[Blublood]

Hello. I just joined up to HotRodders.com. This is a great site and I have been learning stuff from you guys for years.

We are building a little hot rod pickup with a suicide front end. It has a reversed Corvair steering box that sits on top of the frame. I would like the pickup to steer sharper when turning left without the tire hitting the drag link. What we have is a Speedway pitman arm that has the offset. I'd like to have a straight pitman arm to move the drag link toward the frame. This would give us clearance from the tire and also make the hairpin more visible from the side. I'll make the steering arm match so that the drag link is parallel with the hairpins.

I would like to find a forged Corvair pitman arm. I assume that the arm will have the offset like the Speedway arm. Will I be able to heat and straighten it and then slow cool it or would it be better to cut my own arm out of steel and weld the Corvair splined end into a ring cut in the new arm?

My other question is are there other pitman arms that have the same splined end as the Corvair arm?

Thanks for any input

[boatbob2]

Hi,i dont know if other arms will fit the corvair box,take your arm to a Pick a part, look at gm arms.take your tools,you will have to pull the arm to check it. BUT,you can bend or straighten the arm,without a problem,heat it cherry red,bend it the way you need,let it cool SLOWLY,i always take the cherry red arm,and bury it in a pile of sand,to slowly cool it.

[2old2fast]

If you have a bolt on steering arm [at the spindle] ,get or make a longer one, that will give you more wheel clearance & slow down your steering , win/win ..

dave

[Blublood]

Thanks for the replies. We do have a new Speedway pitman arm which is supposed to be a forged one, I guess. It has a grainy appearance which looks like cast to me. I figured an original would be safest.

We are using a 59 Ford front end. It has the original steering arm that curves up and around the front of the axle from the bottom of the spindle. I know this isn't the common setup, but I think I can make it look presentable. It can't look any less clean than having the tie rod in front of the axle, which I don't. The steering arm isn't quite in the right position and I figured I will have to heat it and position it to match the pitman arm.

Is it true that the pitman arm and steering arm have to be the same length? I assume there is some leeway with that. I want this pickup to drive nice. I don't want to have problems to straighten out later.
Thanks

[trees]

I am not positive about this, but it seems one of the 64-65 Chevys had a pittman arm that would spline to the Corvair box. Check with The Late Great Chevy guys: they may be able to help.

Trees

[2old2fast]

No, they don't have to be the same length, just changes the turning radius.

dave

[Blublood]

Thanks for the help. Another question is whether there is another steering box that fits in a similar position and works as well as the (Flaming River) reversed Corvair box? Does the F1 box do that? We are trying to go for a little bit of a 60's look with the pickup but aren't super rigid in making everything period on it. If there is a good, later model junkyard choice, I might give it a try. I'm a Ford guy, so if I could find a good alternative to the Chevy stuff, it would be great.