[one hot 33]

I narrowed a 1985 vet susp. 4" and swapped the spindles side to side to achieve rear steering to clear my cross member and radiator. The car is to be used for street and strip. Am I going to have alignment problems with this set up ?

[AntnyL]

Looks way cool! I dunno about the alignment issue, but from the pix, it looks like the lower control arm pivot bolt is only supported by a 2-inch wide crossmember mount? If so, I'd be concerned about that setup standing up to the force of hitting a pothole, or heavy braking. It might be the angle of the pictures though, maybe I'm not seeing the full story.

[Chevrolet4x4s]

Nice lookin ford
Shane

[one hot 33]

The lower control arm is attached to a solid 1 1/2" shaft welded threw the 2"x3" cross member. This could be my weak link? Im more worried about cornering.

[AntnyL]

Originally Posted by one hot 33

The lower control arm is attached to a solid 1 1/2" shaft welded threw the 2"x3" cross member. This could be my weak link? Im more worried about cornering.

Maybe look to add a gussett plate on each side of the welded tube to the crossmember to strengthen the pivot mount. The car should corner great! I added a Mustang type IFS to my 55 truck, and it now corners like a go-cart. Your car should handle even better I'm guessing.

[timothale]

It looks like the Akerman angle is now backwards. when yoy turn It looks like you will get bad toe in ...a line drawn thru the ball joint center lines... tie rod pivot is suposed to go thru the center of the rear end...It looks like if you draw the line it will be on the outside of the rear tires. I don't know if you can bend the steering arm and shorten the tie rod ends to make it work right.. My brother used to racwe go-carts and he had some that would slow down and scrub the tires in a turn because the angles were wrong.

[powerrodsmike]

Timothale is right about the Ackerman, Sunbeam Tigers used to have the same problem when they put the rear steer arms on the front... the inner wheel would aim away,(toe in), from the corner in turns You need that inner wheel to have more toe out on turns

Also, it looks like you need to get a shorter rack, as the inner pivots look to be outboard of the lower control arm pivot.

The inner tie rod end needs to be centered on an imaginary line drawn through the lower control arm inner pivot and the upper control arm inner pivot.
Otherwise you will have bumpsteer.


And yes, like AntnyL, has stated, you definately need a couple of gussets going back into the crossmember or frame at the lower a arm pivot..

That piece of 3" rectangle will twist off fairly quickly from the fatigue of braking and road irregularities..

You may have already fixed these issues, but that's what I see in the pictures.


Looks good though..better than a MII


Later, mikey

[timothale]

do a search on akerman and this site will link you up to good discussions of steering ...suspension ...alignment ... akerman. ETC

[timothale]

I have 2 late Jag front suspensions and 2 xj6 rears in the shop in a pile.. I plan on building a fixture using the old Jag parts to locate pivot and bolt locations and fabricating a new tube crosmember.. I wanted to run a non power rack ,,,but haven't found which one to use. I didn't measure the jag rack when I got the parts in Calif.. I have a 29 nash roadster and a 32 Ford I plan on building with jag front and rear, I am now in central utah and the local wrecker hasn't had a jag in there in about 10 years... Next week we will help him get ready for the crusher,,,we will get a nail head buick drive train and aluminum brake drums ...a 47 chevy pickup, ...9 in rear end and a list of pieces we need for our projects. I am going to build a rock seperator for him . the yard is on an old mine site and he is going to start to process mine tailings. WE trade a lot of stuff. that way I don't have to spend all my social security check there.

[one hot 33]

Thanks for the info. Im going to gusset the lower arms as suggested, and check out akerman. I already installed a narrowed rack and pinion from a small PU. Will do some measuring. It really helps knowing what to look for. THANKS AGAIN