Steering link question

[Guest austinsailor]

I drove my 24 DB Roadster maybe 50 miles this weekend and the steering link that goes through the left hand spindle, the one that has both the drag link and tie rod end attached, became loose in the spindle. It goes into a tapered hole with a big nut on the other side. It also has a half moon key in it.

 

Strangely, removing the key let it go in quite a bit farther, as it was getting tight on one side agains the key in the keyway, and on the other side against the round, tapered hole. I'm not sure that makes sense without looking at it, but suffice it to say, things didn't fit right.

 

I  have a second restored chassis, so I decided to dig into it to see what was wrong. What I discovered is, the diameter of the part that goes through the spindle, the tapered shaft with the keyway on the side and threads on the end to hold the nut that holds it in,was considerably bigger. Shaft diameter, nut size, threads and everything. The rest - arms to the drag link and tie rod end - looks the same.

 

Now, I can fix my driver by just swapping it across. In reality, I'm going to swap the spindle and all, assuming there are no other differences. One is wood spoke wheels, one is large 24" disks, but it'll be easier than pressing out the shaft in the second one.

 

So, it leaves me wondering, what the heck?  You would think they are the same. But, did earlier ( or maybe later) parts use a smaller sized part? They appear to be the same except the size of the tapered shaft. When I get on the finished chassis (or what used to be) I need to find something to fit it. 

 

Any of this make any sense to anyone?