'53 Effie dropped pitman arm

I installed a 3" dropped axle in my '53, now have bump steer like crazy, big suprise.......anyway, looking to find or build a dropped pitman arm or maybe the shaft and am having a hard time bending my mind around this. The pitman arm is pretty unique, and I'm pretty sure they are both cast. Any ideas out there?

 

I doubt it's cast. Probably forged. If you could bend it right after the tierod's connection, I'd think that would be the best spot. Lower it til it's level with the pitman arm's joint, if possible. You will need to make sure you don't cause interference with the axle or the draglink itself.

 

i can;t really see what's causing your problem. that pitman arm looks homemade out of flat steel? that's not stock , is it?

i doubt any of those steering parts are cast

 

Pitman arm is original equipment, supposed to be a Volare steering box, don't know about the rod, looks to be original.

 

You are mixing the names of the components up. The pitman arm attaches to the steering box. The drag link bolts to that. A steering arm connects the draglink to the spindle.

Your truck uses a steering arm that connects both the draglink and the tie rod, which is a little unusual.

 

Yup, thanks for the clarity

 

Hope you don't mind a Chevy guy chiming in but I had the same problem when I installed my 3" dropped axle and I think it was caused by the same thing.

The drag link needs to be parallel to the ground and, it's normal after installing a dropped axle that the drag link now angles upwards from the pitman arm towards the steering arm. I did 2 things to correct this:

1. I cut a 3/4" section out of the pitman arm, then took the 2 pieces to a certified welder and had him tig it back together along with a gusset plate.
(red paint is optional)

2. I moved the steering box forward (just to get me more room in the cab) and up about 1".

Those 2 mods pretty much leveled out the drag link and voila(!) no more bump steer.

You can see what I did in the picture.

 

After getting the pitman arm off, it does look homemade. I think I'll shorten it like Waldo53 did and see if that helps. I'm a little concerned about turning radius, but I don't see any way around it.

Thanks for all the input,

JayD

 

Are you sure that it's "bump steer" you're experiencing? Your drag link doesn't look like it's too far off parallel-especially as compared to a stocker. If the symptoms you're sensing are wandering side to side or inability to keep the truck in a straight line (lotsa sawing on the wheel) you may be suffering from too little caster-a result of the dropped axle.

 

I was thinking the same thing,my drag link is less parallel than yours and I have minor bump steer.

 

Good point on the caster angle. I don't see any caster shims in your axle pictures but maybe it's just the camera angle. If you look at the picture in my previous post you can see the stock caster "shim" (it's actually a wedge) between the spring pack and the axle pad. The caster shim or shims will tilt the top of the kingpin back in relation to the bottom of the kingpin, similar to fork rake on a motorcycle. On a Chevy the original spec is about 1 to 3 degrees of caster angle.