Solid Axle Steering Set Ups

Here's a shot of mine. I used a speedway kit but modified it. The 48" axle was too narrow, so I had a local rod shop make me a wider one. I did the cross steer using the stock box with the pitman arm fitted with a bolt and heim. I added a panhard bar from the axle to the frame parallel to the steering linkage. The alignment guy said that this was how he did most of his straight axle conversions with no problems.

The first shot is my buddy Chris's front end that the rod shop did for him. It's a Chevy truck axle. I used his for my conversion (the second shot). The last is Chris's car.

Later,

Mike

I'll throw my 2 cents in. My 57 is stubbed with a new home built 2X4 frame. The axle is a 57 chevy truck axle with model A ford springs. The steering box is a 525 box from a camaro with a 57 power steering pitman arm. The cross link is a 57 tie rod adjuster sleve cut in half and welded into a piece of DOM tubing and using the 57 tie rod ends. The steering arm on top of the left wheel is from the original 57 steering. It all seems to be working out very nice. Don't give me any grief about the front spring mounts. That was just temporary during mock up.
Rick

Prostreet said:

Hi guys
Thanks for the great post, and the photo's. With the risk of sounding like a smartie I would like to address this as a question. I noticed in your photo's Mike you are running a panhard. Have ya thought of running a wishbone instead ? Reason I ask , threw its suspension travel the p-bar creates an ark causing a sudden jolt to the side. The wish bone has a smooth sliding activity which eliminates this and creates a smoother travel. However to reduce the ark of the p-bar, the bar (could) start off parallel to the axle creating minimal ark.... I run the same setup on (wishbone) all my rear suspension, unless a customer options for the panhard bar.

Click to expand...

Steve, I am thinking of changing the steering link to the upper mount on the pass. spindle. I fitted the stock '55 arm with some spacers to get the link almost exactly parallel to the axle. The question is: is it safe to run with spacers and grade 8 bolts or should I try to heat the arm and bend it up a couple inches? I've got it mocked up in the photo below.

I will have to address the panhard, but how would a wishbone work on leafs? How about a anti-sway bar? Mine is more street than race so I will have to do corners....

OK, so I did it today. I had my daughter help me make a jig and I torched the arm! It came out great. It didn't need any shims to clear the spring - and it clears lock to lock with room to spare. It's about a 1/4" from the oil pan - might have to put a small dimple there. The horizontal drop (from the pitman arm to the steering arm) is about 3/4" over three feet. It does go from front to back about three inches from the arm to the pitman. Not sure how much of an issue this is on a cross steer car.

I'll need some heavy 7/16" x 1" spacers and the grade 8 bolts, but all else looks fine. The panhard bar will go - not sure if I'll replace it or do something else.

Later

Mike

Why do you need a panhard bar? None of the factory straight axles used one, so why would you need it just because it's swapped into a gasser? Is it because of worry about the height?
I put a Speedway straight axle under my '46 Austin sedan and I'm not running a panhard up front. Parallel leaf springs keep everything in order, and mine works great.

I had some extreme mods to do to my Speedway axle, as it was the narrowest they sell, and still 6" too wide for the narrow little Austin. I had to cut 6" out of the center, then sleeve the axle with solid stock and weld it back together. Likewise I had to chop the drag link to match and sleeve it also before welding it back. I welded the axle to two pieces of angle iron prior to cutting, so I could maintain the kingpin alignment to each other. Worked slick, and they came right back. Just cut the angle off afterwards and ground the welds smooth where it was tacked.
I also ran into clearance issues in the steering box, so had to locate the box way up front at the end of the frame. That meant the steering all ended up in front of the axle. Checked with several stock setups, and found it wasn't that uncommon to steer in front, so I figured I'd do so. Worked out just fine, and with the kingpin angle set at 7 degrees, the car tracks beautifully, and steers great.

Nope. Haven't worked on it in a while... been finishing my cousin's 450SL. Just about finished. I did the engine/trans/driveshaft, paint, wheels& tires. Polished all the trim. Argh! Can't wait for it to go home.