I have 53 F100 with 1982 Chrysler New yorker torsion bar suspension under it. Has never driven well, constantly follows ridges in road, wanders excessively. Has good new radial tires on front, alignment checked and adjusted 3 times so far, all components good, still a hassle to drive. On a perfect new road drives just okay, anything less than a brand new road surface, poor driving. Real tired of fighting it. I am thinking of replacing it with a Fat Man " Mustang II" front suspension, or another brand of similar suspension. I recently completed a 4975 mile trip pulling my RV trailer to the F100 Grand Nationals in Tenn, the meet was great, the drive to and from a hassle. Cannot just drive and relax, must sit on edge of seat all the time trying to stay on top of it. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated, thank you.

 

Welcome To FTZ. Now that's quite a different suspension swap. Were your alignment settings for the New Yorker front end or the 53 Ford truck???? First All 4 tires should be radial and hopefully a matched set. Toe In setting with radials is usually "0" or straight ahead. Next is "Caster" or inclination of the kingpin or (left side is reference here) the tipping back or forward of the axis line of the upper and lower ball joint line, 12 o-clock/6 o-clock. Caster is usually always "positive", which means that 12 o'clock , top, tips rearward. Caster helps the steering return to the center after a turn or off center movement (curve) going down the road. It helps keep the truck straight while just cruising.

This I experienced years ago. We put a Chrysler product torsion bar suspension in a Stock Car. No matter what it would not handle. One of our team laid out the suspension on 1/4" graph paper and made little upper and lower control arms out of cardboard and pinned the arms to the graph at the mounting points to the chassis. He made the suspension go up and down. Tho the tire sat true to the ground with no suspension movement. when moving up or down the tire would lift and ride on it's outer or inner edge. Changing, in our case, the position of the control arms over each other was the cure so the tires remained flat on the track going straight and into the Always left turn. This paragraph may pertain to the third alignment part which is "Camber", which looking from the front would have the tires looking Knock Kneed or Pidgin Toed.

If your truck has the WHOLE Chrysler front chassis clip, guess I'd really look at the Caster. If control arms are mounted to the Ford Truck frame, I'd consider the 2nd paragraph.

Let us know what you find, Good Luck, Cap

 

Forgot, what about your steering box??? and it's link to the front suspension. Could you be experiencing "Bump Steer"

 

My F100 has the Chrysler front end mounted underneath the stock F100 frame. all four tires are identical, the older ones and the new ones that have been on past 5000 miles. Good quality Cooper radials. Steering box was a rebuilt and has been checked, as all of the front end parts have been. This all being done by an older well experienced mechanic with some past experience with these setups. Toe in and camber right on the money. Caster, okay on LH side, RH side has ran out of adjustment door to poor installation by another party. RH caster at zero degrees, LH side to match that. I am told 2-3 degrees positive is what I need. My feeling is if going to have butcher things up to get RH caster correct, might as well change whole front end to newer and better design. this truck originally had a true actual Ford Mustang 2 front under it and didn't drive bad, I changed to the Chrysler front to get the front end of the truck off the ground more, regret it now. I am wondering if any readers have experience with these aftermarket " Mustang 2" front suspensions, and how they like them. Thank you for your help, JR.

 

Thanks for Your comeback, your dilemma is understood. I know nothing of the Mustang II suspensions and can't comment. My Comments are about your existing problem and possible causes and remedy. Yes the caster correction would probably help a lot especially if going down the highway you are constantly correcting steering from drifting left, drifting right. Am curious about the steering box, what it's from and how it ties into the tie rods of your now independent front suspension? No intent here to drag things out with you, just Like To Try and find answers to problems that come along.

 

The steering box is the original Chrysler one that belongs to the front suspension. Steering box with its arm on one side, an idler arm on other side on common tie rod, then short tie rods go out from these to the spindles. The mounting of the steering box and the other parts are unchanged from the original Chrysler set up, and still attached to the original Chrysler crossmember. Thanks, JR.

 

OK Thanks, guess the Caster is the only thing out of wack and critical to tracking down the road with out constant correction. Please let us know what your final resolve is, Cap

 

This is what I have under my 56 pickup, the ride is fantastic and worth every penny
https://www.heidts.com/part/53-56-ford-pick-up-superide-ii-ifs-kit-bx-316/

stock height spindles
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56 Panel, thanks for your reply. The Heidts suspension I assume is similar to the Fat Man, both modified Mustang 2 types. I see with your stock height spindles front end sits nicely, not sure low. That was the main reason I replaced the Mustang 2 sump mine had, front bumper scraping on driveways, etc. Yours drives nice and straight and true, I assume. Thank you. anyone with a Fat Man suspension, your input will be greatly appreciated. thank you again, JR.

 

On a level concrete floor the measurement is 9 inches from floor to bottom of the bumper..

 

Thank you for your help. JR