Technical Undropped model A front axle cross steering

Bit of a long one but here goes.
I want to run a standard undropped model A axle with split bones and cross steering on an unmodified model A chassis. I am using socal round back spindles and bolt on steering arms. With this set up the steering arms would need to be bent upwards so that the tie rod can sit over the bones and give anough clearance for the tie rod and drag link.
If the steering arms are bent downward so the tie rod sits under the bones then the vega box will be too high and the drag link would hit the split wishbone.
Has anyone done this before or seen steering arms that have been bent upwards? Anyone have pics of a similar setup?
I know it would probably be better to run side steering but any advice would help.

 

Are you taking into account the bending you would save by placing the rod end in from the other side of the arm? Taper the hole from the other side too. Taper halfway in, it will be fine.

 

What he said

 

Yep, mount the rods on top of the hole in the arms and you'll be fine with less bending. Here is a photo of a 4-1/2" dropped axle with stock A spindles and the arm's turned 180* to turn the ball downand keep the tierod in stock position to Bones. The doors wide open as to what to do. No rules apply.
The Wizzard

 

I am in Australia. Right hand drive. I was thinking I could get a set of left hand drive dropped steering arms and swap sides so that the arms point upwards and not down. Then place the tie rod on top to improve clearance. Would you see any issue with alignment with doing this?

 

Make the pics bigger, I am having a hard time seeing the issue.

Anything can be done if you have a torch and a big enough hammer. I doubt you will find anyone with the exact same setup as you are proposing. Most guys running a stock axle will also use stock spindles with integral arms. Basically a bolt-together setup. Sorry I can't give you any personal experience.

But, I can say that if you go too high above your wishbone, you will run into interference between the tie rod and the crossmember, as well as the lower pulley, on full-lock turning. The car would have to have a four-wheel-drive stance to prevent this.

 

When it comes to the steering arms two things come into play. One being leverage. The longer the arms the easier it is to turn the wheels, it also requires more motion at the steering wheel. The #2 item is the most important one. Ackerman, that's been talked to death here. Just make sure it's correct. The car don't know how you get either of them done or what side of the car you drive from. When not correct you'll know it when you try to straiten out the Curves.
The Wizzard

 

many years ago I tryed cross stear on my A and it didn.t work well with out a sway bar to keep the axle in line.

 

Flipping the steering arms side to side won't change the Ackerman but I would go along with the serious possibility of clearance problems. Other than that you may need the sway bar/panhard rod that Christmas Tree mentioned. If you take a look at any of the factory Fords with cross leaf and cross steer they have that bar to keep the steering from pushing the axle sideways. That isn't a real big deal but it is another thing that may have to be done and it may not look the way you want things to look.

 

Correct on the above 2 posts. What I was getting at with Ackerman is the fact that as of yet I have never bought any bolt on steering arms that were correct out of the box no matter what they were going on. Seam's to be one of those things you must fine tune yourself. A dead perch will also cure the issue of side thrust.
The Wizzard

 

I forgot about those units. Never drove a car with that setup on it though. I think what messes with Ackerman on most rods is that the builder uses a different wheelbase than the units are designed for. The Pete & Jake units probably work pretty decent on a 32 Ford 106 inch wheelbase but put them on a longer or shorter wheelbase and it will be off a tad. The ones that are off a lot are those that are dragging a tire on turns.

 

Even putting different spindles on a narrower axle will change the Ackerman too. A stock axle was almost 50 inches wide, and many new ones are 46 wide.

 

Will a dead perch stop or cut down on bump steer?

 

Bump Steer is when your wheels steer themselves without input from the steering wheel. The undesirable steering is caused by bumps in the road interacting with improper length or angle of your suspension and steering linkages. It all depends on the rest of your steering set up. The closer to center of chassis the cross steer link is connected at pitman arm the less issue you'll have. Building connecting links at loaded ride height and correct angles of each will help for sure. I suspect even in the best of conditions being the Dead Perch is inboard of the steering arm there will be some.
The Wizzard

 

Thank You Wizzard. I am asking a dead perch for about my avatar. No cross steering,

 

Okay, so it's still all about the connecting links. How much does your front axle travel? Are your Axle to chassis connecting links at Zero angle at loaded ride height? Does your drag link run at exact same line? For the least amount of Bump Steer these links need to travel from dead Zero parallel to the ground both above and below that line for travel. In other words they must travel the same exact Arch from zero incline or decline at ride height.
The Wizzard