so, the new 56 I picked also has a volare.. but whoever installed it didn't seat it up into the frame.. the frame sits on top of the volare cross member..

and I have some weird steering behaviour.. VERY light straight ahead..

and poor turning,,, then ALL OF A SUDDEN, like major steering change.. yank the wheel out of your hand type change..

I haven't taken it to an alignment shop yet.. just 15 mile drive to get it inspected and back.. and that was white knuckle the whole way there and back..

the upper arms are canted WAY back(mega + caster), as compared to the volare setup in the green truck.. (the green truck exhibits a little of this same behavior)..



open to ideas..

Sam

 

Holy Moley!

 

WOW! I have never seen one installed as you describe. Me thinks the cure would be to cut the Volarie Transverse Independent Suspension off of the F100 frame and re-install it correctly......and you know how to do that because of experence with The Mistress.

 

yes, anti-dive is wrong. but I don't see any issues in that case.. and I have seen cases where this was done, maybe not for the right reasons..

I didn't buy the truck for the chassis, but it would be nice to drive it some.

the green one came as a pile of worn out parts..

I already know that lack of heat insulation on the firewall and no vent or vent windows for air circulation makes for a hot cab..

Sam

 

Sam,

I have seen some effies from around Bham that have had that same volare (directly sitting under the frame) and the owners are not very happy with it. They drive like crap but the guy that is doing all these is a hell of a salesman on these budget IFS and people are still getting them. I am not much on the looks of my volare setup installed notched in the frame but the drive has been enjoyable after I reduced the pressure on the mopar steering box. I would just cut that out and renotch it and put it in there correctly

 

got to go measure the lower arm pivot relative to the ground.. front to back

that might be the key..

|
| on the green truck, the lower arm is tilted down towards the front, at 5.3 degrees both sides.
| on the red truck, the lower arm is tilted down towards the back, at 1 degree, both sides.

| so, a 6.3 degree tilt back difference..

| I can't wait to get it to an alignment shop..

| caster must be close to 15 degrees the way its set now..

sam

 

Not necessarily. When you notch the F-100 frame and set the front of the Volare subframe up into it, you are building in positive caster during installation and therefore wouldn't need to crank the upper ball joint back very far to get caster within spec. If this one wasn't notched into the frame like it should be, then the angle of the entire subframe and suspension could be (and probably is) way off. The whole thing is tilted forward with built in negative caster. They had to crank the caster adjustment to the max to get anywhere close to spec and it probably still isn't right. The road manners that you describe can very well be symptomatic of not enough caster. Bottom line - I think you're going to find out when you get it on an alignment rack that the installation is wacked and it'll have to be cut out and reinstalled to get it to drive right.

 

Not necessarily. It sounds to me like by not notching the frame and setting the front of the Volare sub up into it, they built is too much negative caster and had to crank the adjustment to the max to get it anywhere close - and I bet it's still not enough. That would account for the light steering straight ahead. Furthermore, with the upper control arm set to max out caster, there wasn't enough slot left to dial in the camber. I bet your camber angles are way out of whack also. That could easily cause the jumpiness and darting. Please post the readings after you get it on the rack. I'll be interested to see where things are at - and whether there's anything they can do to correct it. I have a feeling that the only solution is going to require a torch and a welder.

 

so, caster is negative when it leans forward and positive when it leans back.

so, by having the front of the volare subframe LOWER on the chassis, everything tilts forward..
this isn't what I am measuring however.. green 5.3 lean to the front, red 1 degree lean to the rear.
| I'm gonna have to remeasure

here is the cut I made on the left chassis rail for the green truck,
from the templates.



and I don't doubt that I will have to cut it out.. plasma cutter to the rescue!!..
can't tell yet, but one torsion bar may be bent as well..

Sam

 

also, they cut out the front cross member..

anyone have a chassis that only has a good front xmember?

Sam

 

Is one for a 53 the same, I think I still have the one from mine. I didn't use it when installing the clip.

 

yep, its that big honkin thing in the left of the pic above

Sam

 

It's real difficult to diagnose problems with front end geometry from pictures and descriptions, but I would try to find a stock volare (the whole car) to measure if at all possible. Measure A arm pivot angles relative to the ground and the lower pivot height.
Then do what it takes to duplicate those measurements on your frame.
The steering behavior is symptomatic and likely due to way too much caster. When you turn the wheel from lock to lock does the chassis rise and fall noticably and the inside tire lies strongly back at the ends of the steering? I doubt that any realignment short of reinstalling it will help much.
I definitely would not even attempt to drive it in this condition it's an accident going to happen should you need to make an emergency maneuver.
I've never seen a bent Mopar torsion bar, just broken ones.

 

I'll look tomorrow when I go by the shop, let you know then.