So I was just looking at old threads on stepped arms, and I'm kinda wondering why most of the people think they needed dropped steering arms to go with the step. I read several people say that they put the dropped steering arm on to put the tie rod back parallel with the arm. The shape of the arm makes absolutely no difference in if you need a dropped steering arm. The actual pivot points are what determine what angle the tie rods need to be. I saw that a lot of people did this because they had bump steer after doing the step, so they thought it was because the tie rod wasn't parallel with the arm. Well if you measured the pivot point before and after and they stayed the same, your geometry didn't change. The only thing that changed is the fact that the car is lower because of the location of the bottom of the spring. I haven't graphed out all of the cars that got stepped, but I would guess that some of them the dropped arms may have helped a little . Bt some could of made it worse. The stock steering on these old ifs cars are not the greatest design. None where perfect. Some where close enough at stock hight. But when lowered they just get to the point where they don't align worth a ****. You should always measure all of you pivot points and draw them on paper to see what you are working with before you just blindly move one of them. When I did my plymouth rack conversion, I spent 2 or 3 days just getting all of the measurements laid out right. And it paid off because I have less than a 1/8" of toe change in the full 6-7" of wheel travel. Even on the stock ply the factory pivot points on the stock steering arms are not even close. Everybody with one of these cars knows the stock steering ****s, but nobody ever fixes the fact that the steering arms both are different. One arm has the tie rod on the top of the arm and the the other has it on the bottom. So everybody that does the rack swap is a lot closer the better geometry, they are still a ways off of being perfect. Now the only thing mine is lacking is more caster, and that will be the next project. When I do the suspension on my wife's galaxie I will do the same thing to it, I will get all of the measurements and change the pivot locations on the steering to make sure that it has as little bump steer as possible.
right on!! Correct...if not lowered spindles. Then its possible needed, to get alike measures as original. Your rack & pinion, how you did, is the way to go. And yes the cars of that time didnt have "perfect" geometri... as they says about the early 50s Chevy, no Ackerman angle, its just far off. Rack swap, when mounted correct are gives a far better geometry, and its feelable when driving. Your tip is absolutly right...check,recheck, chek again, before doing!
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