Over steer ?

My 64 202 comet wagon wants to come around on me. I changed tires and air presser & that helped some what. It acts like there's a part missing for the frame to the rear . Any troughs will helped> Dennis

 

Stock style shocks and springs? Do you have front and rear sway bars? Any suspension modifications? Same size tires front and back?

 

Could be a lot of things. You need to get it up in the air on a lift. Might be suspension locating bushings, U-bolts connecting the rear axle to leaf springs might be loose or broken. At least, crawl under it with a flashlight and give it a good look-see.

 

I would say bushings. If it's a shock, you would feel the rear end drop when you go around a turn. With bushings, you wouldn't have any warning, it would just snap into oversteer as the bushing collapses and the axle moves to the side.

 

Frame off before I brought it 1 year ago. New shocks ,springs ,sway bars front & back. new spindles --hell new everything. thanks Dennis

 

Did it just start doing this or has it been like this all along?

 

Having a rear sway bar and no front one will cause this maybe the rear bar is to large compaired to the front one. Also rear brakes that lock up before the fronts can cause this same type of problem.

Brian

 

Kevin, it came with belted tires it was their before I put 4 new radials , this helped. The wagon is now 4" lower then before . I've been looking at diagrams of 64 comet wagon rears & it looks like their was never a sway bar on the rear! I thank I'm going to take it loose see if that helps. The front has a sway bar also. Dennis

 

bcscheif, thanks, my wagon has been updated to disc brakes up front new and they seem to be OK --- or should I say the brakes are working OK

 

Kevin, new adj. rear shocks maybe ones not adjusted right --but the over steer is just as bad right or left . my wagon rides great with no crazy wiggles going over bumps ,bridges ect.

 

What kind of disc brake set-up do you have? If they used spindles and such from a Granada it has been known to have a bump steer problem, just a thought.

 

63-- I'm thinking GM calipers not ford . Also been reading up on bump steer. haven't fully got a understanding how it works --- but maybe on to something Thanks Dennis

 

It is hard to say since I haven't driven too many '64 202 Comet station wagons. Some cars are twitchier than others. It also sounds like the suspension has been modified (lowered, front and rear sway bars, etc) so it could be that the components selected just weren't matched up very well. You can try disconnecting the rear bar. If that helps then you may need to upgrade the front bar or look at something else to either "loosen" the rear end or "tighten" the front end to make the car more neutral.

 

4' drop maybe the problem, could have the alignment so far out of wack

 

Having played with race cars over the years I would go with rear sway bar too thick or rear springs have too high a spring rate. As others have mentioned-try disconnecting rear sway bar.
As far as alignment is concerned-too much front toe-in can make a car feel real loose-twitchy.