I am rebuilding the steering on my 54 Chevy. When I got the idler arm removed I found what looks to be like a "band-aid" fix for removing slop in the joint. What do you guys think?
It was a commonly available in the late 50s early 60s. Auto Parts stores used to have a card of them up on the wall behind the counter. You are right they took up the slop in the idler arm. If I remember correctly removing the idler arm on these early Chevrolet's required you to raise the engine. This was a fix that reduced the repair to mere minutes. I bought a 54 Chevy in 1975, had a loose idler arm and my Father-In-Law told me about the fix. Naturally the Auto Part stores knew what I was talking about but did not have any in stock. A trip to the local junkyard and I scored one on the first car checked. They all had them.
could be that you are right. Mine did not have that. And it was not a big job to rebush the arm and do it right. Frank Edit, I did remove the arm and bracket on my54 and did not raise the engine.
Hmm that's what I figured! It only took about 20 minutes to get the idler arm off. I do have a sbc in mine though. The balancer was pretty close but I was able to get a wrench on it no prob. A 235 may sit closer to the crossmember. Mine had a ton of play in it even with this thing on there. It's not that hard to just fix it the correct way! Thanks for the info everyone! T.
Ha Ha!!! That's so funny!!! I did the same thing when I rebuilt the steering arm on my car. It had the same type of thing on it. And I did not know what it was. I rebuilt my steering arm with a kit from Kanter and then put that old " Easy Fix" thing back on just for the Hell of it.
Ha, cool! That one is a little different than mine. It's interesting to see that there were apparently several different versions of this fix. Mine has a bearing in the bottom!
Mine looks like that too.. Hell!! I thought that was stock like that because both my car and my parts car has it lol
I'll tell you what it is!!! ...it's the part I need to fix the sloppy steering on my '54! Sent from my iPhone using TJJ!!!
here's one on ebay. NOS in the box. they are on there all the time. made by all sorts of different companies back in the old days. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1949-54-CHE...Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item2eb3ec90d1
You learn something everyday round here.....I haben't had a ton of 54's (2) and neither ran/drove before, during and after i got them but neither had those on em.... very cool....i think?
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