I just finished up the front air ride on the 63. We took it off jack stand to raise and lower it and ran into an issue. We noticed that the pitman arm nut is hitting the inner tie rod. I think this car used to be power steering. The end of the center link on the drivers side looks to be cut off where the control valve used to be. Has anyone had on issue with the tie rod hitting. I can take pics if need be. What are my options to fix this, thanks for any help. JIMMY
If the end of the center link is "cut off", there should have been an adapter screwed on that stub (a Borgeson manual steering adapter) to take the place of the control valve. Sounds like some body rigged up a home-made replacement. How/where does your pitman arm attach to the center link? Also, is your pitman arm curved or straight?
Definirely a PS car that was converted over to manual steering. I would try to eyeball up some non-PS parts to see if there's a difference. You would need the centerlink, pitman and idler arms. Bob
Looks like they just removed the control valve and left part of the unit in there. The adapter I mentioned looks the same, except there is no flange where the old valve was mounted. I'm no Galaxie expert, but I've fiddled with these on a Falcon and a Comet. The tie rod ends for the PS cars kind of looks like the head of a golf club--- it's curved so that the rods avoid the center link. They're also VERY expensive compared to manual steering parts because they are more rare. Perhaps somebody swapped in the wrong tie rod ends, or maybe since you installed air-ride you're taking the suspension beyond its original range of motion. Either way bobss396 is probably right that you should look for a whole manual steering setup to replace what you have.
Thanks for all the help. I just scored a complete manual steering set. It has the tie rods, center link, pitman arm and steering box for 160 bucks. Will be picking it up tomorrow. JIMMy
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