Hot Rods Steering pulls when turning? !UPDATE 2/9/22!

Here are the pics of my brand new CE steering arms, removed and placed in vice with an angle gauge showing the tilt. The vise shows 1 degree off level so subtract that from total. ***uming I use them, they will get heated and straightened. I couldn't really get a good view with the camera to really show the angle but ya don't need anything special to see they are crooked, even in your hand! I don't get it either!

Dave

 

I bought a pair of CE arms around 10 yrs ago and they were hokey back then and the consensus was yes, they come that way and you have to heat and bend

 

I would ***ume the difference from ninety degrees as you have shown is for the camber angle of the spindle, they made those arms that way for a reason. JW

 

If you bolt the CE arms onto a set of square back spindles that have the stock arms still attached you can see the problem.

 

Please repeat with the arms held in the vice by the flat surfaces of the mounting bosses.

 

@X38, believe me, same results.

Dave

 

If you don't get rid of that oil pan you're likely going to find out what wonky steering really is. If you live through it. The tie rod is already bent from the pan hitting it on bumps. You need to change to a truck pan with the rear sump and oil pump pickup to match. You would then have all kinds of clearance to the tie rod. What you have is the p***enger car pan. Not good.

 

Theresxa th

Plus or minus a degree or two ? Meh .....means next to nothing ..IMO the hole being roughly parallel. Should work fine .

 

There's a thread started in 2018 that addresses this angularity issue ...

 

Oh? Got a link? I'd sure be interested to read it.

Dave

 

!UPDATE!
I did some inspecting and measuring on the truck this past weekend. Here's what I found:

• To check to see if the steering arms were leaning outward, I pulled the drum cover off of the brake and inspected the steering arm bracket bolts on the inside of the drum housing. The bolts holding the steering arms are leaning upward and not making contact all the way around the head of the bolt. I'm going to replace them, see how it effects the alignment, and correct the alignment as needed. I'll drive the truck and see how this effects the steering feel. If the steering still pulls back to center I'll work on the caster (see below).
• Both the tie rod and drag link are hitting the bottom of the oil pan. I had already ordered new engine mounts to dress up the engine bay so that should help some because the old ones are in pretty bad shape. A friend is going to make a 1" riser for both mounts to raise the engine another inch. We'll put it all together and check the drag link and tie rod clearances. I've already got a lead on a rear sump pan if needed. A buddy of mine has several 8BA parts laying around and actually has a couple rear sump pans with oil pickups and dipsticks.
• The caster is at +9 degrees on the p***enger side and +8 degrees on the driver side. The wishbone mounting brackets are a combination of welded/bolted to the T5 mounting bracket and the frame. I'll post pics of the wishbone mounting bracket soon. There is no adjustment in the wishbone mounting location, so I'll have to get creative to try and get the caster to something closer to +6 degrees on both sides. I calculated that I need to raise the mounting point of the wishbone by 2.25" to get to +6 degrees. That seems like a big move.

Again, thanks for the help. I've been reading through all of the posts and making notes, so if the above doesn't work I'll figure out the next steps to getting rid of the problems in the front end of this thing.

 

Its called , Dropped steering arms - what to do , may 2018
If you google" CE dropped steering arms problems" it will come up on a h.a.m.b. listing
Sorry ,I'm on a tabletv& don't

 

Try slipping a piece of paper in between the steering arm and the backing plate. If you can't, the plates are likely pushing the arms inward. Just replacing the bolts ain't gonna cut it. You might even find your crooked bolts were undersized diameter. DANGER.

Like I said before, you need to properly space the arms away from the backing plates. Or change them for another kind.

After you and your buddy raise the engine with new biscuits and your one inch spacers, make sure to check for clearance on the every component that connects to the engine. Such as radiator hoses, fan, exhaust, clutch linkage, throttle cable/linkage, fuel lines, etc.

And, I would leave the caster til after you have fixed all interference problems and taken it for another test drive. It might be just fine.

 

Thanks for that @2OLD2FAST .

Dave

 

Here is the link suggested above:
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/dropped-steering-arms-what-to-do.1109296/

 

Yes. New, and longer bolts + spacers. Washers will helps figure out the spacing needed, but as mentioned earlier, the real spacers should be solid.

 

could he have merc water pumps that have the motor mount tab higher?

is the distance between your perch pins
34 or 36.5''

 

Perch pins?

After a little time in the shop this evening I figured out that I need 1/4" long x 0.50 ID x 1.00 OD spacers to get 1/16" clearance between the steering arms and the backing plate. Haven't had time to test fit the new engine mounts and spacers, but I'll post an update when I do.

 

What would that have to do with motor placement. Maybe we are having a language or term misunderstanding. Do you mean Motor mount stand off's on the Pumps?

 

A spacer like this?
https://pitstopusa.com/i-23899131-a...x5poH7qDlOrWQJxtpg-YMvZBKokarD0IaAhLSEALw_wcB

 

But steel.

 

How about this?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/113824678129?hash=item1a807ac0f1:g:zr8AAOSwwJVdMnqp

 

This is a factory 50 Merc spacer. Could very well cure his contact problem.

 

Hardened steel washers are usually about 1/8" thick , so two will give you the 1/4" you need .
From fastenal

 

Thanks for the links to spacers, I've got a set on order that should be here late this week or early next week.

These are the spacers that are in the truck now, only they are much shorter from age. I purchased the same ones to replace the old ones.

 

Those rubber mounts are commonly called biscuits. I personally found the ones from Speedway will collapse after a year or so. The ones from other reputable suppliers have got to be better.

 

The ones you want look like this::

The bottom of the isolator is wrapped in metal, this helps prevent collapse.

I too have had the Speedway ones collapse well before the car ever made it on the road.

 

@gimpyshotrods , can you post a link to a seller of those "biscuits"?
Thanks.

 

+1