scary steering joint

I had to work on this 38 Nash to remove the sunroof and doing the tailpan and while inspecting the car i found two socket joint welded in the steering shaft, the new owner told me the car was built in the 70 and could explain the scary stuff.The car will be totally rebuilt once i'm done with it.I hope they will replace the wheel also.

Pat

 

don't worry, it won't hurt anything when it falls apart. being able to steer is over rated.

 

If it's a Craftsman it's got a lifetime guarantee. If you die cause it broke, I guess your lifetime is over though. Always a loophole.

 

funny how it lasted somewhere close to 30 years, no im not saying that it makes it right, just an observation

 

A Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha---------Haha ha--------haaaaaaa! A Proto and a 3/8 rod coupling, classic! HaHa, this is like a what not to do course. It's fully covered.

 

Proto is good shit

 

Now, with a proper suspension/steering box set up, how much torque do those joints actually get? I'm pretty sure my 600ft lb air gun does more than they should - and i have yet to brake a joint...

not saying its right either, just for consideration.

 

Well, I know those rod couplings fail if you hang a 400 pound gas pipe off of them overnight, sounds like a bomb went off when a 400 pound gas pipe hits the floor at 2 AM, I can't really elaborate much as to how I may know this, you might have to trust me on this one.

 

Hmmmmmmm....... I think I like this. I've got a couple of those joints sitting in my toolbox right now!

 

I am reluctant to admit that when I was in my teens I stick welded in a 3/4 drive, 3/4" impact universal in the steering shaft of a car I built. At least I used a Snap-On socket! It didn't bother me much until I learned enough to understand all the reasons why it was a bad idea. I guess that's covered by the phrase "ignorance is bliss".

It's not uncommon to find scary steering on cars that were otherwise done pretty well. I have fixed quite a few, all of them worse than the car pictured. I'm not sure whether it's because people don't know any better, don't want to invest the effort to do it right, or don't want to spend the money.

 

I could see this happening in the 70's, maybe the builder figured this was the best he could do to solve a problem. And it has held up this long.... Curious to see how long the owner ignores this and continues on with the body work. So did they drill an additional hole in the steering knuckle for clearance or to make it harder to steer? I've never seen that before.

 

I saw an MGB with a small block Ford in it back in 80-81 that used the same Craftsman wobble socket steering joint. The car was very nice except for that, so maybe some magazine was promoting that at the time. Very scary, as I've broken them with a 3/8 ratchet and a tight bolt.

 

And the worse part is it looks like they were out of phase.

 

Here's one, shown next to the replacement, that I found in an FJ40 Land Cruiser:

The customer complained about the steering being a little vague. It was u-joint, to a rag joint, to a telescoping section, to a wobble joint, to another u-joint.

Added bonus: NO SUPPORT BEARINGS!

 

9 out of 10 of us are thinking thats fucking scary. The other guy just figured out how to get the wheels turning on his project without an expensive borg joint.

Natural selection will sort 'em out.

 

was the steering power? might explain it's duration! it does look out of phase. remember when the pinto steering cables were the solution? Borgeson... wonder how many disasters they prevented.

 

That is likely the original steering arm/spindle. One of the holes is for the tie rod to the steering sector, the other is for the tie rod to the other steering arm/spindle. Very common on cross-steer setups. This appears to have been converted to a rack and pinion, so the "extra" hole isn't required.

My question pertains to the 4th picture as well. What is that spring hooked over the carriage bolt for?

 

Wow.

 

This has been posted before but is always good for a guffaw.

 

Interesting the people who state that the car lasted a long time in it's current configuration.

But no one said it was ever driven far...

Cosmo

 

I bet you couldn’t break that if you tried (w the steerin wheel)

I just replaced a broke Bogason on my boss’s hoped up 4x4 (there’s really not much to them)

 

Safer? (rubber w some cords)



OEM for many years

 

See the steel pins? They do the work. Safer by far.

 

Really
Glad you pointed that out....I feel much better.

 

Thanks for the explanation, I see this everyday on Jeeps, guess I'm just not used to seeing it here!

 

I would wonder about the driveline mounting, probably a lot of little stuff wrong like the front blinkers. Tall sidewalls on traditional wheels, trim rings & cool caps. It's a beautiful coupe, lots of nice parts, just need's to be sorted out. Hate Foosish wheels, belong on something like a Cobalt (someone else's) IMO

 

No problem. Just keep it under 100.

man that is trouble. I had the D.S. tie rod end break on time on a ford pickup doing about 35. Man I had my hands full trying to keep it on the road. I can not even think of what would happen it that broke.

 

On topic, but OT vehicles - This comes from the 4X4 world. There are multiple pages - some pretty funny stuff here.

http://128.83.80.200/taco/scarysteering.html

Pete

 

At least the joint is traditional, as in "traditionally stupid"