Camber affects tire wear but not caster...

 

Caster is also known as Kingpin inclination
, which like said does not cause affect tire wear.

 

sure does, but not as much... just live on a mountain road and you will see the difference.
freeways, you won't see much difference in tire wear and the vehicle will drive itself...
and 'yes' they are a bear to park... but if you want self canceling steering, lots of caster will do it.. (it's great when driving too fast on gravel and dirt roads... not enough caster and the driver will over correct in a slide..)....

 

Obviously I know that it is a torsion bar front end. I am fully aware of adjustments. You can not adjust "to your hearts content" and still have a driveable truck. I installed the Volare suspension, I aligned the Volare, and I installed the dropped spindles. I have played with the ride height to where it suits me. I still would not install it today. Better options out there now.

 

If you do a major adjustment to the ride height you should really re-align the front end.

 

hi...brand new here,,,61 unibody that I put a volare on...straight and true, rebuilt. still in the build process. RUNNING A (SHOULD i DARE SAY) SBC. However, with that huge steering pump..i dont see any room for motor mounts. ( that is without some crazy fabrication)...contacted a shop that promotes these swaps for some input and custom mounts and the pics I saw looked pretty hacked and for a lot of $$$...any and all suggestions would be appreciated. Willing to rid the pump for another smaller for clearance etc, Got alot of time and $$$ invested so far, so scrapping and staring over is not really an option...thanks in advance

 

On my panel I moved the motor towards the passenger side 1 3/4. If I was to do it again I would only move it 1 3/8 - 1 1/2. Made motor mount fabrication much easier.

 

Do you mean the steering gearbox rather than the pump? The pump in attached to the engine and drives off it to provide pressure to assist the power steering gearbox. The gearbox is attached to the chassis and the steering column and steers the truck by turning the steering wheel.
I'm real surprised you are having problems with clearance with a SBC and are needing custom mounts. I am not 100% familiar with a 61 chassis since this is the 48-56 forum, but I'll assume it has an open C channel frame like our earlier trucks. I am using a CSB in my 56, using the tubular "universal" engine mount from Mid Fifty: # 4410 for the CSB 1948-64 Ford F-100 Crossmember Engine Mount, Chevy Engines, Most - 4810
The catalog says it fits to a 64, and it is not expensive. You will also need the engine block mounts #4411 (or #4412 if you are using an LS1 motor.)
The engine can be moved off center by cutting one end of the center section shorter than the other when shortening it to fit between the frame rails if need be. Just be sure to also offset the tranny mount the same amount so the engine remains parallel to the center of the frame. Maybe you can post some pictures so we can see what exactly what the issue is. Typically the CSB practically falls into place.

 

I think he is saying he already has the volare clip mounted to a 61 unibody so the swap will somewhat be similar to this. I moved my motor 1 3/4 towards the passenger to give more room for motor mount fabrication. Stock power steer pump has no clearance issues and I used exhaust manifolds off a 70 chev pickup. Transmission mount was offset also and motor trans parallels the frame. The very first one of these I did I centered the motor and it played h--- with motor mount, and power steer pump was an issue, but I did get it with some creativity. Offsetting the motor has proved to be the simplest method IMHO.

 

Hello all, Im new to the forum and a huge fan of the old F100's!

I know this is an old thread, But..

Don Vito did you ever get the twitchy steering resolved? I'm just curious what I will have to do to fix the exact same issue.

I have a 1959 Chev Apache with the Volare clip. I bought it last year, it handled pretty good, tracked straight, I could cruz on the free way with no problems. It needed some attention as it was an older build with what I'm assuming mostly original parts.
Over the winter I tore it down to the frame and thanks to RockAuto I replaced everything except torsion bar bushings. Every part is new, including replacing the leaking loose steering gear.
I had the truck aligned and the truck is a night mare to drive over 40mph. twitchy as hell.
I ordered another new steering gear today, this time for an 89 diplomat police car.
when I get that on later this week I will be back at the alignment shop to see what they set the caster and camber at.

 

I never had a twitchy issue, my truck is still being put together, not on the road yet, soon I hope

 

John,


None of your links at jniolon.classicpickup.com seem to be working?
Not sure if the problem is from my end or not.


Regards,


Kirk

 

I would try another alignment guy, or try some adjustments myself. My 53 with Volare is not twitchy at all.

 

I have a 1977 Cordoba IFS with the parallel torsion springs. This winter I replaced all the ball joints, bushings and the steering box. I hope it tightens up the feel at the steering wheel. The size and heft of the steering box is kind of astonishing but maybe not so much given the heft of the car it came out of. The hood alone probably weighed as much and the whole truck cab. This weekend I realized the rebuilt steering box is missing it's low side metering valve fitting and of course I returned the core months ago. And searching the web for this part I found plenty of chit chat about how to improve the performance of the mopars for this era. Apparently this steering box is kind of notorious for a mushy feel and sloppy control. So Borgeson has a smaller, lighter , better 14:1 ratio gear box but at over $600 I'd probably more inclined to replace the whole set up with a MII. BTW, I found a low side meter valve fitting at you pick it for a little under $3.
Borgeson Universal Company :: Mopar Cars 1962-82

Also, this steering box is huge and creates a pretty daunting roadblock for headers. Add to that the parallel torsion springs below right where the headers dump out and exhaust routing gets tricky.

 

I think you're thinking of Camber. Caster is the imaginary line that runs from the top of the spindle to the bottom. If the vehicle is lowered in the front, not enough Caster. If the PO didn't compensate for caster when he welded the front end in, not enough Caster. Ever see pix of an old drag car, when the steering wheel is turned too far one way, the wheels "flop" over and the pit guys have to come out and straighten them....SERIOUS Caster. Or a Top Fuel motorcycle, with umpteen degrees of rake . Thats makes them track durn near hands free at speed, Almost impossible to turn at low speed. Hope this helps. Check that Mopar front end B4 you tear it out.( previous FTE reader) Thanks for listening.