Problem: Car 'weaves' under acceleration at 100+mph (drag car). Background: Manual Steering I did the 1" SHELBY DROP Front end aligned recently with as much negative camber as possible - which wasn't much as I recall (? degree). 28" X 9" X 15" M/T ET Drags w/13psi 26" X 4.5" X 15" M/T Front Runners w/40psi Has Monte Carlo Bar and Shock Tower Braces Stock front sway bar Using our Search feature, I found LOTS of information on steering boxes resulting in "information overload". I know a few of you have rebuilt your steering boxes yourselves. Do you have any input (i.e., recommendations on where to buy the rebuild kit, how simple was it, did it require special tools, what was the outcome, how many miles were on the car, what parts were worn on yours, etc.)? During the writing of this post, and after visiting Stanger's Site, I believe the best route (for the machine-shop impaired) is to either have the box rebuilt or go with a repro. There are simply too many parts that might need to be machined and/or polished of which I do not have the necessary tools to perform the job. I also know some of you guys have had your boxes overhauled locally. Did they remachine any of your parts that you know of, or did they just replace parts? How much did it cost? Are you satisfied with the results? Any horror stories? Then there is the option of sending the old box to Optimum Service for a rebuild. Personally, I'm impressed with their knowledge of the Ford Steering Boxes and their clear explanation of what parts might need to be replaced and why. They also state upfront how much extra parts will cost if the old box needs them. A complete worst-case scenario rebuild would be $255 (plus shipping of the core and rebuilt box). It comes with a 2 year warranty. Then there is discountsteering.com. Since my car is a '70, I assume the gear ratio is 20:1. Their cost is $225 plus a core (or $100 core charge). Surely the buyer would have to pay for shipping the old one to them, however, they pay for shipping the repro to you. If one wanted or needed to go with the 16:1 ratio, the $225 jumps to $295. This one comes with a 1 year warranty. Personally, and as budget minded as I am, I believe I will take mine off - disassemble it, inspect all the surfaces of the parts (that do not come in a rebuild kit) and make a decision from there. I'm leaning towards Optimum Services out of Leon Springs, TX. Thanks for your comments/input. Sources: http://www.stangerssite.com/Optimum/index.html http://www.discountsteering.com/ http://mmb.maverick.to/search.php?searchid=352285
Are you sure it's the steering box? How much slack is in the steering? Any of the linkage sitting still when you wiggle the steering wheel or does it move with the steering the way it should? What about the rear shackles and bushings? Slack in the rear parts can cause it to weave too. Even air trapped under the hood can cause the front end to lift enough to make the steering light and let it weave. Before I spent that kind of money on rebuilding the box, I'd try another known to be good used box and see if it still does it, if it does the problem is elsewhere.....
I'll try to quantify how much slack is in the steering tomorrow and report back along with any other similar anomalies up front. The rear spring shackle bushings are new. I thought about the hood thing too, but this is a fiberglass hood and I would think it would tear away rather than lift the front of the car enough to make it weave. Maybe I'll put a WTB ad in the classified for a 'cheap' known good one - but these are all 'old' and probably have a lot of miles on them. Might be worse than the one I have now. Thanks for the clues. I'd like to check into getting aftermarket caster/camber plates too if anyone knows who offers them for the Mavericks/Comets at a reasonable price.
Rick, this is why I am losing the power system. No matter how tight you get all the parts, there is always going to be that 1/2" play at the power valve. Take a look under the hood with one of the kids pretending they are driving, moving the steering wheel back and forth just a little. You will see that the valve slides side to side about 1/2-3/4" in order to activate the ram in one direction or the other. When you take a little play and add high speeds, you will be all over the road. Just driving 50 on the highway I go almost from line-to-line. I am amazed I have never been pulled over and checked for "beer-breath" (of course, they would only find me with "dog-breath" ). Before you spend big bucks on getting the box fixed, let me go through my PS-to-MS swap and document where alot of the slack comes from. If you still think it is the box, I would be willing to let you work with mine and see if it makes a difference (mine has less than 60k on it, may be in better shape than yours). I don't see any play at the box on my sytem...
"Power valve"? Now you're confusing me even more (like THAT is possible!). And thanks for the offer!:Handshake but it appears there is very little movement of the steering wheel without the tires turnng - so.... this lead me to believe my problem may NOT be in the box. I 'think' I might be onto something. I just took a level and placed it on every vertical, flat surface on the rim (and along the outside wall of the tire too) to check the camber. The passenger side has negative camber (good). The driver side has positive camber (bad). I also took a longer level to check the garage floor. It appears to be dead level. I'll RE-adjust the camber to get as much negative as I can (again), but I believe I'm maxed out already. It doesn't look good - which brings me to this question - is anyone running aftermarket Caster/Camber plates or know who makes them for the Maverick? If not for the Maverick, what other make and model would interchange? Thanks.
OOPS!!! I am sorry, I have been telling you to convert to manual steering all this time. If I would have just read it, you already HAVE IT Disregard the power valve doohicky suggestions.
This sounds familiar. My six cylinder car had a situation similar to yours. The cause was the shock towers had rotated and bent inward on one side and outward on the other. A quick trip to a good frame shop straightend everything out and fixed the alignment problems. If you can't adjust it enough in your garage, I would put a level on the edges of the shock tower also to see if they are aligned the same on both sides. If not,try to find a frame shop with an old timer working there. Most of the places I went to had young folk working there that had no idea what caused the problem or how to fix it. Youth today....:evilsmile
I'll look into the towers and use the heim joints on the Shock Tower Braces to see if it has any effect on it. I know that I had to loosen the heim joints after I got it back from having it aligned. They'd tightened the braces to point where it pulled the Monte Carlo bar into the side of the distributor, which eventually led to a broken cap and rotor. ref: picture ref thread: http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=26423&highlight=aligned Thanks for the info.
If you do decide to rebuild your gear box, I think you'll find it's easy. I've been through a couple of them. If the gears are in good shape, all the bearings and seals can be purchased at your local bearing shop, with the exception of the upper seal, which you can get from a gear box rebuilder for less than $1.
