QA1 Dynamic Strut Bars

[Cudajason]

Hey Guys,

This past weekend was a real beauty here in the great white north.  I spent a bunch of time in the garage making progress on my winter project list.

Saturday I puled the exhaust apart and welded in some O2 Bungs and converted the mufflers to turns downs (no cut outs on my valance).  No comments about the quality of my welds please, I know I suck at it.

Sunday I started the install on the QA1 dynamic strut bars.

I hit a couple of snags with the instructions.   It says to remove the lower Ball joint.  If any one has any tips on how to do that with out taking off the rotor, I would love to hear them.  As you can see from the pics, I could not figure out another way, so I took the rotors off and unbolted the Ball joint from the spindle.  That took me a bit of time to figure out.

The other snag was tightening strut rod bolt at the LCA.  Because it is adjustable, it took me a while to figure out hot to get it snug.

At the end of the day I got both side installed and positioned so the is not binding on the LCA.  I was surprised how much adjustment there was before there was binding.  I can understand why some people think these rods are used to adjust the alignment, the can really move the end of the LCA fore and aft.  Maybe that is because the LCAs are 46 years old.  They do have stiffening plates on them and the T-bar pivots are not overly loose.  I adjusted the rods so the LCA were a far forwards as possible with out binding.  Pretty sure I have the rods adjusted correctly.  I guess we will see when the alignment is done.

This weekend and I will get everything back together, torqued to spec, the QA1 shocks installed, set the ride highest and on the next project. 

All in all, the strut rod installation could be done easily in a day.  I had some honey dos that I promised the wife I would get to so I stopped working on the car around 3PM.

Jason

[7212Mopar]

The strut rods are not to be used for alignment. It is for keeping the suspension in place and sees compression and tension loads. It should be set such that no load is on the LCA pivot pins and bushing and travels up and down with the suspension without binding.

[Cudajason]

The strut rods are not to be used for alignment. It is for keeping the suspension in place and sees compression and tension loads. It should be set such that no load is on the LCA pivot pins and bushing and travels up and down with the suspension without binding.

yep agreed.  That is where I have them set.  I was just surprised how wide that window is where there is no binding.

[dodj]

I installed the QA1 strut rods last year. I popped the lower ball joints off with a pickle fork. I did not unbolt them. Only negative to this is you need to replace the boots cuz the fork tears them.
As for where to set them, I measured the originals and started there.
Getting a regular shop to align the front end might be tricky. None of the spec books will likely take an adjustable strut rod into acct?

[Cudajason]

I installed the QA1 strut rods last year. I popped the lower ball joints off with a pickle fork. I did not unbolt them. Only negative to this is you need to replace the boots cuz the fork tears them.
As for where to set them, I measured the originals and started there.
Getting a regular shop to align the front end might be tricky. None of the spec books will likely take an adjustable strut rod into acct?

Yeah I tried the pickle fork,  It kept hitting the spindle, I just could not find a spot to get it in properly.   

Anyway, I got them in.  I was out in the garage yesterday and got everything torqued up.  Still have a few things I want to clean up before it all goes back together.

My plan is to tell the Alignment shop not to touch the Strut bars at all.  I know the guys at the shop fairly well, and I think they will be OK with that.