Ron Pope Motorsports                California Custom Roadsters               

Who Manufactured My Steering Box?

Macx

Member
I am a new member with a new to me, 36 year old T-Bucket. It is registered and licensed for the road. I am going through the car to assess its safety and repair / replace substandard components.

The turn radius of the car is limited - maybe that is characteristic of T-bucket steering. The number of steering wheel turns to steer the vehicle seems excessive so no quick turns are possible with the current setup. Perhaps someone could help me get started with checking out the setup. Here are some photos of the mystery steering box I would like to identify. Thanks for having a look.



6805.png6806.png6808.png
 
Looks like a early mustang box. There was a T bucket builder up in Fresno Ca that built cars with this steering. Just looks large hanging under the frame rails, but works good.
 
That would be my first guess too. At one time these were touted as being the new hot setup for hot rods.

Don
 
Looks like an aftermarket steering arm , how long is it & how long is the steering arm at the spindle ? Maybe you could change the lengths to quicken up the steering !?

dave
 
Thanks all - will post more steering setup detail and questions when I get back in the garage to measure and photograph.
 
You said........"The turn radius of the car is limited - maybe that is characteristic of T-bucket steering. The number of steering wheel turns to steer the vehicle seems excessive so no quick turns are possible with the current setup."

So we are on the same page, is your complaint that you can't get the wheels to crank over as far as you would like, or, is it that it takes too many turns of the wheel to get you there ?

If it is a problem of the wheels not being able to go sharply over, what is stopping them ? Are they hitting the hairpins ? Or, do you feel the steering wheel has to be turned too many revolutions to effect a turn ? The 56 Ford pickup steering box in my 27 takes 5 1/4 turns lock to lock. How many does yours take ?

Those pictures will help us a lot. Take lots of them from all different angles.

Don
 
You said........"The turn radius of the car is limited - maybe that is characteristic of T-bucket steering. The number of steering wheel turns to steer the vehicle seems excessive so no quick turns are possible with the current setup."

So we are on the same page, is your complaint that you can't get the wheels to crank over as far as you would like, or, is it that it takes too many turns of the wheel to get you there ?

If it is a problem of the wheels not being able to go sharply over, what is stopping them ? Are they hitting the hairpins ? Or, do you feel the steering wheel has to be turned too many revolutions to effect a turn ? The 56 Ford pickup steering box in my 27 takes 5 1/4 turns lock to lock. How many does yours take ?

Those pictures will help us a lot. Take lots of them from all different angles.

Don

Car is on stands while I change out the old transmission heat exchanger and air cooled cooler with a finned aluminum cooler. There was too much water and transmission fluid plumbing underneath the floor to suit me. Thanks for interest and I will post pictures and describe steering characteristics when I can get the car off of its jack stands.
 
Got a chance to finish some under car work and have a look at the steering elements. My first impression driving the car home from the sale was that the turning radius was very wide and the steering relatively slow to respond. Here are some photos and information. Lock to lock is 4 turns. Turning radius is limited by the stops on each wheel assembly hitting the dropped axle (as designed). I suppose that everything is OK - just my reaction to a specialized front end. Anyone recognize the front end assembly and components? Thanks!
1-20120917_152622.jpg
1-20120917_152703.jpg1-20120917_152736.jpg1-20120917_152759.jpg
 
You can add a qwick steer that would help to the column . Race car shops have different ratios to choose from and easy to install.
 
The only thing that I see that might be causing your slow steering is that the steering arm on the front wheel looks VERY long. Does it need to be that long so the draglink clears the tire when cranked all the way to the left ? Most steering arms are somewhat shorter than that and the shorter that arm is the faster your steering is.

On the turning radius issue, can you adjust those stops to permit the wheel to turn sharper , or will the tire start hitting the radius rods ? I think the width of those front tires may be contributing to the steering being hard to turn, they are pretty fat.

Don
 
since I hadn't committed the info to memory I just checked my steering out : lock to lock=5 1/4 turns , steering arm length at the box=5 1/2 " , steering arm length at the spindle=6 3/4" . This is with a reversed corvair box . As an observation , your ackerman angle is not good & could be contributing to some of your steering woes.
dave
 
those are TP or Econline spindles.
 
Measure how long that steering arm on the drivers side wheel is, from where it mounts to the centerline of the tie rod hole. It just looks really long in the picture.

Don
 
those are TP or Econline spindles.

Those are Econoline spindles, notice how the lower steering arm attaches to the spindle. The TP spindle looked like a 49-54 Chevy spindle.

I agree with Don that left upper steering arm looks way longer than it might need to be. Moving the tie rod closer to the king pin would speed things up quite a bit, it will also make it harder to turn.
 
Measure how long that steering arm on the drivers side wheel is, from where it mounts to the centerline of the tie rod hole. It just looks really long in the picture.

Don

Hi Don - the length of the arm is 7 5/8 inches long to the tie rod hole centerline. The arm is a serious 3/4 thick and is bolted on to the spindle assembly. I wonder if the original builder used a stock Econoline part or fabricated it. Is this a part than is available commercially?
 
Hi Don - the length of the arm is 7 5/8 inches long to the tie rod hole centerline. The arm is a serious 3/4 thick and is bolted on to the spindle assembly. I wonder if the original builder used a stock Econoline part or fabricated it. Is this a part than is available commercially?
We have those arms for the Econoline, and can make it any length you need. Ours are 3/8" thick. We can also do the 7 deg taper for your tie rod end.
 
That length is just slightly on the upper end of what arms normally are. If you had Ron make you up a shorter arm, would the drag link clear the tire when cranked all the way over? A shorter arm, even an inch or so shorter, would really speed up your steering, but Ron can advise you best on this one.

Don
 
That length is just slightly on the upper end of what arms normally are. If you had Ron make you up a shorter arm, would the drag link clear the tire when cranked all the way over? A shorter arm, even an inch or so shorter, would really speed up your steering, but Ron can advise you best on this one.

Don

It appears there is several inches of clearance from the drag link to the headers and from the drag link to the tire when full over. I will get in contact with Ron soon. Getting cool here in NC and will be a good garage project to change out the steering arm. Great help for a newbie - thanks much!
 
Relocate tie rod? I have the tie rod out in front suicide style. What is your counsel wrt moving the tie rod behind the spring and through the radius rods? This would be a good opportunity to address the Ackerman angle issue I have with tire wear on turns. I drive the car frequently and the outside tire scrubs on a turn. I would need a fab shop to make some steering arm replacements for the bolt on Econoline parts as the originals are too short to simply reverse. Advice?
 
I think Pete & Jake's makes a tie rod end that has a tapered hole to put a cross steer rod into. Speedway may have one too.
 

     Ron Pope Motorsports                Advertise with Us!     
Back
Top