I'm sure this has probably been covered before but I couldn't find it. Anyway I bought a 37 Chev that has the stock steering box, drag link etc. It has a newer Speedway tube axle with new king pins. 1980s (?) Pontiac Gran Am steering column. If car is jacked up with front tires off of the ground the steering seems to be tight. When car is on the ground it is a struggle to turn it (of course when being driven) . NOW, the steering wheel is only the Pontiac stock 14 1/2 inch diameter so I know that isn't helping the situation but I doubt (?) that is the whole problem. I'd like to use what's there but looking for solutions. Have any of you dealt with this stiffness in these old stovebolts??? I've had lots of "Axle" cars so I'm used to them and never had one this stiff to steer.
King pins, probably the thrust bearings are junk, easier to turn with wheels off of the ground because you've taken the load off of the thrust bearings. When you put the car back on its wheels your loading the thrust bearings again... If you want to check everything, take off both outer tie rods then try turning each wheel by hand. If one side binds then you know which side it is and that it is the king pin. If both sides turn fine then turn just the steering wheel, if it binds then remove the column from the gear, if it binds then-then its the column. If it turns fine then it's the gear. We would actually drop both outer tie rods and set the car back down on its tires and try turning them on turn plates, that way the suspension was loaded.... ...
disconnect the drag link and see if it is in the king pins or the box. if it is the box it needs to be properly lubed and adjusted. 37 was a good style box and works well. if it is in the king pins you can disconnect the tie rod to isolate which side . king pins need to be greased
What do you mean by the steering seems to be tight? Does that mean it has no play or does it mean that it is hard to turn? With the wheels off the ground it should turn using only your little finger. I drove a 64 C20 with manual steering for 12 years. It had a smaller than stock steering wheel. I found that keeping the front tires near their maximum air pressure helped a lot.
Toss the stock steering box , change to cross steer with a Vega box and never look back . I did this swap years ago , best thing I ever did .
Forty years ago I had a small "stylish"? steering wheel on the stock steering box and it didn't seem all that bad. I am sure it would have been better with a larger diameter wheel. The prior suggestions look like a good place to start.
In response to above post: I'm searching for a bigger steering wheel, I need it to be pretty flat(no dish to match depth of current wheel). By tight steering I mean difficult/tight to physically turn.I had the right king pin out of the axle Friday, the thrust bearing on that side is good. I also greased every fitting on the front end but haven't driven it yet. I would like to do a cross steering but I don't think I can where the box would mount on the frame because of SBC engine mount and exhaust. If the box was too tight or worn wouldn't I feel it when I turn the steering wheel with the wheels off of the ground? The king pins & thrust bearings do not have a lot of miles on them.
I've had a few street rods with Vega steering and yes they do work good. I'm not sure I can get that set up into the 37 with the set up it has. I need to post some pics. My current Willys has Vega style as well as a48 Austin I have that is all Vega steering including the column. Works good.
Right off the top that 14" steering wheel doesn't give you enough leverage for steering at parking lot speeds. It's for power steering. A 17" wheel is what you should have in it if you're not going to upgrade the steering box. Which you should...
Wouldn't too much caster also increase steering effort with the front suspension loaded? What size front tires? Bias ply or radials? A bigger steering wheel and experimenting with tire pressure would be the easy stuff to try first.
My bet is the small wheel is indeed the only problem. I put a late 50's Chev truck axle under my '39 Chev coupe, and a late model Borgeson manual steering box too, and with the same size wheel your car has. It was not fun to parallel park, or turn tight turns at slow speeds. I swapped on a '53 Chev steering wheel that's 18" and now it's a huge difference in steering. I'd dump the small steering wheel and find an old classic 18" wheel for it.
Make sure the kingpins are properly lubed. If the zerks are bad, change them. Try greasing them with the tires off the ground.
in the first post it says " with the car jacked up, it steers hard". changing the box is one way but a properly rebuilt, lubed and adjusted original box should work. Regardless of size of the wheel the steering should not feel tight with the wheels off the ground.
