Steering box arm hitting exhaust

I need your guys opinion;

i just got in new lakester headers and bolted them up. P***angers side clears great, but I run into the problem of the steering box arm hitting the header when i turn the wheels.

I dont no what would be the best way to get around this...
have the exhaust modified so it clears, try and fing a shorter steering arm, or possibly have this arm shortened.

What do you guys think would be the best solution?

 

Hey, Toshi;

Don't know what your steering geometry is, as far as bump steer issues - if any -, but might it be possible to use a spacer 'twixt the box & frame mount? Say, 1/4" -> 1/2". May get you the clearance you need, & if your steering is perfect now, not muck it up much. May also require a small amount of clearancing at the firewall, & of course, a small re-adjust of the drag-link length.

Otherwise, exhaust or steering arm mods are in order, unless you want to shim the engine up a bit. If you shim the mill up, make sure you check that you haven't changed the driveline angle(s) out of spec.
FWIW.

Marcus...

 

Bend the arm to the frame ? Need another view

 

The arm is directly in the middle of the pipe.

I like the idea of spacing it down a bit for clearance, but I'm not sure if that'll be enough.

 

I wonder if i turned it 180 degrees if that'll do the trick? But then my steering would be revered...

 

I think thay or we call them pitman arms oh hell I may be drinking.

 

Reversed steering could definitely make life interesting. Better to go with bending the pitman arm slightly in or out to clear the pipe or see what spacing the box down will do to steering/shaft clearance/firewall angle etc.

 

It looks to me like your geometry is all *** backwards already . I would consider reversing the steering box internals and mounting the box to the top of the frame rail with the pitman arm pointing down. This will get you the clearance you need but more importantly it will get your draglink moving in the correct arc in relation to your hairpin . I'd bet you've got bump steer issues with it set up like it is now .



.

 

It might be an effective anti-theft feature.

 

I would space the box down also and that will help staighten the drag link out a tad. JW.

 

Whoa! - look at the drag-link angle!

And the welded & chromed drop-arm...

It would last 10 minutes in New Zealand!

 

That would never get on the street in NZ. JW

 

I would agree here, It looks to have many geometry problems already.

 

after looking at it in my garage a little more I think i will be able to take the arm and flip it around so it stick out away from the fram. Should have juuust enough clearance.

 

Isn't the hole tapered for the tie rod end?

 

If it is I can ream it out a little to make the end fit.

 

without a complete re-do. heat and bend the pitman arm out a little, shim the box down and the motor up. a little here a little there.

 

That won't work as the spline inside the Pitman arm is tapered where it goes on the spline on the shaft.

I think the simple solution is going to be the one Bgaro offered above in that a little here and a little there should get you where you want to be.

From what I can see I think I would make a half inch spacer to go between the box and the mount on the bottom of the frame and drop the box that much and rework any other bolt holes that are needed to mount it. That will help get the drag link more in line with the radius rod angle too. You could space it down with washers to see how much you need and then cut and drill a solid plate for a spacer.

 

I think you'll find that you can't flip it over due to the taper in the splined end on the pitman shaft. The pitman arm most likely will fit only one way-the way you have it.. The easiest way is take it off, heat it up, and bend it.

 

I can't space the steering box down because there is no extra clearance. I was reading in other threads that you can Ream the tapered part of the pitman and turn it around. I guess if that doesn't work out then I will have to heat up the arm and bend it.

 

Is this on the road yet? How is the bump-steer?

 

Pitman arm is on a tapered spline, definitly do not ream it out

 

No its not drivable yet. I bought it as a project car.

So best way would be to heat it up and bend it?

 

I suspect that you will have more work to do than just the pitman arm issue here.

The steering geometry shown is far from ideal. The drag link pivot, at the pitman arm, needs to be on the imaginary line drawn between the drag link pivot, at the steering arm (attached or part of the spindle), and the radius arm (front suspension link) pivot. Preferably, it would be as far back on that line as possible. The longer the drag link, and the closer the length to the radius arm, the better.

On many cars, you will see that the drag link and the radius arm are parallel, often on cowl steering equipped cars. You will also notice that, in those cases, most often, the drag link is longer than the radius arms.

The farther that the drag link pivot, a the pitman arm is, the worse that the bump steer will be. Yours appears to be 6-8" away from that line.

There is a good graphic bouncing around here, but I can't seem to spot it right off. I hope someone will post it.

I think you should find a steering box that has the opposite swing (pitman down) from what you have now. It will solve the current problem, and your impending problems.

 

You can't ream a splined hole and still have splines. Use the second alternative.

Bob

 

Excerpt from a Rod and Custom article: "Here we see four different examples of how steering could be set up on a dropped-axle frontend. Number one is stock, while number two is an early hot rod design utilizing a split-wishbone. Notice the strange geometry of the drag link. Number three is an example of a split-wishbone with a Mustang steering box, which is an improvement over the previous two but suffers from short drag link that can cause bumpsteer. The final illustration is of a Mustang box and a four-link, which extends the drag link and eliminates bumpsteer entirely."

Your current setup is akin to #3; however, your drag link appears to be going uphill versus the radius arm, which would make the bumpsteer inherent in the design even worse.

Think #1. There is a reason why that was the stock design.

 

That was about reaming the hole that the rod end goes in from the other side to flip the drag link for either clearance or to get a better angle with it. Quite often to move it in a tad for tire clearance.

After looking at that again I think I'd consider switching to a different box or going to a cross steer setup on that car.

 

I'd heat it up and bend it. From what I can see in this picture,it looks like you would want to bend in inwards,towards the frame. Be nice to see a picture of the other end of the draglink to see how it is connected to the spindle. If is is an old wishbone style bracket, you could heat that up also and raise it to straighten out the draglink (so it does not point downhill ).

 

Come to think of it, it's past time you showed some photos of the whole car and a few more photos of the front suspension and steering might clarify things on this deal.

 

When they talk about reaming the pitman arm they are taking about the small end where the tie rod end goes through the pitman arm - not the large end closest to the box - whilst the large end is tapered it will also be splined and usually has some splines wider than others so it can't be rotated.

Sorry just read Bob's post - he gave same advice