Re: [Amc-list] Steering box changes, early 60s to later

["Swygert, Francis G MSgt 436 CES/CECM" <Francis.Swygert3@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Actually, the pins were fine stainless wires -- about 1/32" in diameter.
They were about 1/4" short, and deformed slightly under pressure to
about half their original thickness. Not dangerous at all -- the worst
that could happen if the pins fell out would be that the steering gets a
little loose -- just enough to feel. Think of it as a "poor man's taper
adapter". As you mentioned, making a taper sleeve is near impossible.
IIRC the "big end" of the hole was so close on both that I didn't see
how a taper adapter could be made. The pins/wires in the lower end
solved the problem until I went to the rack and pinion (something I
don't recommend! Gee-whiz factor only). The fit with the pins was sort
of like the hub/axle connection on AMC rear ends, only no splines. I had
to take the draglink off for some maintenance (to drop the pan or
something, I forget now) 12-18 months after I installed and it was still
good. I replaced the crushed wires with new and tightened down again.
After a couple days of driving I retightened the nut just in case the
wires had deformed with driving, and put a wrench on the nut every time
I was under the car for any reason -- 2-3 times over the 12-18 months.
Never had a problem with it getting loose. You'd know by a visual
inspection -- the draglink would bottom out against the pitman arm with
nothing but the tapered end in the hole. With the wires there was about
1/8" clearance.

I like your solution better. The only thing I'd check out first is the
Hornet drag link -- it might be closer to the right dimensions. The
65-66 pitman arm may have the correct taper for the early manual
steering drag link, but I don't think so. With no way to tell I wasn't
willing to spend around $100 on an NOS one. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Jennings [mailto:tomj@xxxxxxx] 
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 4:03 PM
To: Swygert, Francis G MSgt 436 CES/CECM
Cc: amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx; farna@xxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Steering box changes, early 60s to later

On Tue, 3 Apr 2007, Swygert, Francis G MSgt 436 CES/CECM wrote:

> AMC). The only big difference is the pitman arm stud that connects to
> the drag link -- the taper and size is different from early 60s AMCs.
I
> got around this by driving a couple small steel pins in beside the
stud
> -- not the ideal way, but it worked.

Wow, that sounds dangerous!

I feel certain that there is a way to accomplish this. I had
most of a '79 Spirit front suspension under my 63 Rambler,
to get the small-tapers.

The 67?-up chassis is narrower in the "frame rails" by one inch.
Therefore the steering link -- the forged part that links
the pitman arm to the idler arm, and from which the tie rods
dangle out to the steerin arms -- is one inch narrower --
but is otherwise *identical*.

Get a center link, pitman arm, idler arm from a 70-up car. it
bolts into the 63. To preserve steering geometry space the
idler arm off the chassis 1/2" and space the steerin box off the
chassis the same amount. You'll have to loosen the under-dash
steering column support and readjust all that to compensate
for the new steerin box angle (it's minor). The force on the
idler arm arm is tangential and limited so this is easily safe.


This is what I have not done but it's easily tested -- you can
use 63 Classic OUTER tie rod ends with 70-up INNER tie rod ends,
or you can swap the steering arms with 70-up parts and use all
70-up tied rod parts -- this is what I did. (You might have to
work out a solution for the steering-stops built into the 63
vs. 70-up. My recall here is dim.)
<snip>
_______________________________________________
Amc-list mailing list
Amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.amc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/amc-list