There are many different styles on steering boxes to think about . OT Toyota 85 and down 4x4 power box is easy to adapt to steer as stock from left spindle . Box would mount on top of frame rail or near to it . I installed one on my 48 F1 , worked wonderfully for 150 K miles then I sold the truck . My 37 had Vega box and a small block engine with rams horn manifolds , no problem .
Does your dragline and tie rod still have the end links with the springs and cups in them , need to disassemble and clean the parts well , look for wear on the cups and ball studs also .
If the tie-rods are the ball and cup type, be sure the balls are still round. When they wear, they go egg shaped which requires more effort to turn. Also check the stud portion right under the ball, the cups tend to wear into the stud portion and can really weaken them. A simple test, pull the drag-link off, turn the front wheels by hand, and turn the steering box. If one or the other is hard to turn, thats where your problem is. If the wheels are hard to turn, unhook the steering link between each wheel to isolate which side is stiff. Gear box should have 00 or 000 grade grease in it. Anything else is too stiff or to runny. 50/50 mix of chassis grease and gear oil also works if the seals are good. My '37 truck steers very easy using stock parts, I run pretty high air pressure on a narrow front tire. With the drag-link off, I can turn the front tires lock to lock pretty much one handed when the tires are off the ground. I grease it once a year, and replaced all the wear items years ago. Grease the king pins with the tires off the ground. Too much caster angle will make it hard to turn, but it will want to return too straight ahead pretty fast. Don't forget about the top bushing in the steering column, a little grease of oil will do a lot for it.
No, in the first post he says it's a new Speedway axle and "It seems to be tight". No mention of it being hard to turn with it jacked up off the ground. I didn't take "tight" as hard to turn, I took it as no slop, or issues with looseness.
"If car is jacked up with front tires off of the ground the steering seems to be tight. " Not sure if the steering is hard to turn with the front tires in the air.
It’s been many many years after I attacked rebuilding my 37 steering box , to try to help hard steering . Best as I can recall , it was not a good design , not many if any ball bearings all bronze bushings . After the rebuild , and same results . I tossed the OEM box and looked for a different approach . I did nothing but change the box and the steering was as if driving a modern car without power steering . My car had a 14 in GM Comfort Grip steering wheel . But again this is all over 30 years ago in my memory .
Before you go too far, check the adjustment screw on the box and make sure that someone hasn't over tightened it in the name of taking the slack out of the box. A worn out box should still turn fairly easy with the wheels off the ground. Chevs of the 40's shows two steering box rebuild kits. One for a straight axle (from the factory) car and one for a not a straight axle car.
My '37 Chevrolet truck had the original steering box, they are simple gear on gear, no roller ball worm screw, it was plenty hard to steering going slow even with all new bushings and rebuilt front end. I added a second bushing to the pitman shaft to help stabilize it out on the pitman arm end. I also installed a needle bearing upper steering column bearing that replaced the old leather & wood bushing design or what ever it was made out of. The '37 Master deluxe had a 17 1/2 to 1 steering ratio, the Master and all trucks had 16 to 1 steering ratio, all used 17 5/8" diameter steering wheels. For the trucks, an easy up grade is a 41-46 Chevrolet truck steering box, it has a 19.8 to 1 ratio, has a ball nut and worm gear design with lots of roller balls. It might also fit the cheaper cars, I've never been around them to notice the steering boxes. The upgraded design and slower gear ratio really make a difference in how easy it is to turn. I used the '37 steering wheel and column on the '46 gear box to keep the stock '37 flat steering wheel. The '46 cars used the same steering ratio ( 17.5 to 1 ) but upgraded to the ball nut and worm gear design, it might be something worth looking into.
Before you buy a bigger steering wheel, make a cardboard cut out of a larger one and sit it on your existing steering wheel. Then sit in the car and see if it still gives you plenty of room . This varies with the seats being used and the size of the individual, so a simple quick check to see if there is plenty of room.
Since those cars came with an 18" wheel, I can't imagine why one wont fit? Even with modern seats, unless those seats were somehow grossly oversized? Mine fits with plenty of room and newer buckets.
The Jalopy Journal
