Struts to LCA bent?

[madmike]

'68 Charger, 383 car.  I'm rebuilding my front suspension, and yesterday I pretty much disassembled everything.  I noticed that both of my struts, that run from the K-frame to the lower control arms, appear to be bent.  It looks like they have a bit of a 'dog-leg' in them, at the K-frame end.  They are definitely not straight.  One is a little worse than the other.  The car doesn't appear to have ever been in a front collision, so I'm guessing this might be the result of 40 years of use?

Anyway, they should be straight, correct?  For a street driven, everyday use car, that will be driven hard occasionally, what kind of replacement strut would be recommended?  I would think that a stock replacement would be sufficient, or something a step up...  Any thoughts?

[rt green]

i would just repalce them. they arent that expensive

[Fred]

No need to  waste your money. They can definitely be straightened and reused. That's what I did with mine. 

[elacruze]

Stock is fine, I didn't even replace them on my own semi-protouring setup.

[FLG]

Not to change topic,

Can anyone explain the benefit of a adjustable strut bar? (elacruze? i do enjoy reading a lot of your posts which explain things..particularly enjoyed the writeup with testing/tuning your new motor )

[elacruze]

Not to change topic,

Can anyone explain the benefit of a adjustable strut bar? (elacruze? i do enjoy reading a lot of your posts which explain things..particularly enjoyed the writeup with testing/tuning your new motor )

Adjustable struts allow you to change the position of the lower control arm; The only reason I can think of to do so which may be beneficial is to get the car perfectly square, if it was built off (and they all are off). Theoretically it allows you to change caster, but unless you need to change your caster frequently and by a small amount then using the upper control arm to do so is far easier and has more change available. Also, using the strut to change caster creates out-of-axis pressure on the LCA pivot which is not so much a problem with stock rubber bushings but doesn't work with urethane.

If you were building a roadracer, adjustable struts would allow you to make caster changes quicker, and change roll steer a tiny bit; but this is only theory, not something I think you would use on a real car. I think the reason adjustable struts exist at all is for the bling factor.

The last argument for adjustables is that if you're obsessive compulsive about your suspension, they allow you to get the perfect length to allow your LCA bushings to have zero preload at rest-of course, as soon as the suspension moves and the strut rod travels through it's arc the bushing is side loaded anyway so it's pretty moot.

[Budnicks]

Not to change topic,

Can anyone explain the benefit of a adjustable strut bar? (elacruze? i do enjoy reading a lot of your posts which explain things..particularly enjoyed the writeup with testing/tuning your new motor )

Adjustable struts allow you to change the position of the lower control arm; The only reason I can think of to do so which may be beneficial is to get the car perfectly square, if it was built off (and they all are off). Theoretically it allows you to change caster, but unless you need to change your caster frequently and by a small amount then using the upper control arm to do so is far easier and has more change available. Also, using the strut to change caster creates out-of-axis pressure on the LCA pivot which is not so much a problem with stock rubber bushings but doesn't work with urethane.

If you were building a roadracer, adjustable struts would allow you to make caster changes quicker, and change roll steer a tiny bit; but this is only theory, not something I think you would use on a real car. I think the reason adjustable struts exist at all is for the bling factor.

The last argument for adjustables is that if you're obsessive compulsive about your suspension, they allow you to get the perfect length to allow your LCA bushings to have zero preload at rest-of course, as soon as the suspension moves and the strut rod travels through it's arc the bushing is side loaded anyway so it's pretty moot.

They also allow you to add or remove caster to the spindles, by moving the lower control arm either forward or to the rear...

[elacruze]

Not to change topic,

Can anyone explain the benefit of a adjustable strut bar? (elacruze? i do enjoy reading a lot of your posts which explain things..particularly enjoyed the writeup with testing/tuning your new motor )

Adjustable struts allow you to change the position of the lower control arm; The only reason I can think of to do so which may be beneficial is to get the car perfectly square, if it was built off (and they all are off). Theoretically it allows you to change caster, but unless you need to change your caster frequently and by a small amount then using the upper control arm to do so is far easier and has more change available. Also, using the strut to change caster creates out-of-axis pressure on the LCA pivot which is not so much a problem with stock rubber bushings but doesn't work with urethane.

If you were building a roadracer, adjustable struts would allow you to make caster changes quicker, and change roll steer a tiny bit; but this is only theory, not something I think you would use on a real car. I think the reason adjustable struts exist at all is for the bling factor.

The last argument for adjustables is that if you're obsessive compulsive about your suspension, they allow you to get the perfect length to allow your LCA bushings to have zero preload at rest-of course, as soon as the suspension moves and the strut rod travels through it's arc the bushing is side loaded anyway so it's pretty moot.

They also allow you to add or remove caster to the spindles, by moving the lower control arm either forward or to the rear...

[Budnicks]

Not to change topic,

Can anyone explain the benefit of a adjustable strut bar? (elacruze? i do enjoy reading a lot of your posts which explain things..particularly enjoyed the writeup with testing/tuning your new motor )

Adjustable struts allow you to change the position of the lower control arm; The only reason I can think of to do so which may be beneficial is to get the car perfectly square, if it was built off (and they all are off). Theoretically it allows you to change caster, but unless you need to change your caster frequently and by a small amount then using the upper control arm to do so is far easier and has more change available. Also, using the strut to change caster creates out-of-axis pressure on the LCA pivot which is not so much a problem with stock rubber bushings but doesn't work with urethane.

If you were building a roadracer, adjustable struts would allow you to make caster changes quicker, and change roll steer a tiny bit; but this is only theory, not something I think you would use on a real car. I think the reason adjustable struts exist at all is for the bling factor.

The last argument for adjustables is that if you're obsessive compulsive about your suspension, they allow you to get the perfect length to allow your LCA bushings to have zero preload at rest-of course, as soon as the suspension moves and the strut rod travels through it's arc the bushing is side loaded anyway so it's pretty moot.

They also allow you to add or remove caster to the spindles, by moving the lower control arm either forward or to the rear...

Proof read,  proof read,  proof read, sheesh sorry....

[b5blue]

You guys talking about the ones with the solid mounts to the K frame? (I think Mancini has them?)    I've been thinking about getting a set for the exact reason you talking about.