I have a car with a 1950 Shoebox Ford Steering box. Are there any longer steering arms that might fit from another car or truck that use the same splines and will bolt in? I'd like to only change the arm if I can and nothing else. I've heated and bent my existing arm for clearance but that made it too short. Any websites that have steering arm specifications? Length, drop, etc.
just to play the devil's advocate, do you have to use the shoebox steering box? probably one of the worst designs ever!
Yes. I tried the FatMan Volvo conversion and it didn’t fit my application. A longer steering arm is the easiest way but I would prefer not to extend it by welding.
50 Ford truck or 50 Ford Car? What vehicle is this in? I only mention as the F-1 truck box is one of the most common boxes for a traditional hot rod. It would help to know "what" 50 Ford steering box.
'50 Ford Shoebox steering box is what I have. Will the steering/Pitman arm from a truck box fit and is it longer than the passenger car arm?
There was a recent thread about the same thing, I think it was @Marty Strode who showed what he did. Basically made an arm out of 3/8th? Or so plate bores hole on the ends to the cut and weld in the splines from the original arm. Search for “longer steering arm”, it’s been in the last few weeks.
I think I can picture this based upon the verbal description, but a photo would be great too! The big end appears to be a 1.120" spline of some sort. Any other cars use that Shoebox Ford spline?
Lots I'd prefer not to do as well but sometimes you just have to succumb to the pressure and get it done.
Back onto my comment about getting clearance somewhere else. You don't "omit" the engine but look for other things that you might have missed when you did the swap. Take for instance this picture of a Chev engine in a Valiant from the October 1960 issue of Hot Rod. The swapper put the tie rod right through the oil pan. You could take a notch out of the pan, move the engine to the left or right or up or down. Maybe a shorter oil filter; an oil pan from a pickup instead of a car application. I put fenderwell headers on a swap I made but later discovered a car with the same engine where they managed to keep the exhaust manifolds. Swapped over the correct manifolds and remade my mounts to get it to fit like that car. Much better.
Lots of pitman and sectors have the same size splines on another manufacturer. Different cars you'd never expect. Sorry I can't tell you which ones, but if you can find a chart with sizes (Borgeson maybe?) you could see if some odd make has a match.
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