Hope I don't get doinked for this post. Here goes, I have recently added a '65 coupe to the stable. Have installed the disc brake upgrade, upper lower ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends, drag link, pitman arm, and adjusters. I am running raidal tires. Manual steering. An am deadnuts on with the alignment. What gives the thing steers like dog sh-- . Has never been hit or wrecked. Darts around like it had bias ply tires in grooves in the rain. Any insight would be helpful.
Just a stab in the dark here but,I guess the steering alignment would be different for a radial tyred car.Also tyre pressure will be different between radials and bias ply.
So you didn't change or replace the strut rod bushings or the lower control arm bushings or the upper control arm shaft or shaft bushings? All of those things would affect the handling of the car and you didn't mention addressing any of them with your parts replaced list. Also, sometimes the two bolts where the front strut rods mount to the lower control arms will come loose and elongate the holes allowing the lower control arm to move around a bit so you want to look at both of those.
I've just gone thru this with my aussie '72 Falcon. In my case it was the lower control arms moving under motion loads. Because they are adjustable they can dance about if worn. I could hit a bump in the road or corner hard or full lock at the mall and perceive degrees of difference in behaviour, all of it bad. A kit from K-mac with new bolts & deeper fastening nuts has cured it. Nice car now. Fair load on these parts in V8 Mustang/ Falcon.
Bushing on the idler arm on the rt side of the cross link. Garuan-damn-tee'd its worn. You can order one from Auto Zone. All the above as well.
They may suck but the steering on my coupe works fine. There are just abuot as many things can go wrong as there are parts. I'd go see a front end shop on this one because it's just about impossible to fine they problem through this forum.
All '60's Fords are pretty twitchy with stock alignment specs. To fix it, do the A-arm drop and run 3 degrees of caster and 1/2 degree negative camber. It makes all the difference in the world and won't wear the tires out.
I agree with those saying caster, I have a 65 and I think the factory callout for caster is 0 to 1/2 degree mine drove like shit so I gave it 3 1/2 degrees and it was a whole different car, check the idler arm bushing also.
We can let this one slide. The same Info will apply to pre'66 Falcons as well, and we have lots of those on the HAMB. ( although, I guess, most with straight axles... )
Ihad a 65 mustang with stock front aligment and radial tires and it was fine up to 100mph then it started to wander on the road. Mounted TCM shelby springs in front that lowered the front 1 inch. stoped the wandering and then 3 1/2 degrees camber realy made it corner
Uh, this car has ostensibly the same suspension as a '60 Falcon. If he asked the same questions about a '60 Falcon, nobody would be giving any him flack. (Psst: next time, say '60 Falcon)
Update: ok i've replaced all front suspension components, still has that scary side to side wandering. ( Like an overloaded truck on the freeway feel ) all that's left is the steering box. By the way thanks for all who's given experience to my wo's. Sorry to have ruffled feathers in the process.
Have had many of these cars. I would reccomend you shoot for 1.2 degree neg camber, around 3 degrees of caster (if you can get it) and toe at 1/8" in. Also check the box for excessive play and adjust as necessary.
The same front suspension and steering was found on 60-65 Falcons and Comets as well as the 65-66 Mustangs. The steering boxes were used on Falcons/Comets, Maverick/Comets, and Mustangs. The earlier ones had a long steering shaft, the later ones a stub shaft with a rag-joint. Pitman shafts were 1" on most earlier apps and 1 1/8" on later ones. Adjusting the steering box using the factory manual procedure is the way to do it. Don't just reach down and tighten up the sector adjustment screw, that's the way steering boxes were done by know-nothings. Boxes should be adjusted without steering pitman arm attached. The steering box of any car, kept properly lubricated and adjusted should last the life of the car...like 200K plus.
Do you have a front anti-sway bar? I just went through a '64 Falcon. I was not equipped with an anti-sway bar, which made for a very disconcerting ride. It has one now, and it made a HUGE difference, as did the "Shelby Drop".
Another thing to check is the shock tower for cracks. Look closely for cracks near the reinforcement brace the upper control arm bolts to. I have had a few with this problem through the years - and currently have a 70 convert up on my hoist with that problem . Shoot me your e-mail if you want me to send you a pic of it for an example. Dave
The Jalopy Journal
