Front k member complete kit?

Who other than magnum force sells a complete front kit for a 64 Dodge. Drag car only. Thanks

https://www.moparsuspension.com/suspension-parts/HDK+66+to+72+B+Body+K+frame+package.php

Reileys, Gerst and several others that are not coming to me now

http://www.moparsuspension.com/photo_gallery/?level=album&id=64

...which is a copycat version of Reilly's AlterKation

love the AlterK in the A-body.....much lighter...lot more space for headers, and starter access...and no more torsion bars. Better choice for me than totally rebuilding the sloppy 50+ year old factory suspension, and trying to work around the steering linkage and torsion bars.

I went with the AlterKtion.
You have many options as far as motor mounts , or not , sway bar , power rack etc. etc.
I run a motor plate and opted for no sway bar since it is more or less a drag car.
The closest I come to a complaint is that the track width is a C.H. wider , and with 15 " rims , it just scrubs the front of the pass. side wheel opening at full lock turns.
This is on a Dart.....I do not think this issue is on the B body kits.
It drives like a dream.

Save your self $. Cut the K frame and use the stock stuff.
Doug

That is nice.
If the torsion bars aren't going to be a problem , I would certainly think about this one.
I suspect that a coil over conversion might even work here ?

Im with DVW on this.....i race in a class that most people lighten the car , then add weight to the front. Im saving a TON of money by keeping the stock front end so far.
I have complete stock front end. I know from doing it to my sons duster, that you can lose an easy tenlbs by trim the lip of the K where its spot welded together and reweld it.
My plan now is to put Hotchkis upper arms, and eventually coil overs to get rid of the T bars and the mounts in the frame. Other than that like DVW, i dont see for drag racing whats so wrong with the stock parts, other than weight and Oil pan design.
Dont get me wrong, these K frames are nice, and they do free up a bunch of room and loses a lot of weight, but for me 4k is hard , LOL

I agree Tony, I have considered an aftermarket K frame but the cost and the fact I am already slowing my car down almost a second doesn't make the weight savings necessary.

GERST for me:

IMG_2180 by Greg Ault, on Flickr

How was your customer service with Gerst.
I reached out 3 times to get a few questions answered before I put my hard earned money for a front end for my Dart and I got no response from him.
Even tried on Facebook.
I joined just to try and get an answer from him.
Nothing.
Customer service and communication is everything especially when you are spending this much money.

my barracuda has it didnt save no weight at all

I have a gerst suspension. I have had great customer service. He has called me on Sundays when I sent texts to him. When I was looking at his set up vs alternations I couldn't get a return call, text or email from Reilly Motorsports but Gerst called me back and spent close to an 30minutes on the phone with me. His post purchase replies to my dumb questions have been quick.

The one and only time his response was something was when he was out of town.

When I was screwing with that AJE I have I learned the 3 big areas of weight loss he was claiming were:
1. Replacing power steering with a manual rack.
2. Replacing factory power disc brakes with manual Wilwoods.
3. The torsion bars including cutting the mounts out of the trans crossmember.

If you don't have that stuff now you won't use a lot of weight.

I have the Gerst Kit on my car, it installed easily, lined up perfectly. I never had a problem getting in touch with Carl Gerst and he answered all of even my dumb questions. Call him at regular business hours at 319-759-9461.

Glad for OP that he has a B-Body. An A-Body with big tube under-chassis headers w. steering linkage and torsion bars in the way?? Impossible. The headers still had to be made with the rear tubes wrapped around the frame for easy starter access, and the passenger side being tight as is.

This early AlterKtion took care of a few issues. No need to rebuild front end, less weight, room for headers. ....and the price was nowhere near $4K. I bought this kit not long after they were put on market. Reilly did a change in the design (shortened the arms 5/8", if I remember correctly). He shipped me a set of the revised A-arms, along with w. rod ends, free of charge. Never had any issues with the front end, or customer service.
btw...if you're wondering, that ring on the bottom of the crossmember to prevent it from slipping off of a floor jack

I made my own. Uses modified lower ball joints, modified original spindles, stock upper A arms, and lower control arms. I have about $300 into the entire setup, and that was buying the rack kit from Quartermax. I was able to get 5*+ caster in the car, and it drives like it's on rails. Saved a ton of weight.

very nice, how did you get 5* caster? any mods other than the offset upper a arm bushings??

I'd like to see the modified ball joint/steering arm. Any pics?
Doug

Me also , his customer service and product are both great

I put a Alterkation in the Valiant , before I knew about Gerst stuff ..

Its ok, I found Bill to be slow to respond, his front costs more than Gersts , and I just can't understand why after all the fronts he has sold, he can't find a mandrel bender to bend the tubes

I'll have to find the spindle picture. All I did to the lower ball joint, was cut off the factory steering arm. It bolts into place just like normal, and still has the stops that hit the lower control arm to limit the steering. As for the spindle, I welded on some arms to the inside of the spindle, with taking into consideration to Ackerman.

Tony, as for getting 5* caster, everything is stock, no tricks. When the car sits very low getting that much is simple. I actually had to cut down the LCA bump stops, so it wasn't riding on them. I literally could drive the car one handed, even with it being a stick car.

Jeff, your front end is similar to the one that LRT used to make. Looks great! I think when I eventually get back to my car, I'll do something similar I think.

Lots of great options out there these days, I'm super happy with the HDK kit in my Challenger. Denny always answered my calls, texts, and emails. First time I did that kind of conversion and he was very helpful.

A disclosure, I have an AlterK, that I modified.

That being said, I read in the May 2020 issue of "RaceCar Engineering" the following comment by contributor Mike Blanche,t page 7, that I think is very pertinent to this discussion:

"Generally attempted copies of winning racecars result in them being unsuccessful as designers egos, and the need to justify their positions, mean they try to put their own stamp on the design, which unknowingly screws up the overall package.

Or financial issues cause manufacturing compromises, with a similar effect."

Most would agree AlterK was the first to offer this much copied design solution.

I think several of the kits work very well, plus there's some that a lot of people don't even know about such as Tory Shellehamer's kits.
Hopefully with all these options the prices will come down some eventually.
I could not run an RMS AlterK kit because my inner fenders are custom re-inforced so my only option is the kits that use the stock upper shock mounts.
So the HDK was my only option other than MF and I will never use MF, and HDK was within driving distance so I saved the shipping money, win win situation for me.

Is there anyway a stock K Frame can be modified to accept a rack n pinion steering setup?

Or a aftermarket kit with torsion bars?

My Valiant has the rack in a stock K-frame. It can be done, but the rack is really too far forward. Bump steer was pretty bad.

I had it redone with different tie rods this winter, but haven't really driven it other than on and off the trailer.

I know this is a bit old but, I would like to learn more about your setup

Of topic. Jericogtx, who's headers on your car? Thanks