Steering arm nearly touches pavement!

[werewolf]

I have started disassembling the T Bucket project I purchased and have a question I haven't found an answer to on this forum.
I have what I believe to be a Total Performance frame (at least the body is) with coil springs (not coil-overs) on the back and the standard transverse spring on the front. When the vehicle is at rest, the steering arm points straight down and clears the shop floor by only a couple of inches. This is obviously a no go for actually driving this heap. If I put the steering arm in the up position so as to increase clearance to an acceptable level, it would make the steering backwards (turn right, go left)
When I look up postings referring to a Corvair box, I keep finding mention of a reversed box. Does this address this issue or is it for which side of the box the shaft exits?
Regardless, has anyone come across this before and what can be done other than to run taller tires in the front?
I really enjoy this site and am picking up alot of useful information.

 

[Rick]

Ya need to post some pics so we can see what your talking about.

 

[RPM]

I know what you are talking about. Is the box mounted below the frame rails? Probably is. Two ways to fix that, not the best is to make a shorter pitman arm, this changes the steering ratio a lot. The best way is to move the steering box to the top of the frame, right in front of the firewall.

 

[werewolf]

Ya need to post some pics so we can see what your talking about.

I'm at work and can't take closeups of the specific area, so please bear with me. I you will look at the photo taken underneath the car, you will see how close the drag link is to the ground. It travels at a steep angle to meet the steering arm at the spindle. Has to produce wicked bump steer. I can see why this T was never finished. Regardless, I am very enthusiastic about making all the necessary modifications in order to get this right and on the road.
While I'm posting photos, can anyone identify the frame used here? The Body is definitely a TP item, but the spring perch does not look like any TP frame I have ever seen.

 

[Duke]

I am using the vaga steering box mounted under the frame and the arm goes up. The corvair boxes I have sen where mounted above the frame with the arm down. Maybe you could go to the vaga box instead.

 

[donsrods]

The one on my Sons T bucket is pretty close to the ground too because we originally had a shorter arm from Speedway, but it snapped in half so we were not going to use that same model again. We ended up using a forged original Corvair arm, and it is a couple inches longer than the first one.

When I am following him down the road the arm is the lowest thing on the car. Speedway is supposed to come out with a forged arm to replace the cast one they were buying from Total Performance, and when that happens we will buy that shorter version.


Here is the first arm, that broke in half. We had two of these fail, the first one lost the teeth that go onto the pitman shaft (they rounded off) and this one snapped when I was luckily only going 35 mph.

Don

 

[Youngster]

RPM gave you the straight skinny. Reverse the box and move it to the top of the frame rail in front of the firewall. Get it as close to the hair pin mount as you can. That's the best thing you can do to prevent bump steer.

 

[RexRod]

The one on my Sons T bucket is pretty close to the ground too because we originally had a shorter arm from Speedway, but it snapped in half so we were not going to use that same model again. We ended up using a forged original Corvair arm, and it is a couple inches longer than the first one.

When I am following him down the road the arm is the lowest thing on the car. Speedway is supposed to come out with a forged arm to replace the cast one they were buying from Total Performance, and when that happens we will buy that shorter version.


Here is the first arm, that broke in half. We had two of these fail, the first one lost the teeth that go onto the pitman shaft (they rounded off) and this one snapped when I was luckily only going 35 mph.

Don

Man, that's scary.

I don't understand why manufactures would think something as important as the steering arm could be made from cast iron. I'm sure Speedway made good on it. I think I'll build mine from billet steel and cut my own spline in it.

David

 

[donsrods]

Speedway was exceptional about it when they heard about what happened. They immediately stopped selling them, and ran exhaustive tests trying to break some. They never came right out and said it to me, but hinted that some failed at a low stress point. They discontinued selling them and supposedly are tooling up to make forged stainless ones or something like that. Those I would try again.


Oh, they also gave us credit for the two broken ones we sent back. I have to give them props for the way they reacted. Unfortunately, some vendors are still selling this same arm.


Don

 

[Youngster]

David...When you get your steering box, be sure to get one with the arm. I have made an arm buy simply having a "button" turned out of the splined end of the arm and tig welding it into a piece of 3/8" or 1/2" arm.

Ron

 

[GAB]

If I am understanding your problem, it sounds like you have a Corvair box that has been reversed and is mounted below the frame. If that is the case, you could un-reverse the box and turn the pittman arm up and have the correct direction of travel. One problem would be that the box would need to be turned around on its mounting. That might be as simple as drilling some new holes or it might require a mew mount. By leaving the box mounted below the frame, it might eliminate changing the rest of the column mounting and all of the problems that might come with that.

You can tell whether a Corvair box has been reversed by which end the input shaft comes out. Reversed comes out the end with the big nut on it.

Here is a setup using an stock Corvair Steering box and Pittman arm.

Hope this helps!

 

[RPM]

What about scrub lines, mounting all this stuff below the frame? As a general saftey rule you don't want anything below the edge of the wheel if you get a flat tire. I can't imagine what would happen if the left front tire went down and pitman arm drug the road.

 

[GAB]

Here is how I do the pittman arms... just like Ron says. :hooray:

Done a few of them over the years.

 

[werewolf]

If I am understanding your problem, it sounds like you have a Corvair box that has been reversed and is mounted below the frame. If that is the case, you could un-reverse the box and turn the pittman arm up and have the correct direction of travel. One problem would be that the box would need to be turned around on its mounting. That might be as simple as drilling some new holes or it might require a mew mount. By leaving the box mounted below the frame, it might eliminate changing the rest of the column mounting and all of the problems that might come with that.

You can tell whether a Corvair box has been reversed by which end the input shaft comes out. Reversed comes out the end with the big nut on it.

Here is a setup using an stock Corvair Steering box and Pittman arm.

Hope this helps!

This is great! This is exactly my problem. I didn't want to move the box above the frame, as it is above the scrub line as it is and I really like the position of the column relative to the seat and my not inconsiderable body mass. I also didn't want to shorten the pittman arm as I refuse to weld cast iron. Heck, worst case is I find another Corvair box and leave it alone. With my pittman arm in the up position, my bump steer problem will be alleviated.
Thanks to all whom have provided me with advice.
Werewolf

 

[RPM]

This is great! This is exactly my problem. I didn't want to move the box above the frame, as it is above the scrub line as it is and I really like the position of the column relative to the seat and my not inconsiderable body mass. I also didn't want to shorten the pittman arm as I refuse to weld cast iron. Heck, worst case is I find another Corvair box and leave it alone. With my pittman arm in the up position, my bump steer problem will be alleviated.
Thanks to all whom have provided me with advice.
Werewolf

The stock pitman arm is forged steel and welds very nice. I think that is what they are making the centers out of, the stock arm machined out.

 

[Rick]

Ok my .02 worth.Your car must sit on the ground.I have a stock arm you can have and its 51/4 in. center to center on the holes.It has a small tyrod hole in it i also i have a stock one i welded a bung from Speedway to convert it to the larger tyrods they sell.Let me know what your center to center dimentions are on your arm.And if you want either of these let me know and i'll ship them to you .

 

[Rick]

Ok my .02 worth.Your car must sit on the ground.I have a stock arm you can have and its 51/4 in. center to center on the holes.It has a small tyrod hole in it i also i have a stock one i welded a bung from Speedway to convert it to the larger tyrods they sell.Let me know what your center to center dimentions are on your arm.And if you want either of these let me know and i'll ship them to you .

Here is a pic of the two.