Technical Rebuilding cowl steering

Did you do the centering test on the steering box yet?
Sounds like that right kingpin could be an issue.
A longer steering arm will slow down the steering and you could also bend it upward slightly to level the draglink a bit if needed. It seems to tip down a bit in the pics...but that might be just the angle of the picture. Not really sure.

 

I haven't had a chance to do the centering test. I'm gonna do that Saturday. The drag link is actually almost dead parallel with the ground. It's looking like I need to extend the steering arm / shorten the pitman arm so I may have to end up doing something like that if I'm left with an angle.

I've seen some guys actually raise the steering arm up to help level it. And issues with that?

 

I'd try a longer steering arm before altering the pitman arm.
A shorter pitman arm will change the draglink angle in a bad way and will require raising the steering arm to compensate.
That can be done of course, but may not need to be if a reasonably longer steering arm turns out to be enough.
Saves some work and the potential to require an excessively bent steering arm.
Of the two levers, lengthening the steering arm (***uming you have the room) just has less negative effects on the whole system.
I'd make a dummy sheet metal steering arm (1/8"ish thick) and bolt it to the draglink joint...then clamp it to the original and play with the length to see how much the steering changes. You will get a good visual of how it looks etc that way too.
No driving of course! LoL

 

Great idea. Room shouldn't be an issue either. I'll take some measurements this weekend.

The truck is about an hour away at a friends barn. He just has a lot more room to work on it than I do. Problem is, I don't have time during the week to do anything to it. So I have to wait until the weekend.

 

Been awhile since I updated this. Things are moving along. Got the front brakes on. The truck officially has new ends on the tie rod and drag link, new perch bolts, new king pins, new lower steering arms, and a new upper steering arm with a 2in kick up. I know there isn't weight on the front end but everything is moving smooth as ****er.

The new steering arm is just shy of 7in from pivot point to pivot point. That puts it basically the same length as the pitman arm. I could move the drag link up 2 holes for a measurement of 4in pivot point to pivot point... So 2in shorter than the steering arm. And with the kick up, my drag link should stay almost identical in terms of being parallel with the wishbone.

I'm hoping / thinking that going from having my steering arm about an inch less than my pitman arm to having my steering arm about 2in longer should make a big difference in steering ratio / feel.

I just chopped out the old column and starting mocking everything up for he new setup, so I haven't had a chance to test that out yet.

 

any updates on the steering?

 

Wow

 

Not a whole lot to report on the steering. Been busy finishing up the brakes (running all the new lines, bleeding, etc) and just finished up building the engine (entire top half is new).

I'm going to hopefully be dialing in the steering and alignment next weekend. I'm at a stopping point with it until I can get her back on the road and see how it steers. Then make any tweaks. But everything is in, new column, new u joint, and the box is centered.

Once I figure out how much the drag link needs moved up I'm going to make a new pitman arm so there's no excess hanging down.

This whole process has dragged out way longer than I had hoped, but that's just how it goes sometimes.

 

progress is often at speeds one can not accept readily. One gets used to going forward and backwards when building these projects. Had a dose of that yesterday and I am certain that it will repeat again soon!
Engine looks clean. What induction are you using?

 

Pin striped heater housing!!!

 

The engine is a stock roller 302 block, Flo Tek heads, E303 cam, Comp pushrods and 1.6 roller rockers, Parker funnelweb manifold, and Holley 650 carb.

Should be a fun little setup. Didn't want anything crazy, plus the truck doesn't weight a lot so it's plenty for just cruising around town.

 

So LNL it looks like a 59 dash? And what abo/ut that Southwind htr? Looks like it has been gutted..what is inside it and does it provide any heat at all?
We would all like to see pics of this tk

 

You are correct sir. Out of a 59 Biscayne.

Heater is gutted, it houses my fuse block. No heat. Heck I don't even have side gl*** at the moment haha. All in good time I suppose.

I'm hoping 2-3 more weeks and she'll be back on the rode. We shall see.

 

Where did you source that steering arm with the rise in it? Looks like I am in need of one for my set up on the 31

 

It's an off the shelf part from Speedway. 2" drop Ford upper steering arm.

It's technically meant for 37-48 Fords but flipping it "upside down" worked perfectly for me. I didn't really want to raise the height of my drag link, but in order to slow the steering down I didn't have much of a choice. And this will help keep bump steering down.