[Oletrucks] 74 Chev Front Suspension Steering

Tue Apr 22 13:37:58 MDT 2014

Roger:

I had the 74 front of the frame & made wooden templates with relativeness to 
the X-member , steering box & idler arm mounting holes. Required 5/8'' shim 
plates, each side between frame and
X-member 3 or 4 hole bolting surface - between idler arm and frame - between 
steering box & frame that worked great in that I put it on a plate with 
raised bolt hole mounting bosses. The mechanic said it looked great with the 
drag very parallel  with the X-member / 90 to the frame centerline.

At final front end alignment he preferred to remove the X-member , remove 1 
1/4 out of the centerline / weld eliminating the 5/8 shims on each side of 
the X-member with the drag link still being parallel with the X-member ( 
kept the 5/8'' shims - idler arm & steering box ). Did have to get shorter 
after market tie rod adjustment sleeves .

The mechanic kept referring to the fact that the drag link was parallel to 
the X-member being very important.The real reason I used this front end was 
it had been rebuilt recently & I wanted a truck front end under it as I will 
use it to pull my boat or utility trailer some. I think the alignment is 
spot on but just too sensitive ( pump pressure ) & not a desired steering 
ratio wanting to change both ( compared to modern vehicles ).

Hope this helps,
Jim

-----Original Message----- 
From: Gleason, Roger
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2014 5:36 AM
To: thomasind at nventure.com
Cc: Ole Trucks Web Site ame
Subject: RE: [Oletrucks] 74 Chev Front Suspansion Steering

I have been putting this suspension into my 51 and was wondering how it 
would work. Because you have to make up the idler arm bracket and position 
the steering box when assembling it, I wonder if it is in the right place. 
Things like caster are very important part of the feel in the steering, and 
camber is also important to the handling characteristics. I plan on 
experimenting with those as well as figuring what the Ackerman effect is.  I 
would think it would require quite a bit of work to find a rack that would 
do the job and get it into the right orientation to make it work right. I 
have not been junk car orientated enough to know what all the options are as 
well as availability of the right one. Another issue is rear steer or front 
steer. With that big cross member from the 74 truck the front steer option 
is probably a no go. I hope some other guys/gals have more input on this 
because I am at the point where I could make a change if I got enough common 
sense persuasion.

Roger A. Gleason
Construction Engineer of 27+ Years
In the Service of the University of Connecticut

-----Original Message-----
From: oletrucks-bounces at autox.team.net 
[mailto:oletrucks-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of 
thomasind at nventure.com
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2014 4:38 PM
To: Ole Trucks Web Site
Subject: [Oletrucks] 74 Chev Front Suspansion Steering

Anyone home out there b kind of quiet

Have above stock/lowered front end under my 55-1st P U b donbt like the
feel of the steering - daily drivers have spoiled me. Anyone have any ideas 
on
adapting Rack & Pinion without going to the available kits for $2000 ~ $3000
each ??

Thanks,
Jim
55-1st   5 window
_______________________________________________

Oletrucks at autox.team.net
Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
Suggested annual donation  $11.47
Archive: http://www.team.net/archive
Forums: http://www.team.net/forums
Unsubscribe/Manage: 
http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/oletrucks/roger.gleason@uconn.edu 