[AMC-list] early American (nash) steering linkages

[tom jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

Another finely tuned Nashism! Wow, what a carefully made system it is...
later cars got the usual forged linkage with four holes (a tie rod to each
wheel, pitman arm, idler arm). The Nash Way is a hollow tube, with ball
studs for pitman, idler and two-piece forged inner ball ends, and
traditional tie rod end to each wheel. Frank's mentioned this thing before.

I got a "spare" from Bruce Gasser (plus a steering box), took it to pieces
and had it hot-tanked. About half the weight of the later stuff, somewhat
lighter duty, but adjustable and lube'able, and 10 times as many parts. A
fine system. There's a lot of interesting engineering trivia in it and it
will get it's own web page soon. It's amazing to see this old car crap, not
maintained all that well (it's just a car...) and upon disassembly, find all
this fantastic engineering and quality materials. What a contrast from
70's/80's cars! (Though I suppose all this over-engineered stuff in stodgy
cars hurt Nash sales in post-war 1950's, it suuuuuure is sweet stuff in
2009!)

But no one reads the !@!@!$$ TSM for assembly and it was assembled with th
rod ends cocked and this one has bent the edge of the tube slot out. Might
be repairable if I don't distort the bore and prevent the inserted parts
from moving. My spare has some wear on one ball stud. Already called
Galvin's to see about replacement parts. It's fairly minor though, and I
might re-use them depending on cost. By simply rotating the ball stud such
that the wear spot is "inside" it would be like-new and I'd get another 46
years out of it (likely more; modern lubes and excessive preventative
maintenance).

I may not yank my steering gear; before I drop the linkage I'm gonna see if
I can examine it's innards and see if it's still well lubed, and if so, just
adjust it 100% right on-car. If all the grease ran out, I'll rebuild my
"spare" and install. I can work out how to inspect the one on the car by
looking at the spare on the bench, my preferred method of working.


Funny too, every suspension part on this car is about half the size of the
"big" cars. Pitman arm is 5", ball studs are about 5/8" diameter. The
steering gearbox is the size of a small grapefruit, about 12 lbs. Little
tiny casting for the idler arm. Tough stuff in a light car. Overall these
early Americans are a forgotten collection of sweet-spot engineering and
construction. I'm sad I didn't look at these cars decade(s) ago. Thanks
again Joe for letting me have this thing!
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