Wondering if any issues clocking pitman arm on steering box to side of dead on center. Would help crossmember clearance. Would box still self centered?
If I understand what you're asking the steering might turn more sharply in one direction than the other. To have even turning in both directions the pitman arm and drag link should be at a 90 degree angle with the steering box centered and the wheels pointing straight ahead. Lynn
With tie rod not hooked up/off arm. Steering box center point is the spot were gears in box are designed to have the least play,can be found by counting max # turns of steering wheel,then come back 1/2 way point,refine by moving steering wheel a little each way, and feel for smallest ply point*= That will pin-point real dead center. DO NOT MOVE ,be sure front wheels are put straight ahead,then adjust and hook up tie rod with out moving front wheels or steering wheel/box. As far as return to straigth ahead of steering goes; that is your caster setting,that brings your tires back to a straight line when rolling. The Pitman if ever removed from box*,must be replaced to factory set*,or if box is moved in to a custom spot*,than arm is place on box/when box is on dead center and arm is set 90* off tierod at straigth ahead front wheels. Making angle match each way to max turn. This is info for standard steering, not power steering. Some power steering has valving designed to return to center of box, in witch case, you must still match up center of box and front wheels straigth ahead.
Most of the pitman arms I have seen have a "flat spot" in it to match a spot on the steering box shaft, just to prevent what is being suggested.
And those "flat spots" can be remove with careful filing with a three-cornered file, so the pitman arm can be "clocked" in whatever position it needs to be. And by the way, you should never ask such a question without also posting pictures of the problem at hand.
Self-centering is a result of caster in the front suspension, not the steering box. Center in the steering box is important as mentioned because it is the point designed to have minimal play when going straight down the road. It also represents the point where the box has equal rotation in either direction from center.
This is primarily to Clock the pitman arm to a factory intended setting. It can be put on in set positions but not just put on randomly with this setup. This is what you do after you turn the wheel lock to lock without the drag link hooked up to figure out center and the pitman arm isn't exactly where it. You are no longer concerned with factory settings at this point, you want equal turns from center to lock on each side and the wheels to turn equally side to side. Agree with his second point, GOOD PHOTOS GET BETTER AND QUICKER CORRECT ANSWERS!! True after you have the pitman arm exactly where you want it on a side steer setups as that is where the issue in question comes about. If you do have an independent front end you do center the wheel and adjust the tie rod ends to put the tires back at the correct orientation. Meaning you shorten one side and lengthen the other side an equal amount of turns to center the wheel when driving down the road. One reason I had very few comebacks on any of the cars I did alignements on, I always test drove the car and centered the steering wheel so it was perfectly centered going down a straight piece of road.
I hadn’t seen where this was a side steer that you were clocking the pitman arm for, now it make sense. To bad you can’t cut, collar and drill for pins in the position you want on the shaft that goes to the pitman arm…
When I assembled my Saginaw power box on my car, the pitman arm was too far to one side using the factory position on the steering box, in other words, it turned farther one way than the other. On Gimpy's advice, I cut out the double splines, and set the box to dead center, the front tires to dead center, then put the pitman arm back on. This gave me the same distance turning on both sides. My only problem is I have less of a turning radius than what I would like, which I think can be corrected with a longer pitman arm when I find one that works.
Center the steering box/pitman arm as described above. If it needs more clearance in one direction, you could heat and bend it. Lots of OEM pitman arms have a dogleg in them for clearance of obstructions. You would have to modify your drag link accordingly.
When we built my deuce pickup we used a 37 Hudson box with a 34 pitman arm, We ended up filing the large serrations in order to get the box centered with the 32 spindle arm.
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