Inconsistent steering

[Yadkin]

This will be on the floor as well. I'll prepare with lots of wood blocking to hold the motor up on the frame, then use my floor jack to help raise the new box in place.

[stubbie]

Don't know if you will have enough room under there for a floor jack as well. I think that was why I used the engine crane and held it from above.

[Yadkin]

If I can't make room, I'll use a bottle jack, levers, oak branches, baling wire...

[Yadkin]

What a hassle. What a workout. This job took me all Friday night, some of my Saturday then all of my Sunday night. I had to remove the exhaust from the header and jack the motor up to get enough clearance. You also need to remove the rear inner fender to get access to the rag joint.

The hardest part was lining up the rag joint with the input shaft on the new box. You can't bolt the box in and then insert the joint, because the steering shaft does not pull in-out more than a faction of an inch, so I attempted to lift and wiggle the 30# box on my back as a buddy worked through the fender to line up the joint. Three different people tried to help me. After destroying three friendships I finally got smart, removed the steering wheel and the small plate that holds the steering shaft from going in-out. That way I could bolt the box in solid, then simply slide the shaft/ rag joint in.

Next was "clocking" the system. First I loosely installed the pitman arm then centered the box using the steering wheel. Then I removed the pitman and left it into position just below the splines, then lined up the front wheels as best I could by sighting in the across the edges of the sidewalls to the rear tires. With the front of the car on jacks, the toe-in is much more than normal, so I had my daugher eye-ball the alignment while I held a tape measure off the rear tire sidewall. Trial and error to get both sides even. Next I applied anti-seize compound to the shaft splines, lock-tite to the nut, and torqued in the pitman arm.

After setting the car back down onto the floor I re-checked the toe-in, again by sighting across the front tire sidewalls. The rear track is 1" wider so sighting the rear tire sidewall is very close to spec. After getting the front wheels "straight" I then removed the steering wheel and centered that on the splined shaft.

[Yadkin]

Don't know if you will have enough room under there for a floor jack as well. I think that was why I used the engine crane and held it from above.

I lifted my old one out, then the new one in on a creeper using muscle power. The master cylinder is in the way to lift it from above. And I didn't want to remove the hood. Once I got one bolt in I used my floor jack to maneuver the box into position for the remaining two bolts.

[nobird]

Reading this makes me thankful I only had to replace two inner tie rod ends and the steering was tight. The rag joint looks much better than a 50 year old should look.