The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Hello, The power steering box in my 72-340 Challenger is leaking at the seal and collar where the steering shaft ties to it. My local parts house has a kit for a 73-318 Challenger. Does anybody know if this kit will work for my car?
I do have another question about the handling of my car. During normal steering manuevers the car feels as if it is a boat on warter -the front of the car is loose. Also when braking hard and turnig it feels as if the car is going to spin out of control. I rebuilt the front suspension-all except strut rod bushings-and had it aligned. I asked abot the sloppy handling and was told that my front tires were to wide for the wheels-P245/50R14 on factory Magnum 500 wheels. If I change the tire will the steering improve? Any help is greatly appreciated . Thanks to all........Ed

ejcbud1 wrote:Hello, The power steering box in my 72-340 Challenger is leaking at the seal and collar where the steering shaft ties to it. My local parts house has a kit for a 73-318 Challenger. Does anybody know if this kit will work for my car?

I don´t know if you have the Parts Interchange manual or not? Well, that book says that ´72 Challengers used part number 2948991.´73 Challengers, on the other hand, used 3643013 or 3579526. (3643013 and 3579526 are not interchangeable.) I can´t give you a definite answer but I hope this part numbers can give you a hint.

ejcbud1 wrote:I do have another question about the handling of my car. During normal steering manuevers the car feels as if it is a boat on warter -the front of the car is loose. Also when braking hard and turnig it feels as if the car is going to spin out of control. I rebuilt the front suspension-all except strut rod bushings-and had it aligned. I asked abot the sloppy handling and was told that my front tires were to wide for the wheels-P245/50R14 on factory Magnum 500 wheels. If I change the tire will the steering improve? Any help is greatly appreciated . Thanks to all........Ed

Yeah, I think you will be better off with a set of more narrow front tyres. I doubt that it is a good idea to go anything wider than 225 on 7 inch rims (that is if we are speaking front end tyres). You have 7 inch rims, right? If they are 6", then the tyres are far too wide for the rims. Just my opinions....

ejcbud1 wrote:I rebuilt the front suspension-all except strut rod bushings-and had it aligned.

Why not the strut bushings?

If the strut bushings are soft or worn the lower control arm will move back under braking and cornering giving you massive toe out no matter how good your LCA bushing is.

Hello, Thanks to those who replied to my post. I found a rebuild kit put out by Corteco-usa, $68.00 .

I will try new tires and eventually will replace the strut rod bushings. The reason I didn't replace them was the shop that checked the front end did not say they were bad, my mistake for not doing so anways.

Thanks again........Ed