Low ratio steering boxes

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sixbanger225

sixbanger225

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Hello everyone. It's been awhile! Anyway, the steering on my '70 slant six duster is scary! The car has 80,000 miles on it. I had it aligned about 3 years ago but haven't driven it much. The guy who did the job said everything looked good as far as the components go. The car drives VERY straight!! Perfect tire wear too. So...I want to improve the steering and so on because it's hard to keep it in the lanes. The car has power steering. I was looking into different boxes but there's so much info out there as far as ratios go. Right now it takes 3 1/2 turns to go from lock to lock. Which box is best? I looked in Borgeson boxes, I heard a Firm Feel, redoing my box with different components, different quick steer pitman arms...etc. What should I do? Any help is much appreciated!!
 
Please explain further, how can it be all 3 of these?
Steering is scary
drives very straight
hard to keep in the lanes?
 
3.5 lock to lock is a low ratio box, like 16 to 1ish. 5.5 L to L is 24 to 1ish

IMHO a fast ratio box will be more jittery. Tiny movement of the wheel = larger movement of the tires
 
What tires are you running? Steering shouldn’t be “scary “ unless something is worn or amiss.
 
You need to look elsewhere because you already have the the 16:1 box.
 
sixbanger225 said:
Hello everyone. It's been awhile! Anyway, the steering on my '70 slant six duster is scary! The car has 80,000 miles on it. I had it aligned about 3 years ago but haven't driven it much. The guy who did the job said everything looked good as far as the components go. The car drives VERY straight!! Perfect tire wear too. So...I want to improve the steering and so on because it's hard to keep it in the lanes. The car has power steering. I was looking into different boxes but there's so much info out there as far as ratios go. Right now it takes 3 1/2 turns to go from lock to lock. Which box is best? I looked in Borgeson boxes, I heard a Firm Feel, redoing my box with different components, different quick steer pitman arms...etc. What should I do? Any help is much appreciated!!
Click to expand...

I doubt your 16:1 power steering box is the problem. More likely the alignment or tires are causing your car to be hard tracking. What front tires are you running? Does your car have a front sway bar? Is there a lot of slop at the box when you turn the wheel back and forth? Is there a lot of slop at the tires when you turn the wheels back and forth? A quick ratio box is not twitchier.
 
Replace your lower control arm bushings with new OEM rubber style for the correct model year. 73 and later cars take different strut rod bushings then 67-72 due to different length strut rods on later A-bodies. Most alignment shops won't see worn out bushings, But your car will wonder when going straight.
 
413 said:
Please explain further, how can it be all 3 of these?
Steering is scary
drives very straight
hard to keep in the lanes?
Click to expand...
When I turn the steering wheel it seems like I have to turn it quite a bit before anything happens but when it does it seems to be pretty quick. There seems to be a delay in the steering response in other words. The car will go straight for long stretches if I take my hands off of the steering wheel but when driving any sort of semi curving lanes it seems to take a lot of wheel turning to get it to steer and stay smooth. It just seems like it takes a lot of wheel movement to get it to go in the direction I want and to keep it steady in that direction.
 
Dana67Dart said:
3.5 lock to lock is a low ratio box, like 16 to 1ish. 5.5 L to L is 24 to 1ish

IMHO a fast ratio box will be more jittery. Tiny movement of the wheel = larger movement of the tires
Click to expand...
Thanks for that. I was wondering what is considered a low ratio box.
 
Oldmanmopar said:
Replace your lower control arm bushings with new OEM rubber style for the correct model year. 73 and later cars take different strut rod bushings then 67-72 due to different length strut rods on later A-bodies. Most alignment shops won't see worn out bushings, But your car will wonder when going straight.
Click to expand...
I did convert the car to '73 and up disc brakes and put in heavy duty torsion bars. I used the original lower arms though but I think that's ok. Both of those were HUGE improvements! Now that I know I already have a LR box I'll be looking into worn parts and on.
 
