Technical Is my setup strong enough? Cowl Steering Question

I purchased a Model A that already had cowl steering, and I have driven it a few times. I will be building a better brace for the steering box this winter (mopar box) but looking at the pitman arm setup, its good looking, but I worry if its strong enough. The brass arm is a steering arm off of an old boat. If I need to re-do it all I may swap to a sprint car setup...

 

Does it flex under load?

 

The box moves Slightly under load, that's going to be a winter project, securing the mount structure its in to the frame.

 

But is your concern about the steering arm?

 

Yes, there is some deflection of the shaft due to the box mounting, the arm does not noticeably flex..

 

Probably should still be on the boat, no engineer but probably not designed to handle the same forces. Imho.
Not an anti cowl steer setup bloke either.

 

I would re engineer your setup . Better safe than sorry .

 

Yeah it looks sexy, but if you're gonna put some miles on it, I'd probably rethink it. And like the link that Mark posted, there are some that put form over function. Which is fine on a car that isn't driven, or a car that is only driven from the trailer into the show grounds.

 

Over time, I'd worry about flex in that arm.....especially being ported and wallering out that key way. A lot less resistance turning a rudder in water than tires on pavement. Looks cool tho.

 

That would depend on the size of the boat , rudder & how tight a turn was being attempted @ what speed

 

No way.

 

Yes, read it a couple times. The hole is in the cowl, path is commited..
This is a low speed go for ice cream kind of car, I have a couple pro touring cars I use for longer drives.

 

Does the "go for ice cream" thing involve children, passengers or other road users? I am not saying that it is not strong enough. That decision is above my paygrade. All I am saying is that it is very important to make sure...................

 

No, i only get it for me.

 

Other road users can buy their own.

But seriously you dont know my geometry and are making some assumptions about the setup. Even Pete acknowledges that it can be done with minimal bumpseer if the geometry is correct.

Now The strength of the arm is fine in normal driving...so far. But is it a pothole away from failure....thats my concern...

 

It LOOKS good IMHO, but I wouldn't want to bet my life on it (which I would be doing if I'm on the same street as you). I'd replace it with a substantial steel component.

 

I thought we were talking about the strength of the system, specifically the brass arm, not the pro's and con's of cowl steering in general. I stand by my comment.............make sure it is strong enough. If it goes wrong, it may not be a situation you want to be in............

 

And then brass plate it......................problem solved.

 

Ah, we have our wires crossed... the ice cream comment was in response to the "cowl steering just stop" thread. Im with you now.

 

Brass is NOT strong enough for that application even if there was no flex in the system.
That is the basic design used in race boats but I would not use brass there either.
We made most of the hardware for the Seattle based unlimiteds in the 50's.

 

Thats interesting, this car was built right outside Seattle

 

A lot of guys join up here to ask a question, most don't want to hear the answers they get. Since you only pictured your steering arm, that's all I'm able to speculate on. Brass is an ornamental metal in my opinion.

 

I helped my Dad, years ago, restore his 19' Lyman wooden boat. It had a brass steering arm that looked very similar to this one (about 6/7 inches) so I'm assuming it's from a smaller pleasure boat.....but that's just an assumption on my part. I wouldn't think that it would be subjected to the same stress as a cowl steering pitman arm......but I'll bow to your expertise on that.

 

One stress crack, maybe hidden .Its a very weak link.

 

In my opinion too. Just making sure that I wasn't in left field.

 

I'm assuming it is cast brass. I'd be very leery of it's structural strength.

 

Things can, and will, go wrong every day. All you can do is try and make sure it doesn't happen. Build the steering, suspension and braking systems like your life depended on them........................Oh, hang on there a minute, it does.

And a quick tip. Do a little detective work and find out who @Moriarity and @Pete Eastwood are. It may be a bit of an eye-opener for you................

 

I wouldn't trust it for a minute. I have never seen any suspension part fabricated from brass. Brass is for candlestick's.