Bumpsteer inexpensive solution ideas??

PS or non?

both ways there ARE solutions.


the first being true for both applications. Look at your steering box. There should be a stud appearing bolt that had a standard screwdriver head on it with a nut on it directly on top. loosten the nut and tighten the bolt a bit. This will snug up your worm gear, but be careful. too tight and it'll bind around corners.

if you've got PS, look directly on the end of the PS ram. there should be a cap with two philips head screws holding it on. Take that off and tighten the nut underneath to 95-105 in/lb torque. Then back the nut (i believe) its either 1/4 or 1/2 a turn off. the bolt will turn before it bottoms and you actually back the screw off, so be observant.


both adjustments got rid of my bump steer

jlangholzj said:

PS or non?

both ways there ARE solutions.


the first being true for both applications. Look at your steering box. There should be a stud appearing bolt that had a standard screwdriver head on it with a nut on it directly on top. loosten the nut and tighten the bolt a bit. This will snug up your worm gear, but be careful. too tight and it'll bind around corners.

if you've got PS, look directly on the end of the PS ram. there should be a cap with two philips head screws holding it on. Take that off and tighten the nut underneath to 95-105 in/lb torque. Then back the nut (i believe) its either 1/4 or 1/2 a turn off. the bolt will turn before it bottoms and you actually back the screw off, so be observant.


both adjustments got rid of my bump steer

Click to expand...

Adjusting the steering box and/or PS may have improved your steering (by reducing slop), but that didn't affect bumpsteer in any way.

Bumpsteer is when the wheels steer when they go up and down (i.e. when the suspension moves). That can only be solved by correcting the geometry, which in practice means lowering the outer tie rod pivot point.

As for cheap solutions: I looked hard, but there aren't any good solutions.

You would need 2 studs, 2 heim joints and 2 tie rod sleeves. The cheapest studs I have found were ~$20-25 each. (reasonably) good heim joints may be $15 each and tie rod sleeves and some jam nuts may be $10-15 each. That adds up to about $100 plus shipping (may be more than expected since you probably end up ordering parts from different sources).

The problem is that you would need a tie rod sleeve with 5/8" threads on one side and 11/16" on the other, to fit the inner tie rod and they don't exist (except for the ones included in bumpsteer kits).

An alternative is to drill out the tapered holes in the drag link and the spindles and simply use bolts. Of course, those holes are tapered for a reason and the bolts may result in slop (over time), which is of course the last thing you want when "improving" your steering. It would also require 4 heim joints instead of four, so the bill would end up at ~$90.

My suggestion is to leave it as is and simply wait until you saved another $80 and buy a ready to install kit instead.

the only thing the taper does it make it easy for install. that way it cant be over torqued.

The cheapest way i have found is around $80. first of all you need to drill and ream you center link and spindles to 0.495" this is the shank diameter on most 1/2-20 fasteners. Speedway motors sells aluminum rod ends and aluminum threaded tube. Buy quantity four, 1/2 rod ends with the 5/8-18 thread male shank. and 2 left hand right hand threaded tube length is to be determined. but the eye to eye of the rod ends needs to the about 14". not to corrrect the bump steer: space the tie rod up or done, on the spindle attachment, as needed to make the tie rod parralel to the LCA. this will be your initial settign and tune from there as needed.

The local circle track shop by me has always been very helpful in my projects. If you have one near by, give them a try. Circle track shops are usually very competitve in pricing too.

I don't know much about bumpsteer, but I found this.

Bumpsteer Explained - Mustang & Fords Magazine

5280/4 said:

the only thing the taper does it make it easy for install. that way it cant be over torqued.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure if that's the only purpose of the taper. It also ensures that there's no slop. That can of course be achieved by reaming the hole so that the bolt fits in there without slop, like you described. Assuming that you own or can borrow a reamer of course.

Helmantel said:

The problem is that you would need a tie rod sleeve with 5/8" threads on one side and 11/16" on the other, to fit the inner tie rod and they don't exist (except for the ones included in bumpsteer kits).

Click to expand...

Actually Speedway Motors has these and the studs for adjustment very cheap. I have both on my 66 coupe right now. The only issue with the studs would be reaming out the spindle tie rod hole to accept the larger taper on the stud. I have Granada spindle so that wasn't an issue at all. They just slid right in. I do have another set and a reamer (7 deg taper) for another car I'm working on since I'm going with a Cobra brake setup on that one. I'm going swap out the Granada's to Cobras as well in the not too distant future.

Adjustable Tie-Rod Adapter Stud to Heim
and
Standard Rod End / Heim Joint, 11/16"-18 Shank, 5/8" Hole

I didn't know they sold them with 11/16" shanks. Judging from the description they're not too common: "Every once in a while someone wants to use a rod end in place of a 11/16" tie rod. We listened to the requests and built them with 11/16"-18 RH or LH thread and accept a 5/8" thru-bolt. "

Did you use the stock tie rod sleeve? If so, was it long enough? (The shank on the heim joint is probably shorter than on a stock tie rod)

The stock tie rod sleeve is way too short for the heim. I'm in the process of making tie rod sleeves since I built my own R&P setup using Randall's rack as a guide. I'm using 1.25" DOM tubing with a .375" wall for the sleeves. Just need to mill out the 5/8" hole to tap the 11/16" reverse threads for the heim. Of course the motor on my 1960's Craftman mill burnt up on me on my last project so that's stalled everything for now

Oh and the 7 deg reamer can be bought at Speedway as well. I believe it is $80 or so. I found it cheaper online for around $58 but I don't remember the name of the place off the top of my head...