there is a box here in the cl***ifieds from a 41 ford truck and it resembles a vega box as far as where the shaft placement are. i was wondering if it would be possible to configure it for cross steering. im trying to stay pre 60 for my Model a truck build and i have had no luck finding a f1 box and the price is right on the 41 box
A '41 box will be a worm/sector box and could be fubar'd ,especially in the centered position, and can be spendy to rebuild. A vega style box may be the better choise
These boxes work great, a little larger than a Vega; there are parts available to rebuild them. I've had one in my Model A for quite awhile and it steers like ****er. Vern Tardel offers a "how-to" book on these boxes that's got a lot of helpful info.
Ive got one in my '31 AV8 roadster, works great, I rebuilt it two winters ago. Also I had a panhard bar on it, I took it off and the car rides alot better now.
I have one in my Deuce. Works well, but I wasn't able to keep the one piece steering shaft because it wouldn't clear the exhaust I'm using. I cut the shaft and used two welded, pinned joints with an intermediate shaft to get it around the engine. You lose the ability to run the horn wire thru the shaft, unfortunately. I added a panhard to help stabilize things, but could have run without one. BTW, it's a worm and roller, not worm and sector. My only complaint is that I wish it were faster. It's about 3 3/4 turns lock to lock and is very light. OTOH, I bet that visually 95% of people wouldn't notice the difference between it and a Vega box.
Nope. And while this will be debated over and over again on here, me and about 100 other guys I know will be happily driving around without em.
Here is a thread I started: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=650849 Didnt work for me. BUT thats because I am running a flathead and the side of the motor got in the way too much using the A rails. It would have worked if I was using an OHV motor where all the business is up higher out of the way. Its totally easy with a 32 frame also because you have more room between the frame and the engine.
Ford used cross steer 1935-41 without panhard anti-sway, '37-41 with this basic box. "42-8 they used the bar, not because of cross steer as such but because of using what amounted to dropped shackles. If early shackles are set right they will handle sway fine.
From 1909-1941 Ford car and pickup springs were mounted under tension thus eliminating sidesway as a problem and having no need for a Panhard bar. From 1942-48 the Ford cars came stock with front and rear Panhard bars since the springs were no longer mounted in tension in order to give a softer smoother ride to compete with other makes with IFS and dual rear springs.
There were several versions of "stabilizer" bars on '40-41's and on slightly earlier Zephyrs, made basically as anti-roll bars but with some mounted in such a way ast to resist sway, but they were sort of "soft", subject to bending of a spring part, in the sway direction. Sway control was mandatory on '42 up yypes because of hanging shackles.
Next time I'm in Austin, can stop by with some shop rags and a can of mineral spirits and clean that nasty *** steering box for you Dreddybear? I would lose sleep if that was bolted to my nice bare metal frame.
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