Can anyone tell me what vehicle this steering box came on ? The lettering on it is ROSS TA122987. The car steers & handles OK but it is heavy steering. Would having the steering box rebuilt help or should I replace it with something newer. Any recommendation for a rebuilder? I purchased the car at an estate sale & they knew nothing about the car other than it was in a garage for 35 years or more. It had the single master cylinder & I had it replaced with a dual.
Not sure what that is from, but Ross made a lot of boxes. If you take it apart you may find common parts that you can get from similar Ross boxes.
Ross typically uses casting numbers to give a hint of product ID, and then has stamped numbers to give full ID. Heavy steering? How many steering wheel turns from stop to stop? If in the 4 or 5 turn range, look for binding in the box. Does the car wander because it sticks with every steering correction and then need to correct for that? If so, kingpins would be binding in the bushings from lack of lube or incorrect installation.
Very good tip...My Ross box is only 2-3/4 lock to lock. Mine is not like that one in your pic. I'm going to do a major de-caster on my car...just to try it. Your car might have excessive caster...or all the stuff already mentioned. Find out what is really the reason, before tossing parts.
My 72 Maverick/Mustang box has about 5 turns because it is from a manual steer car. Hydraulic slave cylinder assist cars had the 4 turn box. To me, 2 3/4 turns would be heavy with no regards to what type of tire or caster. Caster will need to maintained to prevent the other known problems asociated with incorrect caster in a buggy Ford front. You don't want to build another problem into what you already have. Ever watch a dirt USAC Sprint have the low speed death wobble and have to hop on the throttle to drive out of it? See the front tires shaking left and right before all the cars are on the track and they line up?
F&J, I think it all fits together. I will say this, I'M NOT THE ALIGNMENT GUY, but I've worked around it for over 20 years and learned an few things. I base my info on being told the Ford front crossmember needed to have caster as you build your frame. Mr. Spadaro has taken the time to explain some stuff to. I think it might be his turn.
Well I really do want to see a level headed discussion on all this someday. We see so many wrong things on here that never get picked up on, but the 7 to 8 always gets repeated. It really makes no sense to me, as caster/camber on any make of car is figured in for bias vs radial, PS vs manual, scrub radius, offsets, weight bias, and on and on. So my point is say: 2 32 Fords, one with all aluminum 4 cyl, on radials with discs or Buick drums which push the scrub out into the next county, vs a 392 Hemi, cast iron 4 speed, on bias....yet the sheeple say caster is always 7 to 8?
Fair enough. Also to troubleshoot heavy steering would be tire pressure being too low. This same problem will cause other handling situations depending on if it's in the front or rear.
Thought through another step. If the car drives good at speed without bad manners, it's a geometry question having answers to lengths of the pitman arm and spindle arm. I witnessed a car built with a Schroeder sprint box in a cowl mount placement, 14" or so steering wheel, wide front tires. Heavy steering in a parking lot, sensitive but not twitchy at speed. Pitman arm length from center to drag link end helps determine part of the ratio. Wheel turns determines part of. Spindle arm length from kingpin center to drag link end center determines parts. Wheel width/backspacing/tire width/tire pressure determines some too. All must work together with correct axle caster in a beam axle.
The Jalopy Journal
