66 Dodge Coronet Steering Help

[njk53]

I need some help with the steering on my driver 66 Coronet.
Needless to say the car steers and handles terrible. On the freeway the car seems to wander and the car feels darty when you move the wheel just a bit. It just doesn't feel stable at 60 mph you get the feeling the car is top heavy. All of the front end components are new, ball joints, control arm bushings, tie rod ends etc. The steering box is a power unit from Firm Feel. I converted the front brakes to disc using the stock components from a Dodge Diplomat which has a 3/4" taller spindle than the stock Coronet spindle. I have all of the hardware from a Dodge Dart which is the same as height as the stock Coronet spindle. I was thinking on going to the Dart disc brake set up but, I was told the Diplomat brake stuff shouldn't matter. I am also not terribly pleased with the Firm Feel steering box and was thinking on going to a manual unit. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated

[ss3011]

I wonder what the effect of the taller spindle has on alignment. Also a change Chrysler made in 68 was to the bracket that holds the idler arm to the k-frame, on the right side of the tie rod linkage. How is the condition of the idler arm, and does it match the pitman arm on the steering box?

[njk53]

Idler Arm is new. The Firm Feel steering box is a modified factory unit and the pitman arm matches and fits like it is supposed to. I am maybe thinking the spindles may be the culprit but, I am not sure.

[Keith 944]

i have a 67. been in family since new. when I got it I replaced everything on it. all suspension. went with a factory manual steering box over the factory power. that seemed to make a huge difference in the car wandering. bought the summit disc brake conversion kit, (comes with correct new spindles). I also bought aftermarket upper a arms, rest all new moog parts. car is surprisingly good on the streets. a lot better then it was. you can try these guys too for advice. I talked at length to some of them. dodgecoronet.com

[Michael K]

3/4 inch taller spindle is a big deal geometry wise. Use the A-body version for the disc swap.

[John Dinkel]

What kind of tires? Radial or Bias. Radials should be much better.

[Peter Ash]

pm sent

[Mike Schwartz]

Originally Posted by John Dinkel

What kind of tires? Radial or Bias. Radials should be much better.

I concur on the radials. I had a 66 Coronet that used to track all over the place when driving along truck tire depressions. After I switched from a mix of bias tires to four matched Kmart performance radials, I never had a problem. (This was back around 1990)

[Phillip marvetz]

I bought a 1968 Dart that someone had tried to use different spindles, I couldn't get it to work and finally got some A body ones. So In my opinion you probably need to get rid of the diplomat spindles.

[njk53]

Tires are relatively new BF Goodrich T/A Radials.