Pitman arm length

[one finger john]

Ted, I was the one who asked if having a shorter pitman arm would lead to heavier steering effort. This was in reference to Fred`s pitman arm appearing to be close to the ground when it was in a neutral position. I have always thought that the longer the arm (keeping the box ratio the same for a constant), the more leverage you had to run the wheels thru their steering arc. It would take longer to go thru the arc because of the degree of movement was lengthened in relationship to the degree that the arm was lengthened but the amount of effort would be lessened because the arm would be longer, thus having more leverage. I know all about basic leverage. It was a valid question.
Also, why no comments about the angle of the tie rod? Couldn`t the pitman arm be moved to the top of it`s arc (radius rod & header clearances taken into consideration) so that it would be on a flatter plane (pitman arm to steering arm).

Or am I wrong? John

 

[Wild Mango]

shorter arm, shorter travel, theoretically less effort.
Assuming front steer with the car in normal stance, ideally the tie rod and the drag link are paralell in a horizontal plane to minimise bump steer. Side steer the drag link should be paralell with ground, wheels straight ahead, for same reason.

 

[Ted Brown]

shorter arm, shorter travel, theoretically less effort.
Assuming front steer with the car in normal stance, ideally the tie rod and the drag link are paralell in a horizontal plane to minimise bump steer. Side steer the drag link should be paralell with ground, wheels straight ahead, for same reason.

I don't think you were thinking of the tie rod, being parallel with the drag link, but with the steering arm on the spindle, which could be mounted to the bottom of the spindle, not the top, when the pitman arm is low mounted. As far as leverage goes, one must be talking about the right end also, the giver or the taker, like brake cyls, to get more power use a smaller master and a bigger wheel cyl, same goes for steering.

 

[Wild Mango]

Hi Ted, thanks for translation of "down under" terminology. Thats what i was trying to say. Cheers Mate.

 

["The Bat" out of hell]

Shorter pitmen arm on box[as long as the spindle arm is about standard size dose make EZer steering but also makes your do more turns of the steering wheel for same amount of car turn.

 

[Ted Brown]

Shorter pitmen arm on box[as long as the spindle arm is about standard size dose make EZer steering but also makes your do more turns of the steering wheel for same amount of car turn.

Thats correct, like a sports car that has real quick steering, it also is much harder to turn than the slower steering, myself, I like comfort, and palming the steering wheel is easy when parking... I am retired and comfort has always gotten into my builds for years, natural, means safer... :lol: PS, only more turns while parking, not very noticeable in normal driving... PLUS, a short wheelbase car, at times a quick steering can get one into trouble...especially as speed increases... as in Bat out of Hell...

 

[tfeverfred]

Do you have any pics of your current set up? I'd like to see it and it would help clarify.

 

[Ted Brown]

Do you have any pics of your current set up? I'd like to see it and it would help clarify.

Yup, just go look at my whole front end, steering, what ever you are missing, it works great, and for many years now, I really need to take it all apart because I have not done anything to Her (but drive the heck out of Her) for 12 years at least... There are pics here and more at my myspace page as well... I will take ever more when I get the body off... :welcome:

 

[one finger john]

Good morning gentlemen. I have to apologise for my original post, in that there were a couple of names (as in nomenclature) I got wrong and that might have had people looking one way when they should have been looking another way.
To begin with, Ted was correct in saying I mistook tie rod for drag link. The original thought was on the TP frames angle of the drag link and if that could be corrected. In my reading here, I found a recent thread in that I believe Youngster stated that he didn't like the angle either (this was on the the stock TP T frames w/corvair boxes) and I was wondering if there was any way to correct this misalignment.
The next was the length of the pitman arm vs the amount of steering effort. Simply put, the longer the arm, the more leverage there is to move the front wheels. But because the arm is longer, more rotations of the steering wheel are needed to go lock to lock. The same would apply to lengthening the steering arm. The longer the arm, less effort to move the front wheels. Also there would be longer arm travel because the attachment point for the drag link would be farther from the mount point on the spindle.
Now for a couple of questions. How long is a GM factory pitman arm for corvair steering box? How long are the TP cast/chromed pitman arms? Can the corvair box be used with the pitman arm pointing upwards? And lastly, this is directed to Ron Pope, can a pitman arm /steering arm combo be economically made for the pitman arm up corvair box set up? This is all aimed at achieving parallel alignment of the pitman arm to the radius rod.

Thanks, John

 

[RPM]

John email me your phone # and I'll call you this evening. Thanks Ron

tbucket@comcast.net