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When it comes to "out of the box" suspension designs that handle well..... Mopar doesn't top the list..... Yes you can make it better with aftermarket stuff, but the overall design is very outdated


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If you really take a look at how a stock Mopar front suspension works you'd realize what a piece of crap it is.



While its caster adjustments are a limiting factor, it overall is a very decent design, even by standards of today. In context of the era, it was significantly better than the Ford and GM offerings. So what exactly sucks about the mopar design, toe changes? You can fix those you know. Anti-dive, again that can be changed. fixed strut rods, agian changes are possible. The mopar design has a pretty decent camber curve, is very solid and works pretty decent.

BTW, you do know that t-bar suspension a very popular in the modern truck and SUV market. Wanna guess why? They are tough, effective, and efficient.

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Rick is all about making things "bomb proof" and I can see where the RMS may have its shortcoming in an application that sees thousands of street miles in all conditions.



True, and the factory has, by comparison to a one guy shop, almost limitless resources to prove out the longevity of a product. Combine that with hundreds of thousands of cars sold that have travelled millions of miles, and the robustness has been proven. Again, a small shop has no way to compete against that type of record. Conversely, I think we have all seen our share of broken stock parts.

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Nice front end set up, but not worth the $$$ to me. I like to see more return for the investment on the parts I buy.



Agreed. I’d love to have an Alterkation too, but the gains are not worth the $$ spent in my opinion either. If you want weight loss, the Alterkation will cost you around $56 a pound if the fully optioned cost is $4500 and the weight lost is 80#. By comparison, losing 50# with a fiberglass hood only costs me $7 a pound at a $400 purchase price. Similarly, the geometrics corrections provided by an aftermarket suspension can usually be duplicated with some effort on the stock layout for a fraction of the cost of an entire front end. To address its superior handling, this is the result of a better trained designer specifying spring and shock rates that are better matched to the car’s set up than a layman buying whatever is on sale. You buy a system, it had better be speced out to perform. No different than if you buy an engine from a reputable builder.

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With the RMS, now everything centers around the 4 bolts retaining the K member.



This is no different than stock. With the OEM K frame, all vertical loading is supported by those same four bolts and through the same frame rails. The rear anchor and t-bars only support the twisting motion of the bar, not the vertical displacement.

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As much as it is a pisser for header clearance, REAR steer is better for weight balance since the weight of the components are closer to the center of the car.



The rear steer weight balance is there, but is marginal. Polar moment of inertia is what this impacts. The change from 45 pounds of rear steer to 20 pounds of front steer is a change in polar moment of fractions compared to the reduction of overall weight benefit.

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Would you rather have this....



Certainly less than ideal, but it is still a popular swap with the street rod crowd because of its self contained nature. Maybe if more of them knew about the tubular conversions, they would be using them instead, although I have a suspicion that this need has driven some other, less well known with the mopar crowd conversions to the market place.

FWIW, in my opinion, the advantages of all the tubular after market suspensions are 1) the loss of weight 2) the ability to rapidly change spring rates and ride height 3) component clearance 4)geometric improvements. SO, in response 1) The weight loss thing is a tangible that benefits every aspect of driving, but like I said further above, there are more economical ways of achieving it. 2)Since I'd venture a guess to say most classic mopar users rarely use their car in venues where they are concerned about and NEED to make a 50 to 100# spring rate change in 15 minutes, then advantage 2 is really no advantage to the average driver. 3) Components have been made for decades to fit within the confines of the stock set up so the added clearance is merely a nicety, not a requirement to fit components in the engine bay. 4) clean sheet design has allowed tube frame designers to put better geometric angles in thereto support their design, but the stock layout needs only minor tweaking to make things better. It already has a good camber curve, the caster can be tweaked, and the anti-dive adjusted.These changes can be accomplished with bolt on kits costing many thousands less than a full blown coil over conversion kit.

Are the tubular set up nice, heck yeah. If had had the money to spend, I’d probably install one in my car and not look back. Are they the end all be all because of their new design, not necessarily. Will they make your car the center of attention at the drive in, probably. Can they increase performance, potentially. Will they fail on the highway, unlikely and probably not at a rate any higher than the stock stuff for how most of these cars are used now days.

Now, one thing I will slam the torsion bar suspension on is the lack of available rates and the cost of bars. However, I'd imagine higher and higher rate bars are a very limited market and you could probably count the people willing to buy huge rates on both hands. To go hand in hand with that, th elimited market means they would only be even more expensive.

You make your choice, pay your money, and enjoy the benefits/drawbacks regardless of system. Simple as that.