Well, this whole steering thing has my ass tired. I mounted my cowl steering, actually laid it out and started on the box mount a couple years ago. So now I am down to the part where I build the pitman arm, steering arm and drag link and the whole thing is frustrating. In order to get all the geometry where I want it and the drag link somewhat level, I ended up with a steering arm a foot long (from king pin center) with a 4 inch rise. I think it will work out but will leave the only place for the shocks in front of the axle. Do any of you have this extreme of a steering arm? Also the holes on the econoline spindles are only 2 1/2 " on center so I will have to make a steering arm mount to all 4 so it isn't tweaky. Heavy sigh. isn't this supposed to be fun?
Wow, a 12" long steering arm with a 4" rise scares me! What material are you going to make them from? Hopefully this is a very light car? I see flexing steering arms in your future. The factory arms on my 39 Plymouth were about 8" from the kingpin center and were forged steel. I could see a heavy duty long arm connecting the drag link to the spindle on the pitman side then a shorter arm at each spindle to keep the tie rods closer to the axle. Maybe the hd arm could have 2 holes, one to connect to the drag link and the second one closer to the spindle to connect the tie rod to. I had an older Dodge 4x4 with a similar set up as discribed. Gene
The original econoline tierod arms are still in place, I won't be changing them except to whack off the old steering arm. It is a light car, probably finish out around 1800. I don't really need advice on strength or materials. What has me sorta scratching my head is this. I have been all over, searching for hours, without much results as usual. I find threads on pitman arms, I find threads on making longer steering arms to clear tires, stuff like that, but nobody talks about keeping the steering box and the axle both on the stops at the same time. I see some dam fine rods, way nicer than anything I could build, with a foot long pitman arm and a 5-7 inch steeing arm. I just don't see any way that can work out unless you have something like a 40:1 steering box. I do not want my steering box on the stops before the axle is, that is something I consider not safe ro a much higher degree than a foot long steering arm. In hindsight I should have mounted my steering box lower but at this point I just don't have the energy to redo several days work. (I work slow)
Can you reset the spindle stops for less turning ability to keep the tire off the drag link? You don't NEED to have all the turnability the stock setup offered... With an arm that long your gonna need a really long pitman arm too and thats gonna result in increased leverage into the steering box and box mounts. Better have a really strong cowl reinforcement cage. IF I decided to stay with the configuration you have (I wouldn't) then I'd fab the spindle steering arm from a single piece of thick flat plate and tie it directly into the original steering arm as well as the backing plate bolts to give it additional stability and support. I would gently bend it for height out past the original steering arm location. Some carefully placed speed holes and a tapered kingpin clearance slot could give it a clean look. But again...I'd lose the cowl steering before making the compromises that setup will ultimately require. Wouldn't be that hard to redo...
Yeah, I would loose the cowl steering if I had to major redo it. It is mounted to a pretty stout cage that also goes across to the right hand frame rail. The original steering arm is a funky curved piece that comes up from the bottom where the tierod connects. Keeping it really isn't an option for many reasons. I think the stresses on the longer pitman arm would be dertermined by the ratio of the length of the steering arm, like if it's longer too then the stresses overall would be lessened.
Stout is good! That original arm would really increase the strength of the new arm IF you can tie the original arm onto new arm as a brace. Are you sure its in the way somehow? Looks like it could remain in place...even if you can't actually attach the tierod to it. I know what you mean about the lengths of the arms cancelling each other out...but I think that in the real world it would only apply to the turning distance part. Theres just too much in the way of dynamic forces going on for it to be 100% true for something like a steering system. Your only up scaling a portion of the system so the potential for failure of other parts will increase. Besides...longer arms will magnify any amount of minute movement in the box, box mounting or the front spindle and just might result in death wobble. Just how close is the tire at full lock...or how much available turning do you have with the tire if you remounted the turning stops to prevent rubbing? There IS something odd about you having difficulty with this as, like you already said, others have made it work!
Thanks Bill. There would be no problem leaving the old steering arm, it really isn't an obstruction at this point, but I think tieing into it might be a little hard to look at. Tire contact also is not an issue at all. Even with the stock steering arm I have enough room to put the spindles on the stops both ways. Maybe I just think too much. I stare, measure, contemplate, measure some more, mock stuff up, hate it and tear it apart, start over. I guess just because you have been a welder/mechanic/hotrodder your whole life doesn't make you sharp enough to design a car.
I know this is an old thread, but Im mocking up an eco-line front axle in my roadster pick-up as well and I was wondering what you found for a solution. I plan to cross spring mine and go with a frame mount steering box just below the firewall. Im trying to decide if I want to try to use the goofy hairpin steering arm on my axle... Thanks in advance, John
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