As Glen said.....and more

Posted by Marco on August 06, 1998 at 12:07:27

In Reply to: wondering steering
posted by Harry Hetzer on August 05, 1998 at 22:15:09

Harry,
First as Glen questioned, the front axel is symetrical.The holes for spindle bolt (king pin) locking pins often get burred from tightening the nut, but once deburred the pin will slide through (with the absence of the spindle bolt).
Second (and please take no offense), many "rebuilt" Model A components, professionally done or otherwise, I've encountered were more suitable for boat anchors.Don't take anything for granted, check everything.There was a good step-by-step series of postings awhile back on checking for excess play from the steering through the front end but it's been removed (does anyone have a copy?).Basically it's a matter of having someone move the steering wheel back and forth against the play at the wheel while you observe the steering and front axel components from underneath the car.Start from the steering sector and pitman arm and work from there.Don't forget to observe any vertical or lateral movement where the sector shaft comes through the frame.I've seen rebuilds with either bushings or needle bearings have movement here and there should be none.The rest is a matter of logic and following all links and mountings of the front end assembly.
I've recently encountered something new to me.While working on a car with nearly perfect front end assembly, the car had a problem being somewhat "squirrely" in certain conditions like poor pavement or sweeping curves with bumpy pavement at 40-45mph.The only week areas were excessive toe-in and the front spring was slightly lower than it should be.We had a front spring that was labeled as rebuilt (probably in the Fifties) and decided to put it in.Unfortunately within a week the rebuilt spring relaxed to a sag that was worse than the original.The result was the car not only became more "squirrely", but over an unusual series of bumps the front end would begin to shake violently.
My initial reaction to this experience is that a sagging front spring allows the shackels to hang closer to vertical which in turn allows the front axel to move or swing side to side making the entire front end assembly unstable.Now all this sounds logical enough but the final test will be to install a proper front spring and determine if this is the sole source of the problem.I hope to be able to report back on this next month.

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