The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop 1956 Pickup Problem - Aftermarket Power Steering?

I have a '56 Chevy Stepside Pickup I recently purchased in CA & shipped back home to Australia. Standard 6 stud steel rims & good even tread on tyres. It has had an aftermarket power steering setup installed, similar to those sold by Tuckers, Brothers, CPP etc that mount the later model box on the outside of the rails. I've checked a number of on-line fitting guides & as far as I can tell it has all been fitted correctly.

The problem is that as soon as I brake suddenly, hit a bump or hole in the road, rail crossing etc, the steering turns to the left and is bad enough to run off the road if you weren't expecting it. Also, the faster you go the more the steering wanders and if you swerve from side to side the steering gets light & the truck wants to steer itself. I turned one of the ball joints upside down on the drag link hoping that the angle might compensate by bringing the link parallel when the suspension bounces, but all it did was pull the problem across to the right side.

If anyone has any experience with this problem or these kits or could it be something else. I'd really appreciate some advice.

Man. Thats not good. If it were me, I'd take it to a shop and have it inspected. That could lead to a major ah sh--.

Maybe they installed a bad "used" gear box.? If that is "tight" then check all the steering arms and joints, king pins and wheel bearings. It has got to be something way off, way worn.

You're experiencing a problem called "bump steer". If the drag link between the steering gear Pitman arm and the spindle is not parallel to the ground, every time the axle moves up or down the wheel will follow. Has the ride height been changed in addition to the steering gear swap? With the truck at its normal running height and the wheels pointed straight ahead, the Pitman arm and the drag link should form a 90 degree angle, and the drag link should be level. That will minimize bump steer through a longer vertical travel distance for the axle than any other position of the mating parts.
Jerry

GM offered several different Saganaw gear boxes some of which have a very fast ratio. The stock steering box has about 5 1/2 turns lock to lock. Some of the performance boxes are about 2 1/2 turns lock to lock. If they installed one of the quick ratio boxes it could cause problems with the straight axle geometry
and contribute to the bump steer situation Jerry indicated.
Fred

Thanks for all your advice, it's really appreciated, not too many of the early Chevy pick-ups in Oz and so advice is hard to get at home.

I will be pulling it all down on the hoist this weekend to check on the wear of all the front end components. Hotrod Lincoln's advice on the positioning of the drag link is accurate.(see http://image.classictrucks.com/f/8156810+w750+st0/0210ct_power33_zoom.jpg) Strangely though, I was able to reduce the "bump" to the left considerably by turning over the ball joint / bracket at the steering arm so that the drag link was at an angle rather than level. Although I now have a strong pull to the right when I brake hard at 55 mph +. Can anybody comment on why this may have worked? I figured that the pitman arm would be level when the springs were depressed & hence it might remove the bump, which it seems to have done. Still, I shouldn't have had to do this all things being normal.

It does have the later Chevy box installed and this is recommended by the likes of CPP & others that sell these kits. They say that this was a major reason that this upgrade was designed in the first place.

Can anybody recommend the power rack & pinion upgrade that is sold for this i-beam setup? Is it a better option than the steering box upgrade that I have fitted? The kit itself is just under USD$700 and I reckon shipping to Oz would be close to $300. Would the $1000 investment be worth it? A front graft is pretty much out of the question over here because of the engineering requirements that make it soooooo expensive.

I think the school is still out on the rack & pinion steering. Many question that it will work with a straight axle at all.
I have not installed one so am not an expert. I have, however installed several Toyota conversions on TF trucks and a 56 Ford F100 and feel it is the best conversion. They are getting scarce and you will probably pay close to $1000 for it.
Fred

Try fitting the drag link on top of the pitman-you will have to flip the pitman arm over over to do this, but it should straighten up the drag link.

after you check everthing for wear in the front suspension i have a feeling you have a brake thet is hanging up on the right side. could be a leaky wheel cylinder or a caliper hanging up. i have also had a brake hose cause this problem in the past. what you will find is once you tighten up one thing you will find something else. just like opening a can of worms so to speak. good luck and keep us posted. MO

Worth checking the spring pins and bushes at the rear of the front springs. Wear in these -especially if it's unequal left side to right side- will cause pulling or weaving under braking. You need the front suspension hanging free to be able to check this with a pry bar against the spring eye and its hanger.

As a general stability thing, and relevant to the wandering issue you also have, it'd be worth checking that you've got some caster on the front axle too while you're working on it.

I had the same problem with my 49. It turned out to be 2 things, 1, it had 1 bad tie rod end and, 2 the rear leaf spring bushing(on the same side) and pin of the front leaf spring on the right side were worn out. (the bushing was worn to the spring)

One other thing to check... If the axle was removed during the conversion, check that the wedges are still between the springs and axle, they set the caster angle and will have a big effect on wander at speed.

The camber on the roads over here is opposite to that in the USA & hence many stock LHD imports don't handle it very well. Couldn't get the problem sorted so I gave up & fitted up a '85 Jag Series 3 IFS front end. About 50 or so hours of work in it to meet legal engineering requirements.....remove all the stock rivets, weld up all the holes, cut, narrow & box the rails etc..... but it a common pickup conversion over here. The Jag hubs are the same as the Chev stud pattern, it drops the front 2" & the rear springs need to be flattened out, no rear frame notch necessary unless you bag it. Picked up the Jag front for $280, & refurbished it using parts out of the USA as they are half the price of those over here. A good result all up.

Thanks for your input guys.

curious whats it cost to ship a car or truck there? Does it go into a container?

I suppose it would depend if the truck was on the left or right coast.
That would make a big difference...

For example to the UK from an East coast port you're looking roughly at $1500(US) then of course when it hits the shore the government want their piece of the action to.


Glad you got it sorted Phil,I can appreciate the problems with driving on the wrong side of the road!