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I got under my 1970 442 today and was going to swap out the steering box.
My car has the variable ratio box, and I have always felt a dead spot off center when turning left. I assumed that I had a problem with the box.
Anyway, today I noticed something I had not seen before: My center link is fully in contact with the center of the frame of the car.
I have poked around and all of my front end seems in ok shape. None of the ball joints have any play that I can feel.
I'm unsure but I think the car has lowered front springs.
I am assuming that this is not correct, and the source of the problem I have been feeling. I do like the way the car sits, is there a way to correct this and still have the car at the current ride height?
On 235/60-15 tires the bottom of the center frame section is 5 3/4" from the ground, the center of the front tire is 12 1/2" and the center for the front wheel arch is 25 1/2" from the ground.
What brand is your center link? If you pry between the center link and the frame horn gently, will it move up and down? Do you notice any play at the pitman arm joint and/or the idler arm joint? If not, you may be able to loosen the mounting bolts of the idler arm and the steering box and pry them both up and retighten to see if you can gain some clearance. It does not need much.
Assuming the center link is not bent, the dragging has nothing to do with your springs or other suspension components. I may have someting to do with your non-stock steering box as it may have lowered the pitman arm position lower than stock.
I do not know what brand the center link is, I cannot see any markings on it.
I got the steering box out, and I did notice the large nut on the pittman arm was not super hard to get off??? Could this have not had the joint high enough to clear the frame horn?
I assumed that my box was an original box, it does have 4 mounting holes, but only had three bolts...
Wow, you didn't have to take it completely out. Yes, if the nut wasn't tight enough perhaps the pitman arm didn't seat fully on the shaft, which means it was not high enough to raise the centerlink in the proper position. Like I said above, there is a bit of slop in the idler arm and steering box mounting bolts that you may be able to move stuff around to gain some additional clearance.
Thanks for all the help. Im putting the new box in today, I had a bunch of grease and old power steering fluid that got behind the box and blistered the paint off of the frame. I am wire wheeling that down and have some primer on the bare metal drying now.
I did pick up the Lares fast ratio box, and am very interested to see how that changes the way it drives.
April 21st, 2017, 01:01 PM