66fs said:
I doubt your 16:1 power steering box is the problem. More likely the alignment or tires are causing your car to be hard tracking. What front tires are you running? Does your car have a front sway bar? Is there a lot of slop at the box when you turn the wheel back and forth? Is there a lot of slop at the tires when you turn the wheels back and forth? A quick ratio box is not twitchier.
Click to expand...
No front sway bar and new tires. I'll check the brand. There must be some slop in there somewhere so when I get some time I'm gonna track it all down.
 
If you used 73 -76 two piece strut rod bushings with sleeve and installed them with original 67-72 strut rods you moved the lower control arms back . This will through the geometry off. Just a thought you may have done not knowing

Early strut rods are fine thread at the bushing. Later strut rods are coarse thread at the bushing. The lengths are different. Bushings are different.

DSCF0224.jpg


DSCF0226.jpg


DSCF0227.jpg
 
The steering coupler is another area to inspect. Made a big difference in mine. But it sounds like your gearbox could be worn. I sent mine to Steer and Gear in Ohio for a rebuild to Sport feel. If I had it to do over, I would have gone with modern feel for a slightly less "stiff" feel. Front shocks can make a difference when rolling into corners. If you haven't replaced them in a while, might look at doing them.

Anyway, here a pic if the coupler I found online.
IMG_0367.JPG
 
66fyssh said:
The steering coupler is another area to inspect. Made a big difference in mine. But it sounds like your gearbox could be worn. I sent mine to Steer and Gear in Ohio for a rebuild to Sport feel. If I had it to do over, I would have gone with modern feel for a slightly less "stiff" feel. Front shocks can make a difference when rolling into corners. If you haven't replaced them in a while, might look at doing them.

Anyway, here a pic if the coupler I found online.
View attachment 1716026458
Click to expand...
That isn't for a stock A-body....more like a C-body.
 
Have someone rock the steering wheel back and forth while you look under the hood and around the steering linkage. You should be able to see where the excess play is by doing that. Key spots to check would be any suspension bushings, the idler arm, pitman arm, tie rod ends, the steering column/steering gear coupler, and in the steering gear itself. I'd do it with the engine running as a power steering gear box tends to have more play than what you would think is normal when it's not powered. You can check the rest of the components with the engine off, but, when checking play in the box itself, have the engine running and fluid in the system.
 
Oldmanmopar said:
If you used 73 -76 two piece strut rod bushings with sleeve and installed them with original 67-72 strut rods you moved the lower control arms back . This will through the geometry off. Just a thought you may have done not knowing

Early strut rods are fine thread at the bushing. Later strut rods are coarse thread at the bushing. The lengths are different. Bushings are different.

View attachment 1716026459

View attachment 1716026460

View attachment 1716026461
Click to expand...
When I bought all the parts I did order the earlier parts kit so I think I'm good on the strut rods but thank you for the info. I had no idea!!
 
I believe strut rods are interchangeable you just need the appropriate bushings. If you look at post 15 you can see the center of the washers is in the same location. You just need the correct bushings. If you didn't change the K frame your present set up is fine, but that doesn't mean the bushings you have now aren't in need of replacement.
 
66Valiant528 said:
I believe strut rods are interchangeable you just need the appropriate bushings. If you look at post 15 you can see the center of the washers is in the same location. You just need the correct bushings. If you didn't change the K frame your present set up is fine, but that doesn't mean the bushings you have now aren't in need of replacement.
Click to expand...
Thank you for that! Good to know. I'll be checking components for condition this weekend or next...when time allows. The car is parked until then!
 
Same issues on my 65 Barracuda. It has 1968 B body front end parts and 4 piston KH discs.
I replaced all bushings and ball joints.
Then I replaced all tie rod ends.

I had the "Steer & Gear" Police FIRM box with the long Police pitman arm and had to modify the right side Idler arm for the new type.
K-frame had been gusseted too.
With all this it would still feel sluglish and wander too.

Found that the bolts for the steering box were loose. The welded in nuts were broken loose and allowed the box to swim. Took it all apart and welded in new nuts.
 
I haven't gotten a chance to look into anything but that's one thing that's on my list when I do.
 
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