It's not rocket science, but hopefully this will take some of the mystery out of the process and encourage some guys to tackle this like we did back when I was much younger!
Nice document, thanks! Can you give me a sampling of what vehicles used these, so I can keep my eyes peeled next time I'm at the salvage yard?
Glad you covered the necessity of reversing the ball nut relative to the worm. I'm thinking that a lot of folks have not done that when reversing a gearbox. It will still function but not smoothly or for very long.
These boxes were a GM main stay for manual boxes from late 60's to mid-80's on mid size and big cars. Also used by Ford, AMC, Chrysler, and Jeep. Jeep used these into the late 80's - maybe early 90's. Variants were used by GM in 60's - 80's pickups as well.
The PDF is good (excellent actually), but I think that not everyone will read it - can you upload the pictures here and post the text here too? That way it is also searchable, etc.
Tom - When ever I've tried to post text and pictures in the normal drop down box, I can't seem to get things to land where I want them. I know it can be done because some guys do it very well. So I did a Word document and posted it as a PDF. Guess I need to break the code on the posting! I assume that the title of this thread is still searchable?
A few folks have asked about pitman arms. The early GM ones had a ball stud, so I stay away from those. Many of the car applications had a straight arm with a tapered tie rod end connection, so those are good. They are forged, so could be heated and bent if needed as most side steer applications require. But remember I said they came on Jeeps? The stock Jeep arm already as an offset drop built into it. But if that's not enough, and you don't want to bend one, there are a ton of offsets available from the Jeep aftermarket guys for Jeeps with lift kits. Stock Jeep setup below.
The Jalopy Journal
