I've had a long time issue with the steering not returning to straight coming out of turns without having to turn the wheel. Since I've installed radial tires there is a "wandering" side to side effect. I'm not sure if this may be related matter. A knowledgeable member directed me to check out a firm that specializes in steering boxes and suspension parts. The firm said I likely don't have enough or any + castor. He informed new cars have + 4 or 5 whereas older might adj to +1. My thinking was the box could be tired at its age but the tech pointed me to new control arms (modified) having more + castor adj capability. I have brand new control arms as part of the disk brake conversion probably oem spec. If anyone has confronted this recovery and side to side effect problem would like to hear from ya. Thx!
Steering Recovery '63 Plymouth
- Thread starter Ron H
- Start date
lewtot184
Well-Known Member
check the toe in and camber.
Joeyt66
Well-Known Member
I used to do alignments, and that particular problem was usually a castor issue. I think you need a GOOD alignment shop.
Have you had any issues gaining enough positive castor with the control arms (as was relayed to me as I posted in my message)? I have good alignment shop with new equipment but I think when he did the alignment he worked off book spec's forgetting I had asked him about adjustments to obtain better recovery. He said to bring it back after I talked further with him on this. The upper arms are brand new with the brake conversion. Thx.
OSDart
Well-Known Member
Just be very careful when adjusting the sector. Too much and you'll have a trashed gear box. If everything else is in good condition (tie rod ends, idler arm, lower steering column joint ,etc) start with ¼ turn. Test drive between each adjustment.
OK thanks. No magic # on how much I gather (degree). The tech I spoke with at Firm Feel (helpful guy) said they have modified arms allowing more castor than OEM spec. I suppose this mod must give relief to stressing the box. My 1st thought was a bad gear but they were all over these arms.
OSDart
Well-Known Member
Just FYI. If your uca's are OK, and you don't want to shell out big bucks for tubular UCA's, you can get offset control arm bushings. These will give you an additional 4-6 degrees positive caster.
383man
Well-Known Member
On your box just be sure its not to tight not letting the steering return all the way as it easy to have the P/S box tight and not be able to tell. My 63 has all stock front end parts with manual steering and I set my front end to get as much positive caster as I could as it does help the car be more stable at speed. But with stock parts you cant get much more then 1 or 2 degrees caster at the most and still have the camber in specs. I will say that mine has the 1 to 2 degrees positive caster and my wheel returns like normal with no problems. If you put the aftermarket control arms or offset bushing on it will let you give it more positive caster which will help it and it should handle better. I also have radial tires on mine and boy did it make the car handle and drive much better then the bias tires did. You can jack your front end up and then start the car since its P/S and see how much effort it takes to turn the wheel as you dont want it to tight as you dont want it to bind anywhere in the travel. Ron
Thanks for this info. I'll check the box adj before moving ahead. As for the uca's these are new with the brake kit and maybe could squeeze the 1 to 2 degrees and see if it gives enough results.
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