better just by slapping on parts like an engine. 

I don't "like" the suspensions from that day, and if I had the coin I'd ship my car off to XV motorsports tomorrow, but like Mike said above there are worse examples of primitive suspension designs...

[CB]

When I had my 69 they rebuilt the front end with the PST poly  kit, it was much better handling and stiffer.
As Myk said, an XV type of suspension would be a big improvement. (also kills the wallet )

[lazarus]

Pretty good for the time. Things go wrong through use and abuse. Fix it and move on with your life. At least it's not a straight front axle.

[suntech]

I think it has been proven beyond any doubt that the frontend is better than its reputation, with some upgrades. Just look at Mr Angry. I dont think anybody will rate that as a shitty handeling car
But............ it takes some king size balls to throw a 18 foot/ 4000 pound car around, like no tomorrow!!! Regardless of suspention!!! You will never get that "small tight car" feeling in a 40 year old Charger. On a skid pad it might not look so hard, and the differences is more down to weight, bodyroll, radius and tire grip, but on a curvy hilly road there are bigger changes.
I have a XV level II for my 68, and i hope it will be great, and i truly beleve that it is a huge improvement , but remember that 40 years ago there were some brave men that drove these cars on the racetrack, in 200 mph, with that old style frontend.
I guess that my point is that it doesnt freaken matter what is under there if we dont dare to use it

[MoParMetal]

have you ever seen the movie Bullit?

watch the chase scene.

not once was the r/t suspension rebuilt or replaced.

the mustangs was rebuilt or replaced every jump.

[pettyfan43]

In particular on a 2 gen. I'm in the process of putting the steering and suspension back together on my 69 Charger. I noticed on the driver's side, the sleeve that the lower control slides into is ripped and the hole is egg shaped. In my opinion  the set up is crap, with the strut rods and only one attachment point for the lower control arm is Micky Mouse at best.  I can't believe that they put high horsepower engines in these cars.     

I had a 69 R/T with that same issue, the REASON you have this issue is neglect and ABUSE.

NO other musclecar drives like a nice tight Mopar. NOTHING, Why the he!! to you think Mopar police cars were THE police cars back in the day.

If the bad guy had a 440 Coronet, It took a 440 Polara to run him down!!!!

I've owned Gms Fords and MOPARs and BY FAR the best handling and driving was a 69 Charger R/T with a fresh suspension. Nothing else even came close.
And even with STOCK suspension, when PROPERLY aligned and MAINTAINED those big B-Bodies WILL get around a corner.

AND like someone else said. If you want the thing to handle, Get ahold of NYCMille and check out his car, Mr Angry!  That thing WILL make a believer out of you!!!!