Steering effort for manual 16:1 - should it be this high?
I have a 68 Barracuda/360/A833/ TTI longtubes / factory K/ and a Chrysler P/S box.
I dropped that box out three times in one week, to add reaction springs, to reduce the crazy boost and lack of feed-back. Finally I got it perfect to work with my 300mm wheel.
I do not recall dropping the box being difficult at all.
I love that box now, and it's staying.
The Federal pump I had tho, was a pos, even after I rebuilt it.It just couldn't keep up. So I swapped to a Saginaw, and problem solved.
But I gotta admit, that system is heavy..... ....... which is why I have a 367HO.... lol.
But to answer your question;
jack the car up under the LCAs as close as you can to the LBJs. Now go turn the steering wheel.
If it is still really difficult, your BJs could be really stiff. Some brands are ridiculously stiff. Or it could be the Tie-rod ends. To find out which;
Separate the outter tie-rods from the steering arms and manually push/pull each of the wheels from lock to lock. It should require very little effort. If they are stiff, you will have to dig deeper to figure out if it's the upper or the lower. But if the BJs are normal, then you will have to check each tie-rod and the Idler/pitman arms.
New means nothing these days of cheap junk on the market.
I was a suspension/steering/brake and alignment tech for 6 years, and I can tell you; I blackballed a lot of parts manufacturers for the crap they sold, and others for their inconsistency of products. Most of them were just too daymn tight. Some were too loose. Some wore out in just weeks or days. And one even fell out of it's socket, and I had to tack-weld it back in. There is a lotta lotta junk in the front-end parts industry.
One thing nobody mentioned is your scrub radius. If it falls outside the design, your steering will be stiff. Scrub radius is the point on the surface of the road where two imaginary lines meet; actually three;
1) A vertical line drawn down to the road from the mounting face of the front hub
2) An imaginary line drawn thru the center of the upper and lower ball joints,
3) the horizontal roadway.
Scrub radius
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Zero scrub radius (top) positive scrub radius (center) negative scrub radius (bottom)
The scrub radius is the distance in front view between the king pin axis and the center of the contact patch of the wheel, where both would theoretically touch the road. It could be positive, negative or zero.
The kingpin axis is the line between the upper and lower ball joints of the hub. On a MacPherson strut, the top pivot point is the strut bearing, and the bottom point is the lower ball joint. The inclination of the steering axis is measured as the angle between the steering axis and the centerline of the wheel. This means that if the camber angle is adjustable within the pivot points the scrub radius can be changed, this alters the width and offset of the tires on a vehicle.
If the kingpin axis intersection point is outboard of the center of the contact patch, it is negative; if inside the contact patch, it is positive. The term scrub radius derives from the fact that either in the positive or negative mode, the tire does not turn on its centerline (it scrubs the road in a turn) and due to the increased friction, more effort is needed to turn the wheel.
Large positive values of scrub radius, 4 inches/100 mm or so, were used in cars for many years. The advantage of this is that the tire rolls as the wheel is steered, which reduces the effort when parked, provided you're not on the brake.
The advantage of a small scrub radius is that the steering becomes less sensitive to braking inputs. More scrub radius adds to road feel by pushing the inside wheel into the ground.
An advantage of a negative scrub radius is that the geometry naturally compensates for split μ (mu) braking, or failure in one of the brake circuits. It also provides center point steering in the event of a tire deflation, which provides greater stability and steering control in this emergency.
END
So if your tire is not same height as factory, or if you have a large offset wheel; you will have increased turning effort.
I have a 68 Barracuda/360/A833/ TTI longtubes / factory K/ and a Chrysler P/S box.
I dropped that box out three times in one week, to add reaction springs, to reduce the crazy boost and lack of feed-back. Finally I got it perfect to work with my 300mm wheel.
I do not recall dropping the box being difficult at all.
I love that box now, and it's staying.
The Federal pump I had tho, was a pos, even after I rebuilt it.It just couldn't keep up. So I swapped to a Saginaw, and problem solved.
But I gotta admit, that system is heavy..... ....... which is why I have a 367HO.... lol.
But to answer your question;
jack the car up under the LCAs as close as you can to the LBJs. Now go turn the steering wheel.
If it is still really difficult, your BJs could be really stiff. Some brands are ridiculously stiff. Or it could be the Tie-rod ends. To find out which;
Separate the outter tie-rods from the steering arms and manually push/pull each of the wheels from lock to lock. It should require very little effort. If they are stiff, you will have to dig deeper to figure out if it's the upper or the lower. But if the BJs are normal, then you will have to check each tie-rod and the Idler/pitman arms.
New means nothing these days of cheap junk on the market.
I was a suspension/steering/brake and alignment tech for 6 years, and I can tell you; I blackballed a lot of parts manufacturers for the crap they sold, and others for their inconsistency of products. Most of them were just too daymn tight. Some were too loose. Some wore out in just weeks or days. And one even fell out of it's socket, and I had to tack-weld it back in. There is a lotta lotta junk in the front-end parts industry.
One thing nobody mentioned is your scrub radius. If it falls outside the design, your steering will be stiff. Scrub radius is the point on the surface of the road where two imaginary lines meet; actually three;
1) A vertical line drawn down to the road from the mounting face of the front hub
2) An imaginary line drawn thru the center of the upper and lower ball joints,
3) the horizontal roadway.
Scrub radius
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Zero scrub radius (top) positive scrub radius (center) negative scrub radius (bottom)
The scrub radius is the distance in front view between the king pin axis and the center of the contact patch of the wheel, where both would theoretically touch the road. It could be positive, negative or zero.
The kingpin axis is the line between the upper and lower ball joints of the hub. On a MacPherson strut, the top pivot point is the strut bearing, and the bottom point is the lower ball joint. The inclination of the steering axis is measured as the angle between the steering axis and the centerline of the wheel. This means that if the camber angle is adjustable within the pivot points the scrub radius can be changed, this alters the width and offset of the tires on a vehicle.
If the kingpin axis intersection point is outboard of the center of the contact patch, it is negative; if inside the contact patch, it is positive. The term scrub radius derives from the fact that either in the positive or negative mode, the tire does not turn on its centerline (it scrubs the road in a turn) and due to the increased friction, more effort is needed to turn the wheel.
Large positive values of scrub radius, 4 inches/100 mm or so, were used in cars for many years. The advantage of this is that the tire rolls as the wheel is steered, which reduces the effort when parked, provided you're not on the brake.
The advantage of a small scrub radius is that the steering becomes less sensitive to braking inputs. More scrub radius adds to road feel by pushing the inside wheel into the ground.
An advantage of a negative scrub radius is that the geometry naturally compensates for split μ (mu) braking, or failure in one of the brake circuits. It also provides center point steering in the event of a tire deflation, which provides greater stability and steering control in this emergency.
END
So if your tire is not same height as factory, or if you have a large offset wheel; you will have increased turning effort.
