Hey- Anybody out there know what will work for a traditional steering set-up besides the f100 or reversed corvair box? Thanks-
according to speedway, a late 60s' mustang works. havn't tried it myself but am considering looking into it.
A Late 70s Mustang I Think 76/78 Works I Used One In A 34 Ford Sedan And You Can Positon Where You Want It More And Use A Lot A Differnt Columns Tim
Richard D(i think) said a manual mopar muscle car box will work w/o reversing it for cowl steering. that is what im going to try....
Any Ford box (truck or car) from '28 - '48. ('37 brought the rolling sector but I've seen the earlier parts used with success.) Early GM boxes could be somewhat big but work well. Schroeder or similar sprint car box from that era. Old Jeep or other off brand parts - lots of smaller companies used "Ross" steering boxes. Delivery trucks - Divco or similar. Possible adaptation from a boat (check Franco's Goldenrod now owned by the HAMB's El Jefe.) Suspect some early farm equipment might hold a viable solution thought I can't recall a specific example. My opinion: Corvair, Vega, or Mustang boxes - while they might work well - are not traditional. What are you trying to accomplish exactly?
You mentioned most options....Don't forget the early VW bus box that doesn't need to be reversed...that's traditional also !!!
The 55-59 chev pickup box and column is nearly a bolt in for 32-34 frames and gives options for cool GM or Vette wheels. The later column is shorter because the stock wheel was dished.
Dooh! I just sold two of thoses boxes for scrap metal last week. I had been draging them to swap meets for the last three or four years.
Does traditional mean mounted forward of the firewall with the drag link running parallel to the frame? Early mustang boxes are used often, but not a great solution. The pitman arm sticks up and so throws off ackerman. Street rodder published a series on chassis set up a few years back (i'll look for the issue) gives the pros and cons of different straight axel setups. Specifically refered to the mustang set up, and when and were to use it ie: good for four link with tube axel; bad for split bones and i-beam (or bones and tube axel). I have a mopar box (early 70's duster or similar) in my T coupe-set up for cowl steering. Works great. Would definitely use it again!! I've been looking into 48-52 big truck boxes F5-up. No one really makes parts, some are interchangeable, some not. The big problem is the pitman arm is specific to those boxes, F1 will not work. In scouting info on the F5 stuff I found that a 79-84 Toyota 4X4 box is a common replacement for the F1(upgrade conversion, not a direct replacement). There is info on the web about this conversion. Good Luck H-
"The pitman arm sticks up and so throws off ackerman." The pitman arm has absolutely nothing to do with ackerman....nothing !
Yes Johnnyfast, you are correct, I did speak incorrectly. The pitman arm does not have anything to do with ackerman. Its position does however greatly affect steering quality with regard to bumpsteer. I incorrectly grouped the need to have the pivot points of the pitman arm/draglink and the radius rods close (so as to have a similar arc), with ackerman. Going forward it may be more helpful to all, to include the corrected information rather than just telling someone (and all reading) that he/she is wrong. Knowing one is wrong is only half of the needed information, the corrected information is the other. Thanks for pointing out my error.
Sorry if I offended you....it wasn't my intention. The ackerman and bumpsteer principles have been discussed many times on this forum so a simple search should easily locate this information for anyone who is interested.
Any other tech articles on here about this set up. I've been searching this for a little bit no luck.
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