Early Cowl Steering

I know boring - but it's new to me. I need to be educated in Cowl Steering - like when did they start doing it, how did they do it, and what did they use. I know there is already a lot of information on the site, but I want to keep it early. I have an F1 Box and a 40's Pickup Cross Steering - hoping to use one of them. I have a 31 Roadster, Flathead and 32 Rails.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading,
James

 

Pictures

 

I'm interested in this topic to. I'm planning on doing it in my A sedan. I just haven't started researching it yet

 

Nice looking car james.Searching cowl steering should bring up some info.I'm planning on using a 60's mopar box for-mine still a ways off.

 

Thanks Texas Webb What I would like to know is how they used to do it.When I search I see a lot of modern parts.

 

There are alot of good threads here on this subject with great pics and info. There are also a couple of tech. threads showing the whole procedure if I remember correctly.

 

if your refering to how they "used to do it" as back 50's 60's or earlier then you would use whatever you have laying around to make it work for your application, now this is my opinion guys so dont slaughter me here please is this is where the confusion between "traditional hot rod" and rat rods" comes from... there were no right ways to do thiings back then, no all done like this, thats what made it real there was great imagination in every build... obviously i wasn't around before the 80's but this has been a "family business for many generations and a closely followed passion of mine... i tried doing this on my 27 T but was not impressed and decided to go with a frame rail gearbox... definately interested to see pics when finished... and good luck...

i have some old gearboxes that were used in this fashion from many years back that had the splined shaft cut from another box welded to the end of the shaft of the box being used to lenthen it... this was common practice i guess... hope that helps

 

What went wrong on your T?

 

Any body else

 

Well you don't use cross steering with cowl steering -- cowl steering is side steer.

 

Uh cowl steering won't work with cross steer.

Most home built cowl steer setups use an extended sector shaft of some sort. Or you can get an indy or sprint car box already set up.

 

I was either going to go cowl steering or Cross Leaning towards cowl I'm just wondering what parts people used keeping it old

 

I used a Ross steering box flipped upside down, then extended the shaft out the side. If you go this route fill the box with grease as opposed to oil. My ross steering box came out of a Willys jeep. Jeeps all used the same boxes from the 40s right up through the 60s

 

Thanks that helps

 

Is a Ross better than F1

 

Franklin boxes were the ones early on

 

How often do you see them for sale and what's the price? Thanks

 

With my Ross setup I never had any bump steer issues. I had a bigass steering wheel from a 50s Nash on it, and it still took a bit of effort to steer at a full stop. Then again I had the weight of a 454 on it.

Ross steering boxes are push-pull, Jeeps used them with a bell crank for cross steering. Thats why I had to mount mine upside down, because it worked backwards. I don't know if you can reverse a Ross box. Sitting here thinking about it i think if mounted upside down it would still go into an A frame nicely, and wouldn't be all that hard to mount. Just 3 bolts in a flat plate.

I can't compare one to a F1 box.

 

Alot of 60's modifieds in this area used the Chrysler aluminum manual steering box. It was cheap and available but fairly bulky. Enough room for like a 32 Ford cowl but not for a narrow cowl like a 28/29 Ford unless you want to sit towards the middle of the car like they did. Tried it and it went in the parts bin for a maybe future project.

 

There's a nice article on doing this in the tech archives. Go here
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=77658 Ken

 

What about something from the 40s

 

An F1 box was from the '40s and didn't change until the truck was replaced with the F-100. They are easy to modify and plentiful.

 

Yes, the Franklin box was the one to use in dirt track cars starting in the 1920's. I plan to run one in my '30 Roadster. Bob

 

I am actually cheating on my cowel steer setup. I have a Volvo Box all set up already. The setup needs a little clean up as it was someone else's deal but nothing major.

Two reasons I am using it one is that I have it. Second and more important to me is that it is aluminum small and 4.5 turns lock to lock.

But for the sake of this discussion it is not in any mannoer or fashion a period correct setup.

I still see dedicated Franklin and Ross steering boxes for sale on occaision they usually run abound 250-500 dollars. These are not modified car or truck boxes they are genuine cowel setups.

 

I recently saw a scaled-down Model A "Go Cart" type car, and the builder had utilized a gearbox from the auger of a snowblower as the steering box in a cowl-steer arrangement. (Go stare at your snowblower now) I certainly would NOT recommend this on a full size car, but I had to give the guy points for creativity.

 

Its all about creativity, sometimes we miss the mark and creat a monster, but when someone gets it right it is always soooooo smoooth.