Sloppy steering on my 1957 1/2 ton

[samsimone52]

My 1957 1/2 ton has power steering and the original front axle. The steering is getting steadily (but slowly) sloppier where it is all over the lane. I've been told that new kingpins and kingpin bushings will correct almost all of that. Sounds to good to be true. Can anyone pass on a "hell-ya" to this?

 

[Bobby 57]

many areas to check here.Bump steer.Not the bump steer that one would consider in a race car. abut the one you hit a bump and it steers.check the rod ends.Pull the kotter pins and loosen the cap and pull the rod end off the ball.Clean and grease and reassemble. Do not over tighten the caps.This is one area of sloppy steering.Check all ball joints.Have some turn the steering wheel to see if there is any play in the ball joints and while you have a helper turning the steering wheel, look at shafts at the steering gear box.You may have too much play here.Last thing check the toe.this creats what i call toe dart when there is excess toe out. This is a good start . this site is a good place to learn. A lot a good help here and good people'
Bobby

 

[samsimone52]

To Bobby 57

Thanks for the info. I knew the "just do this one thing" was a bit too simple.

 

[vwnate1]

Checking :

What Bobby said :

Air the tires up to 50 PSI and then grab the _top_ of each tire and push & pull , if you feel any play , have a helper do it whilst you slide underneath and look ~ is the kingpin wobbling where it meets the axle ? (needs kingpin & bushings) or is the brake drum moving in and out where it meets the backing plate ? (needs wheel bearing service or replacement) .

Then , grab the tire at 9:00 & 3:00 and try to twist it back and forth ~ look for movement in the tie rod ends , inner and outer and the drag link between the steering box arm and the steering knuckle ~ they're spring loaded and the springs break , easy to fix , adjust to light pressure and remember to grease each and every separate Zerk fitting under there , there's quite a few .

Once all this is done (and NOT before) , you can look at and adjust the steering box , DO NOT let any old body adjust the steering box as too tight and it'll fail catastrophically while you're driving ! .

The toe in / out is very important too but cannot & must not be touched until all play has been corrected .

 

[mike 16]

on every 55-59 I see I notice that the tie rod is bent/bowed in the middle. some as much as two or three inches.

 

[vwnate1]

Bent Tie Rods

Yep ;

That's because GM cheaped out and used willowy tubing there , smack a curb or hit a gopher hole out on the job and it bends .

Many older farm trucks fixed this by straightening them then welding some 1/4" angle iron along it.... I have one like this in my back yard if you need / want it , I'm tossing it out , i just wanted the Bendix brakes off the bent (!) axle .

I can only imagine what that poor old Task Force went through before being abandoned on a ranch , Riz is rebuilding it into a Hot Rod , maybe a Rat Rod .

 

[coilover]

Something that gets overlooked many times is the spring eye bushings, even by ones that replace the shackle pins and bushings. When worn these will let the whole axle move back and forth in a ramdon pattern which means one cannot correct in any consistant manor. We repainted the hood on a 56 that a horse bit (no kidding) that has 28k original miles and it drives straight as an arrow and the shifter actually has a distinct feel as to the neutral gate and gear pattern. This to show that when all is done to original specs the old trucks do darn well and on bias type tires to boot.