So after 4000 trouble free miles my 34 decides to start pulling slightly to the drivers side. Had a look and the tracking has gone out of whack. Checked everything and it's all tight. Problem seems to be a bendy dropped steering arm on the drivers side, thought it might have worked loose but no it's still tight. Got my wife to turn the steering wheel from side to side and you can see the dropped arm on the drivers side actually bending a little. Anyone else come across this?
@Budget36 posted last night about a tie rod end and his concerns. Hope both of you find a cure. NICE ride, by the way!
That’s why it’s best to use original spindles and bend the arms if you drop the axle. Henry knew what he was doing.
hmm, i'd look for a crack or something, if it is something that just started. If it was loose from the start, it may be bending, but if it changed, then something changed.
Agree with above. BUT I would also check for any binding, king pins, etc. Also measure from the center of the tie rod to something like the wheel then measure the other side and see if there is a large difference. Make sure that you haven't bent a steering arm and that the turning angle side to side isn't causing a problem. And one last check, double check the turning stops, see if one has backed out and stopping the spindle and your flexing the arm by trying to over extend it. ALSO double check toe-in !! If it drove fine before and now you have a problem AND you found nothing loose or broken then I'd say something has definitely moved or bent..... ...
While you might have a problem with the steering arm, I don't see a way that could cause a pull. I'd be looking to see if the front axle is square to the rear axle. It might be worth having the caster and camber checked. Those are the angles that can cause a pull if they aren't close to even side to side. Your problem might even be in the rear if something has allowed the rear axle to shift.
Do you need something like this: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/forged-dropped-steering-arms-usa.1300059/ Or this: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/polished-stainless-steering-arms.1306729/
The pull sounds like a tire going bad. Swap tires left to right, then drive it to see if it goes straight or pulls the other way. If it's a tire, the tire can do 2 things, the pull will get worse or it won't change at all. Usually it's a belt that moved inside the tire, if it keeps moving pull gets worse.... ....
Looking at the blown up shot that Johnny Gee posted, those are some serious dropped arms. Much further than I am used to seeing and a lot of leverage put on that bottom end. I'd be looking it over to see if anything was out of kilter including at least checking the bolts to see if they are tight. That looks like the ones with the bolts going into blind holes like the ones I have out in my stash.
Wow that is a LOT of drop. With that much drop and the leverage of the tie rods against them I wouldn't be surprised to see some flex in the arms. But again I would check ki g pins and stuff for binding just in case... ..
Checked over the front end and I have a binding issue with the kingpins. I removed the drag link and steering linkage. The driver's side spindle was very stiff to turn by hand the other side was easier to move but not as free as it should be.
@junkyardgenius that's what I was expecting from your description. Jack up under axle and unload spindles and see if you can get it to take grease. This next step works best with 2 people, pull the tires off so you can get in there, put the grease gun on the zerk and put pressure against the grease gun lever and have someone slowly turn the steering wheel back and forth- again slowly. This will work the grease around the king pin. IF the king pins grease from the top and bottom caps keep greasing until you see grease come around the thrust bearing. If they grease thru the side of the spindle, keep greasing until you see it come out of the opposite side of the thrust bearing farthest from the grease zerk. What we want is to work the grease all the way thru the thrust bearing too. Keep having someone SLOWLY turning the steering wheel while you do this, it moves the grease completely around the king pins and bushings and helps fill the thrust bearings. Also helps break up the old crusty grease and flush it out.... ...
To add, on old things that have sat for a long time, I’ve used a bottle torch and heated things up. It will get the dried grease to a flowable state. But never would do it if rubber/seals were on the parts.
I would think that arms this severely dropped will bend and change toe in? Have you checked the alignment to see if it's still got the same settings it had when originally completed? If the arms have bent and changed toe in, then you're going to need to figure out how to either work with less drop, or get stronger/larger arms that wont bend.
I had a reputable shop highly regarded on here drop the steering arms on a pair of 32-34 spindles so they went under my 32 wishbones with a 4 inch dropped deuce axle. When I got them back they were so screwed up that when you turned right they would over center and stick. They went in the iron pile. I have used quite a few of the dropped steering arms offered by Roadster Supply. I like the ones with the thru bolts not the blind holes.
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