The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline steering stabilizer

Hello everybody, I read a tip post about a guy that installed a steering stabilizer on a classic chevy pickup to keep the bias ply tires from jumping around in the grooves in the street ; I believe he sain it was for an early voltswagon but can’t remember the year, Anyone have any ideas? Thx I appreciate your help.

For what make, year, and size truck?

It’s a 1936 1/4 tn chevy.

Steering stabilizers are like giving a brain tumor patient an aspirin for his headache- - - - -you're treating the symptom, not the cause of the problem. Get rid of the slack in the tie rods and drag link, fix the kingpins, and align the front end properly and the stabilizer won't be needed.
Jerry

Second.

Ed

As Jerry and Ed say, get the front suspension/steering right first. If you really just have to put on a steering stabilizer most all of our favorite parts suppliers have a kit to do it. No sense stressing over what part to crossover. It’s already done for you.🛠

I just spit my coffee out over the keyboard. The only time I have experienced one of these actually doing some good on all brand new front end parts was on my little T bucket, with a transverse leaf spring and radius arms. And even at that it only helped marginally better to control the bump steer, if one tire went into a low spot in the road at speed. And that I'm sure was because of that particular front end engineering and the time period it was conceived in.

Transverse leaf suspension actually predates the automobile by quite a few years- - - - -it was used on horsedrawn carriages back in the 19th. century. Ford stuck with the design all the way to 1948, but old Henry was a stubborn old cuss who hated change- - - - -putting a water pump on the Model A was only done over his objections when the thermo-siphon cooling used by the Model T couldn't keep the bigger engine cool!
Jerry

I will tell you this. When the stabilizer goes bad on Volkswagen Beetle, you won't be concerned about pesky wandering. You will however be hanging on for dear life once you hit the magic speed where simple harmonic motion feds upon itself, resulting in the front end going into a mechanical epileptic seizure!
But the front end of a Volkswagen is an entirely different animal (insect) than our old trucks.

Good morning bebop,

I’ve owned the same ’36 Chevy pickup since 1965 and restored it n the early 1970s. Along the way I’ve found some parts not listed in parts books for the ’36 but they definitely fit and improve various things like the steering issue you are dealing with now. I’d be glad to share with you privately what I’ve learned about the ’36 Chevy if you’re interested.

There are also various 1936 Chevy forums including one on Facebook.

Yeah he was stubborn, the whole family seemed to be, look how long they hung onto the twin I beam,lol.

"Yeah he was stubborn, the whole family seemed to be, look how long they hung onto the twin I beam,lol."

sstock,

Notice, however, that when GM and Chrysler came begging the government for bailout money Ford continued on uninterrupted with their own funds. It's also worth noting the Number 1 selling vehicle in our country,is the Ford F150. Have you seen the torque and RPM numbers that little Ford turbocharged V6 produces? You could tow a freight train with that thing. We wanted to get one but, although it doesn't look huge, it's over a foot too long to fit in our garage. So we got a 2017 Tahoe. It barely fits in the garage but a fit is a fit.

"This is an apple- - - - -this is an orange" Must be a west coast thing!
LOL!
Jerry