I'm seeking some advice on which way to go with this- pros and cons of each.... Here's is what I currently have (these 4 pics). I'm trying to make is look decent but keep the drag link parallel with the wishbone. 1. This reduces bump-steer, right? I also need to re-clock my pitman arm but cutting it and re-welding it in the center of the range of motion. 2. When you shorten your pitman arm, you gain ease of steering, right? However, you lose range of motion too, right? ...more questions, in a few....
Ok, I pulled this from the HAMB... I'm asking any pros/cons on these... I see it would be the easiet way for me to put my pitman arm on the outside of my wishbone....would also help get back my drag link to being parallel with my wishbones.... The only thing is, do you lose some strength or have some funky wear on your sector bearings when you do this?
......just some others I had saved back for just this occasion.. I could bite the bullet and just put my split bones back together and make them fit the 32 K member.... Bad bump-steer????
not sure what this is, but seems to clear nicely.......53-56 truck??? i like the subtle bends...looks good...
whoa!, dont cut the pitman arm just take a V shaped file and make teeth where they arent so you have a full array of teeth around the inside of the arm then you can put it whereever you want as for the bump steer you want the line going down the drag link and the line down the center of the wishbone to cross at the end of the wishbone........they both pivot on the same point then....does that make sense? length of the pitman arm is based on a ratio to the arm on the spindle i see you have a loop arm on the spindle....compare that to the stock length on whatever car your steering box came from....i'm ***uming f-1 the ratios that they seem to like in the tardel book are listed i think? its late and i work at 6am....so thats all i can think of now good luck zach
OH, gr***hopper, don't you trust my welding abilities.... Uh, good idea on the file, but that sounds like it would be Very hard to file out those 3-4 flat spots on the splines of the pitman arm......or do you just file out those flat spots completely.....
It's not hard to file the new splines, just takes a little time. The pitman arm that has the ball end on it is probably from a '49 or so F-1. That one in the pic may have been bent out just slightly. If you are having clearance problems with the tie rod end hitting your wishbone, just mount the rod end on the inside of the pitman, hanging under the frame. You'd just need to add a taper in the pitman from the inside (halfway) and it would probably fit perfectly. Stock '32's use this setup.
Also, I believe interchange possibilities are considerable--that spline fits not only '32-48 Ford and F-1's, it is common on most USA and even some foreign cars up into modern times, including most non-power steer Ford and GM and even the smaller GM power boxes. Most junkyard boxes whose shaft looks about this size will turn out to have this spline pattern.
Looks like I'll break out the file.....thanks!!! edit: I still like the one in post #2....does that hurt anything?
from a steering standpoint no, but I wouldn't recommend doing it like that. has to much of a tendancy to make it weak and twist. try lowering and pulling in your split wishbone mounting point to give clearance to the steering arm. also, are the spindles bent correctly? they don't look quite right from the picture. holding a string from the centerline of the kingpin to the center of the rear crossemember, the tierod mount should be centered on the string.
The Jalopy Journal
