[Nicks67GTO]

Hey guys. I have a 67' GTO. I got new tires the other day and had the front end aligned. The car turns much sharper to the right than the left. It feels like im bottoming the steering box out on the right but not the left. Tward the laft i just hit a stopping point that i cant turn past. I can drive normally and I have no trouble except in parking situations where i have to turn left. Iv'e done the Jeep GC box upgrade and stuck a 1.25" sway bar on the front. The alignment guy said he cant do anything about it but didn't really specify why other than its hitting the locks. Any ideas? Could I have the pitman arm on a little bit wrong on the Jeep Grand Cherokee box??

The car had the frame welded years ago where the driver side, lower A arm bolts up tward the rear of the car. It wasn't rot so it must have been hit hard. I don't see how they could mess that up though. The front end dosen't bind when i bounce the car and even if it ripped free in the one spot, it had a sold place to mount to on the front lower a arm mount, giving them a very close idea where to weld.

Any ideas?

[geeteeohguy]

Any time a car is modified, other fires usually start up that need to be put out. To me, it sounds like the pitman arm is installed (clocked) incorrectly on the sector shaft. I've been driving old GTO's for 35 years or so, constantly, and have never understood the Jeep box "upgrade". Over the years, I have seen many modified and 'upgraded' systems on these cars, and most of them degrade the integrity of the vehicle, IMO.

[Erik_H]

As suggested, the easiest first thing to check is make sure it's all centered. Back out your stops on the spindles, count the turns of the steering wheel and find the exact center. Then check the direction the pitman is facing. If not, there you go. Also could check to see if the linkage is hitting something (mine is now hitting the oil pan only going in one direction after putting on a Milodon 7 qt).

[RedDirtRoad]

I was going to do the jeep steering box too but after talking to
Chip at Power Steering Service www.powersteering.com
He advised me not too. He explained the even thought the boxes might look alike the internal geometry and stops are very different. If you want quick ration the best thing to do is have him rebuild your stock box. You also need to rebuild the pump too because you need different pump pressure. If you call him he can explain it in much better detail. In the end I just kept my stock steering box.

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by Erik_H

As suggested, the easiest first thing to check is make sure it's all centered. Back out your stops on the spindles, count the turns of the steering wheel and find the exact center. Then check the direction the pitman is facing. If not, there you go. Also could check to see if the linkage is hitting something (mine is now hitting the oil pan only going in one direction after putting on a Milodon 7 qt).

Stops on my spindles? I'm not sure what you're talking about. Maybe that's it?? Can you go into further detail?? What i should be looking for here?? I ran over to the car this morning and looked for some stops but nothing stuck out as obvious.

[Sirrotica]

A bodies don't have adjustable stops, there is a slight extension on the back of the spindle steering arm (arm that the tie rod mates to and has 2 bolts holding it to the spindle and is U shaped) that hits a stop on the rearward side of the lower A frame.

It also sounds to me like the Pittman arm is clocked wrong on the splines if it has been removed at sometime it's imperative it is replaced at the same point it was removed from.

Run the steering from side to side and count the turns lock to lock, divide the turns in half and run the box to the approximate center counting the turns. Look under the front of the car and see if the Pittman arm is straight centered to the rear, if it's not the arm is clocked incorrectly on the spline. Don't worry about if the steering wheel is centered at this point because it may have been also clocked wrong to make up for the incorrect Pittman arm install. When you get the Pittman arm sorted out you can adjust the steering wheel to compensate for it.

If this scenario is what I think it is the marks on the steering column shaft and steering wheel will be misaligned too, this is how someone made the wheel straight to compensate for the Pittman arm problem, if there indeed is one. It works on all cars with steering stops, not just A bodies or Pontiacs.

One other hint is when your all done put a dab of chassis grease on the stops, It keeps them form snapping when your wheels are cut all the way to one side and you go over a surface irregularity such as backing out of a driveway into the street, SNAP that's what that noise is. It works on all cars with steering stops, not just A bodies or Pontiacs.

[chrisp]

Disconnect the pitman from the center link , find exact center of steering box rotation by turning the steering wheel & finding the center , attach a tie-down strap from steering wheel to the brake pedal . Re-attach the pitman arm to the centerlink , then set wheels straight by adjusting all tie rods to straighten the wheels . The pitman arm can be installed onto the steering box @ 4 different indexed locations @ every 1/4 locations , if further adjustment is needed .

[428GTO70]

I dont know...I have the Jeep gear in my 70 GTO and it works perfectly. Steering stops feel just like my original box and there is just more of a modern solid feel to the steering now, not all loosey goosey like original. And you dont have to rebuild your pump, you just take the pressure valve and spring out from behind the hose fitting of a newer pump and swap it into yours...you can also swap in the hose fitting from the newer pump while you are at it and not have to worry about putting adaptors in the box, you just use the oring style pressure hose. I got my gear from a junkyard JGC and cleaned it up..pretty sure it was an original one and not been replaced. Hard to say what you get in a rebuilt unit from a parts store.

Originally Posted by RedDirtRoad

I was going to do the jeep steering box too but after talking to
Chip at Power Steering Service www.powersteering.com
He advised me not too. He explained the even thought the boxes might look alike the internal geometry and stops are very different. If you want quick ration the best thing to do is have him rebuild your stock box. You also need to rebuild the pump too because you need different pump pressure. If you call him he can explain it in much better detail. In the end I just kept my stock steering box.

[RedDirtRoad]

Sorry Disregard my other post.
I was mistaken. It wasnt the Jeep sterring box, rather a Trans Am WS-6 box.
Seems like from what I have read the Jeep boxes work fine