Where to start, squirrely steering

[XRuland]

Hello
Beside my wheels being staggered (wider in the rear) I am getting wondering left and right. I know part of it is because the larger wheels in the back. When I put all the same size wheel on 4 corners it does get better but still wonders. With the large wheels in the back if a groove is in the road or uneven paving, hold on cause it will throw the car to the left or right. I am also getting a bad vibration when I hit around 50-60 MPH. I do not think it is the driveshaft. I put it in neutral and the vibration is still there, I suspect the wheels might be unbalanced. I haven't gotten them balance yet because I am not sure if I want to put new tires on these rims or look for a different looking wheel. I think the rear wheels are to wide for what I want. they are N50-15, not sure how slim I can go with that size rim.
The ride height is the same on both corners in the front, that is given if the bumper is straight. Maybe not the best place to measure?
Have to remember, the car has been off the road for over 16 years. Should get new shocks all around but not sure what kind to get. This is going to be a street only car, would pick ease of keeping her straight over anything, the local track close near me so no point making her a bracket racer.
The steering box was changed back in 1997, but still was a bit squirrely back than, but again had staggered tires as well. Can I tighten the steering box, get new tierods etc?

On side note, saw the frame is cracked on the passenger side by the front of the K-member. since there is no rust, maybe this is new? Never noticed it before. the scraping is from me with a screwdriver, maybe its not rusty from all the oil she be leaking :hmmm::doh:

 

[69.5CUDA]

that crack is scary...odds are your alignment/front end parts are shot....alot of us run staggered tires without the wandering issue

as for ride height..the "ideal" place to measure is from the frame rail down..HOWEVER..a descent other place is at the wheel wells assuming the car itself is straight

 

[XRuland]

I am keeping an eye on the crack. What would cause that crack?
Who sells the best front end replacement parts these days? Since I am going to start replacing front ends parts, should I do anything else while I am tackling this job?
Scare part is there is not a lot of play when you try to move one wheel while front end is up in the air. It is a power steering gear box, if the pump is bad would that cause it? Just thinking of all possible outcomes.
Thank you.

 

[69.5CUDA]

hands down moog has the best parts..unless you want to go with poly stuff..in which case you will still need the moog lca's ...if you go poly i think any brand is about the same
as far as the crack goes..who knows..ive NEVER seen one crack there

a bad pump would just make it harder to steer or make alot of noise nothing else

 

[68R/T]

That crack could be vibration related. I would get it fixed ASAP, and then dig into your other issues. As for the wondering, correct alignment is crucial. Also, how much difference is there between front & rear ride height?

 

[69.5CUDA]

from my experiance on the ride height variance front/rear..it typicly has to be maxxed out in the back and minimumed out up front to cause that

however that brings another posibility to consider..rear spring bushings, rear shocks, age of tires(im assuming we are working with radials not biasply), shackle slop, and check all the mountings in the rear

 

[TheIronSausage]

I the car has been off of the road for sixteen years, and hasn't moved.. I'll put my money on your tires being flat-spotted. That would definitely be your vibration. If that's the case, it's also possible that the belts have separated. That might cause your wandering problem. The crack? Torque, baby.. Torque..

 

[Dr.Jass]

N50-15s are bias-ply tires. If you have radials in front, there's your problem as far as squirrelly.

The driveshaft does not stop spinning with the transmission in neutral.

The crack may be a recent manifestation of ancient collision damage. I would suggest having the car put on a frame rack to know it's straight before attempting any repairs.

On chassis parts, Moog is still the best by a mile--provided you avoid parts with an "R" in the prefix of the part number. That means Chinamoog; same great box, much lesser contents. The R-series stuff is nowhere near the same quality. Parts with an "R" in the suffix are OK. There's tons of R-series stuff at Advance Auto Parts and CarQuest, so know your numbers.

Poly is nice for extreme performance, but for my dollar it's poly only on the swaybar bits. Harsh ride, lots of vibration transmitted to the driver, susceptibility to squeak, etc. will keep it out of most of my suspension. New rubber bushings are actually quite an amazing improvement in comparison to the beat-up, rotten crap you've gotten used to driving the car as it's been up to this point. If you go poly, never use it on the strut rods. In the case of the lower control-arm bushings, that rubber's so freakin' compressed I doubt poly's much improvement (but it's a bunch easier to install). If you decide to go the poly route, avoid "polygraphite" or anything they say is impregnated with graphite or some other squeak preventative. Polyurethane does not polymer with graphite or other lubricants; it would disintegrate coming out of the mold. So if they're telling you it's not pure poly, they're straight-faced telling you it's garbage.