UCA - Hotchkis vs. FirmFeel

[cjw916]

Did you weld the reinforcement plates to your own K member? I kinda wanted to send mine in to them to verify it is straight before I shored it up. They check them before they seam weld them, same with the LCAs.

Dick, the very helpful man on the phone @ FF tech, said most guys go Stage 2 for B-bodies, Stage 3 for A & E bodies. Weight of the car difference? Anyone with experience with both?

Thanks!

[myk]

Did you weld the reinforcement plates to your own K member? I kinda wanted to send mine in to them to verify it is straight before I shored it up. They check them before they seam weld them, same with the LCAs.

Dick, the very helpful man on the phone @ FF tech, said most guys go Stage 2 for B-bodies, Stage 3 for A & E bodies. Weight of the car difference? Anyone with experience with both?

Thanks!

I wonder what "stage 2" feels like...

[bill440rt]

I have the Stage 2 box from Steer-n-Gear in both my '68 & '69. One with a stock large diameter steering wheel & the other with a smaller Grant steering wheel.
Personally, I think it's just right & wouldn't want it any firmer for street driving. Other opinions may vary.

[green69rt]

How I did mine.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,54582.msg1092008.html#msg1092008

[cjw916]

Green69RT, I def think I'm going to send my K & LCAs into FF to have them check them for straightness & reinforce them. You weld better than I do, and I'm sure they weld better than I do, too! I'll prolly just have my local guy powder coat my stuff as I'm a repeat customer & it'll be cheap if I prep the stuff. Half the time he just saves my stuff & throws it in with some business accounts batch, pretty much does it for free, usually. A favor trade, type deal.

Thanks for your opinion Bill!

It's hard to decide which way to go when all the input you have to go on is, 'Well, they feel progressively more like modern power steering, you know what I mean.'

Actually, I don't! Lol. My Jeep SRT8 was heavier, but that was turning massive 20" wheels, yet it still delivered very precise road feedback. I could 3-wheel drift that beast around clover-leaf on ramps in the wet (or dry) with ease! I'd drive it in a couple inches of snow, and the rear was always trying to pass the front (wide tires plow) but it was just good fun, to me, the feedback was so accurate it was easy to correct. (I would never let my wife drive it in the snow, though; they just don't practice these things the way boys do.) I just pretended I was a drift king when the weather was rough.

My Jeep GC Limited (WK) is heavy & vague. It's QuadraTrac so it doesn't often get outta shape in the snow, but you're kinda guessing when you're over-correcting. It's not scary, it's just a lot more isolated feedback.

My Jeep Sport (XJ) that I drive as my work car is heavy but has great feedback. If you're in 2-Hi & there's an inch of snow, I often leave it there, because as soon as the rear starts coming around you know it & it's very easy to counter-steer to correct the slide & recover. It's fun, in fact. I only put it in 4-Hi when it's really slick out, or I'm tired & lazy. :-) I actually teach my wife slide correction in the XJ, first inch of snow we get, I find a big parking lot in an industrial park, and we practice. Pitch it into a drift, then recover. She's getting better at it.

My '68 steering is VERY light. I like my original steering wheel. Original UCAs I was only able to get 2 degrees Caster in her, I run -0.5 Camber. It self-centers pretty well, but not like a new car snaps back to center, she kinda just floats softly back to center. :-) The feedback is pretty good, but I think that's from 'practice' drifting the rear-end out in the wet or dry. I do sometimes over-correct, which tells me she must be more vague that I think. She's a much longer wheelbase, which should make drifting her out easier, yet, I get her out-of-shape more often than any of the newer cars?

I guess that's why I'm looking to upgrade my UCAs & chuck? Just some babbling thoughts. . .