More steering box and alignment queries

[ShelbyDogg]

Hi ShelbyDogg, as I already said in my post the control valve is adjusted correctly.  And I have confirmed it is not a problem with the valve because I even tried adjusting it slightly wrong the other way (so the steering box tried slightly to steer to the right when I started the engine) but when I was driving along the steering still pulled slightly to the left.

Also the tie rods don't seem right the way they are wound so short at one side and long at the other, surely that can't be right ??

I wasn't sure what you meant when you said that you adjusted the valve. Most people don't know about that vavle adjustment. Most people don't know about the Ackerman arc, which I learned about when building my race car from Dave Morgan's Chassis Setup manual.

Change your front tires from side to side and see if the cars starts pulling to the right.  I have had bad tires do this.  A REAR tire can also cause this.

As far as tie rod side to side, I start with both tie rods all the way collapsed, center the wheel, then start spinning them till both tires a pointing straight ahead, then take it to the nearest Hunter Alignment equipped shop with the latest equipment.  They give me a printout  of the alignment showing all of the settings INCLUDING the thrust angle, so that I can correct it.

Try moving your tires around first.

Is the IDLER ARM is CENTERED when the steering wheel is centered? Leave the pitman arm alone if so.

[UKcuda]

The thought occurred to me, I don't even know if it's possible or what this would cause, but what would happen if the center link were flipped/installed with the idler arm side on the pitman arm side.  ..It angles back on the pitman end.

I think there's only one way it can go.  If you switch it end to end the middle section goes too near the sump and if you flip it over to solve that the ball joints won't go into it because the taper is the wrong way round.

ShelbyDogg, good idea I'll check the idler arm, I guess its a lot easier to see whether that arm is centered and at 90 degrees to the center link since it is straight, unlike the pitman which is curved.

[UKcuda]

Just to update - I looked at the set up on a '74 'cuda and the tie rods were similar on that one so maybe they are meant to be like this.  The pitman and idler also seemed lined up similar to mine, as close as I could tell.

So thinking it is looking like maybe just an alignment issue after all I played around with the tracking some more and now have it closer to how it should be, a little more and I think I'll be there.

BTW I try to do tracking myself as most of the alignment shops in the UK are pretty sniffy about old American vehicles and especially something like an E-body with torsion bars and goofy camber/caster adjusters they have never seen before.

[ShelbyDogg]

BTW I try to do tracking myself as most of the alignment shops in the UK are pretty sniffy about old American vehicles and especially something like an E-body with torsion bars and goofy camber/caster adjusters they have never seen before.

Wow,  Doing it yourself can not get you the proper toe-in and and accurate angle for the caster and camber unless you have an alignment rack.  The new computerized equipment gets it to the single degree, and to the exact /32" of toe, "if the person using it knows what they are doing"

Since I found the right guy to do my front end, my cars stopped eating the front tires.  I drove 10,000 miles one year, going to Mopar shows, on the same tires I have on now.    Having a bad alignment caused one Cuda owner a flat tire when his new tire lasted less than 1,000 miles, before it wore all of the tread off of the inside then went flat.

[Chryco Psycho]

the pitman am usually has 4 master splines & you cannot connect the steering up if it is not on the right spline , moving the pitman 90* is far out of any adjustment range .
yes you can adjust the tires correctly without an alignment machine , I do it ll the time , I set up one car & it was over 700 miles before it wore the molding nubs off the tread

[UKcuda]

the pitman am usually has 4 master splines & you cannot connect the steering up if it is not on the right spline , moving the pitman 90* is far out of any adjustment range .

Aha !  so they are 90 degrees apart.  It must be on the right one then, as you say.

I've done tracking a couple of times with good results, I use a laser to see exactly where the wheels are pointing.

With this one I got thrown on the tracking the first time around because I was assuming a straight ahead position parallel with the chassis, but then I found the rear axle isn't lined up straight in the chassis (how naive of me to assume that it would be) so second time I marked the true straight ahead direction of the rear wheels and then lined up the steering parallel with that (plus a little toe in).  I went for a drive and then rechecked everything and I think it now just needs a little tweak.