Linkage and Links and stuff

Nothing mysterious here. The only reason it’s being included is it is part of the build, even though it’s nothing more than a basic service job.

Way early in the build, even before the torque boxes were even considered to be bad, The shock towers were being replaced and since the front suspension was removed, there wasn’t a more opportune time to replace all of the usual components that wear out.

Instead of peace mealing the parts together, I wanted to make one call and get everything at once. I decided to go with PST Suspension components.

The kit had all of the parts to rebuild the upper control arms, replace the lowers altogether, all new ball joints, tie rods, both inner and outers and the idler arm.

The center drag link was replaced. I don’t know if the old one was worn or needed replacing. It could have been replaced not long before the guy decided to sell his car but this not knowing the history of the maintenance of Mr. Stang is enough excuse for me to replace everything I can. I found the drag link and a new pitman arm at CJ Pony.

Finding the rust and the subsequent replacement of half of the sheet metal in the car relegated the PST kit to the shelf where it took up space for many years.

With so much to learn on Mustangs I had been reading that there was a quicker ratio steering box for the Mustang. Stock is 19:1 and this performance piece is 16:1. Higher effort, quicker steering. Don’t know if it will ever get any serious use but if I get to say that I have that in my car, maybe it makes me a more little legit in this new world I’m in.

I took a chance and made a purchase off of….where? eBay of course. It was a partially disassembled but complete 16:1 manual steering box for a 1969/70 Mustang. A Scott Drake rebuild kit is ordered as soon as my purchase of the steering box is confirmed. When the orders are delivered, they go up on the shelf with all of the other Mustang parts I’ve collected in preparation for when that unimaginable day comes around when I can start putting parts back onto the car instead of this continued removal of parts and panels in my hunt for clean metal amidst all of the rust scattered throughout this old car.

The sheet metal work was finished, for now, and I wanted to know how the front suspension would hang off of the new shocks towers. Would my original upper control arms work like Kevin Manley said they would or would I need shorter ones?

Oh wait, that part is true but I didn’t put the steering pieces in then.

I assembled the old suspension and put the car on its 4 wheels for the first time in something like seven years. I had doubts at times that this would ever happen but I’m looking at it and part of the load that has been on my shoulders for a very long time has been lifted.

The glory is short lived though. I can see that the camber is way off. I hang the old fenders on the car and the wheels and tires are sticking out too far. The camber is adjusted as far as it will go and the tops of the wheels are still out farther than the bottoms. I know there’s supposed to be some settling that’s supposed to happen but, I don’t know.

Skip forward some months and I have decided to replace the stock suspension with the Street or Track coil over kit.

As soon as the ST system was installed I’m thinking that it can’t be avoided any longer, I have to start work on the headers and in order to do the job properly, all of the relevant parts have to be in the car so I know what the headers have to clear. the most obvious obstruction will be the steering linkage.

I can’t believe it but I’m actually going to get to pull the PST kit off of the shelf, dust it off and assemble parts of it onto the Mustang.

Starting with the center link and working my way outward, this operation is done on the work bench. I dig out the 19:1 steering box in all of its road grime glory, the old pitman arm is removed and replaced with the new one. The gear box is bolted to the frame and then the idler arm to the other frame.

I’m just about to install the center link and tie rod end. All the parts are new and clean. I look at the steering box and balk. I can’t do it. I can’t put all these shiny new parts on this nasty looking hunk of cast iron. I have to clean the gear box.

The steering box is removed and placed on the work bench. The steering had had slop in it on the drive from Ohio. The adjusting screw is almost all of the way in. I don’t see a whole lot of adjustment left in the current set up. This box needs a rebuild. I vaguely remember buying a rebuild kit and go in search of it. After quite a bit of effort, I find the kit. I also rediscover the 16:1 steering box.

Well now, since I’m already prepared to rebuild a steering box, why don’t I start with the 16:1 box and if I was sold a bill of goods and the gear box is not rebuildable, I’ll go with the 19:1 until a much later date.

The 16:1 gear box was pretty nasty when it showed up and sitting for years in the shop didn’t help it. Greasy mud is the best way to describe the coating on the internals.

I wish I had pictures of the gear box scattered all across the bench but the hard drive I had those pictures on, accidentally had an encounter with a rare earth magnet I was playing with. Wiped the drive clean.

I pull out the shop manuals and select the overhaul volume and find the section for rebuilding the manual steering get box. The 16:1 box is disassembled and I use the shop manual to verify the parts. Everything that should be there is there. That’s huge relief. I find that not only are all of the pieces are present, I find that there is an extra bearing race on the output shaft for some reason. That explains why I could get damn thing put together right when I first got it.

I disassemble everything that can be coaxed to come apart and let everything soak in the non toxic purple parts cleaner. This stuff is great. It works as well as the old toxic parts cleaner I used as a kid working at a gas station back in the late 70’s

I was in no rush so I took my time soaking and cleaning the pieces parts.

Going by the service manual, I followed the procedure and had the gear box back together in pretty quick order.

I was expecting more steps for checking gaps and run out. All the things one expects with gnashing gears and other bits inside of a cast iron housing. Not one measurement.

Pump nearly a tube of grease into the box and put the lid on.

Spin the input shaft and I’m getting full rotation out of the output shaft. No binding or sticking.

One fear that haunted me was whether or not I have purchased an actual 16:1 steering box or that maybe the car already had one when I bought it. Now that the steering box is working, I can count the input rotations from lock to lock..

The original steering box is put on the bench and the input shaft is turned about 5 turns. The count isn’t exact. It’s actually a little less than 5 turns. I’m worried. The eBay steering box is next and that one spins a little over 3 1/2 turns. At least there’s a difference. The numbers aren’t exact to what I’ve been reading about but they’re close enough to confirm that I did purchase a 16:1.

Last part of the rebuild is to get the pitman arm off of the 19:1 gear box and bolt it to this 16:1. My generic set of go-to pullers didn’t work with this particular pitman arm. It worked fine on my 74 Camaro. Go figure. Had to buy a puller specifically for the Mustang but it did work. Got the pitman arm freed and reinstalled onto the 16:1 box

Now I have a steering gear box worthy of the newish steering linkage that will be attached to it. I can now finish the steering linkage assembly, in full, and get started on the real reason for putting the steering in the car.

Header Time.

Note: Much later when the steering column is bolted in and the steering linkage is installed and I’m using a steering wheel to turn the steering box, I get much closer to 4 turns lock to lock.