The steering arm does lean forward when going straight down the road. When the arm is straight up I'm turning right, and when its horizontal I'm turning left. In other words vertical is right and 90 degrees to that I'm turning left.
Here's a pic showing the basic set-ups and how they look. Note the 4-bar at the bottom. Bars are parallel to ground, drag link is parallel to bars and steering arm straight up. Replicate this type of geometry, add a panhard bar and get lined up with 7 degrees of caster and you'll be riding with two fingers on the wheel at 100mph. -Bigchief.
I honestly have no idea whats wrong there. Even if you burned the rear brackets off and moved them back as far as the firewall, the angle is still going to be too steep. There absolutely should not be a "joint" in the center of the top 4 bar---that is an extremely bad "buckle" point. The threaded adjustment should be either at the extreme front or extreme rear of the bar, right at the cross tube which holds the urethane bushings for the cross bolt. It seems as if the spring has too much arch in it, or else too many leaves in it.---Or the crossmember is positioned incorrectly in the frame. Please, please take the car to a competent rod shop and have them look at it. That setup is going to kill you.
Im with brianangus on this one..alot of issues you have going on there..I wouldnt be driving it until it was corrected..not even to go up for a soda..(might be your last) the links are not right..but looks to me that you have more than just a 4 link problem.. jack that puppy up and blow that entire front suspension and steering situation off of there, and buy or build the right stuff as mentioned before..Welder Series has some nice stuff..and DW is on here alot..he can help you out with questions and get you pointed in the right direction..(no pun intended)
I hope that Pitman Arm is stronger than it looks. Looks like a big accident waiting to happen. Real all the Hamb Tech Archive posts on chassis and suspension. Strip it right down to nothing, and start again;before someone gets hurt. Take a long look at the rear suspension while you are at it. And sell the stubby "headers", Carbon Monoxide poisoning is not cool.
On another safety related note, I would suggest that you replace the current bolt connecting the pitman arm thru the heim joint to the drag link with a bolt that is 1/2-to-1-inch longer than your current bolt and use a new nylock or steel lock nut to secure this bolt. From your pictures, it looks like your existing nut is only partially threaded onto the current bolt. You'd be in deep do-do if that nut decided to come loose and vibrate off. We don't want to see you or others get hurt.
Looks to me like the top of the crossmember is mounted to the very bottom of the frame...thus the extra height. What type of joints are used at the frame brackets? The side angle looks extreme. Show a picture or two of the front of the car from farther back. Need to see the ride height etc better. My opinion right now...Replace the short 4 link bars with longer ones and pay careful attention to your Caster angle. Move the spring up to lower the car or at least move the 4 link frame brackets down if lowering the front a bit is impossible. Get the 4 links closer to parallel with the road surface. Redesign the steering pitman arm to prevent the arm from going over center on left turns. (The arm should be close to vertical as the car is going straight AND the box rotations should be centered to insure that it uses the tight spot in the adjustment to prevent excess play in the wheel.) Use a new, longer high strength bolt in the Pitman arm and a large machine washer to prevent the Heim housing from popping off the bolt completely if it somehow pulls itself off the ball...or use a proper tapered shaft tierod end. Lets see whats out back for a suspension too. That can also make a difference in handling/road feel.
Unless you are experienced at chassis design and fabrication, (I don't think you are!) buy a front end in kit form and start over. By the time you get done playing with that mess and "patching it up", you will be a lot better off with a pre-engineered kit. This will probably be faster, easier, cheaper, and for sure better than ANYTHING you can do with the shit you have now...
yep, start with the 1" drop 32 cross member and a good set of hairpins,drop 'bout half the spring leaves, do a little tweaking on the steering, life will be good
little off topic question... what does your rear set up look like. just figured i'd ask with the front looking like that.
Thanks for the kind words! JWS, there are a few concerns being shared that are all very valid. I'd seriously consider parking your new T until these issues get sorted out. The first thing I noticed was that the bars are mounted under the frame rails. While not a huge deal with the frame at it's current ride height, once the frame comes down to the axle (we used to use a 2x4 laying down between the crossmember and axle as a rule of thumb to establish ride height) there may be some clearance issues. The other giveaway that the frame isn't where it should be is the distance between the spring and frame rails. I think someone else mentioned that it looks like the spring mounts about at the bottom of the frame rail. On a Model A, we used to mount the crossmember with the rad mounting pads 1/2" from the top of the rails. Typically, you would need to C-notch the frame rails for spring clearance. HERE is a link to our Model A/ similar front four link kit. As you can see, the bars in our kit are 22-1/2" from the center of the bushing eye to the tip of the threaded end. Your bars might look a bit on the short side, but I agree that the bars don't appear to be the main problem (other than the adjuster in the middle - like Brian said, that's a great stress point, and once you get the caster right, you won't need to adjust it again). I think my first job on the checklist would be to support the frame, then remove the spring. Let the frame down to where there's ~2" between the top of the axle and the bottom of the crossmember. See what kind of interference you have, and what sort of arc the steering arm moves in. I'd also be interested in seeing the shocks at this point. Next on my list would be to check the spring... it looks pretty stiff to me, judging by the little bumper on the passenger side shock and how close it is to the shock body. Have you played with that since you had the car out last? If the car settles out nicely after the spring has been removed and there's no binding, then you've pinpointed the issue. However, I'm with someone else... the crossmember looks pretty far down the frame rail. You may need to relocate it so the spring can sit higher in the frame. I'd also get a longer drag link made. It should attach to the pitman arm at about the 12:00 position at ride height. Let's see your rear end!!
I checked the cross member when I got home and it is welded on the bottom of the frame rails. Also the cross member (may be a stock cross member instead of a drop version) would also push the frame up as it is made in a \__/ shape instead of some what flat like the 32 version that Speedway sells. So I'm definitely replacing it with the 32 version. I also belive that we will be able to remove some of the leafs from the spring. I'm probably also going to remove the 4 link and install a hairpin setup. I appreciate all the help. I have never messed with this type of suspension before so I need all the help I can get.
JWS--Be aware that stock crossmembers had that drop in the center so that the leaf spring cleared the frame sufficiently at the point where the spring crosses under the framerail. The pictures I posted last night is a stock model A crossmember. If you go to a flatter crossmember to get the front end real low, you will have to notch and box the underside of the frame to clear the spring during suspension travel.---Brian
Surely, there must be someone in Kansas that knows about suspension & steering that can physically look at this set up before it kills someone. JWS where in Kansas are you? There's many good people on here and you've indicated a lack of knowledge on this type of suspension. That alone should get you some help.
Yblock292 has graciously offered to help out with the redo, and I know he is very familiar with this type of suspension. Believe me with all thats been said here I have no intention of driving this the way it is. I just wish I would have asked the question along time ago so that I could have fixed it before I got everything else in.
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