1955 Buick Steering Linkage

[packick]

Greetings Buick Gurus:

 

I had to remove the steering linkage in order to drop the oil pan to replace the rear main seal on my 1955 Buick Century.  This is the linkage with a slotted "screw" on each end compressing a spring inside and secured with a cotter pin.  Could the amount of "turns in/out" on that screw affect the alignment of the steering wheel?  I counted how many turns each end took to take them off and re-installed them with the same number of turns on each end, but the steering wheel is off a bit (the bottom spoke points to 35 past the hour rather than 30 past the hour).  If the number of turns DOES affect the steering wheel alignment, about how many turns more/less do you think it would take it to move the steering wheel back to the 30 past the hour?

 

My thought is that as you tighten one end of the linkage, it would pull that steering arm in a bit;  conversely as you loosen the end bolt, the spring inside would push the arm out a bit.  And thus the steering wheel position would be affected.  But what do I know?

 

I can't think of anything else that I removed for this rear main seal job that would affect the steering wheel position.

 

Thanks for the help.

Edited February 3, 2016 by packick (see edit history)

[NTX5467]

I agree with your orientation that how you did things should have worked pretty good. 

 

On a normal "drag link" steering linkage, from what I've seen over the years, with the steering wheel centered, the pitman arm should be parallel to the wheelbase of the vehicle.  From there, the number of exposed threads on the ends of the drag link, where the sleeve for the tie rod ends screw into, should be equal on each side.  The fact the steering wheel is not quite centered, now, can indicate such an imbalance in the number of exposed threads on each side.  Key thing is that the toe-in adjustment is correct!  Once that's been determined, then the sleeves can be adjusted a little to get the steering wheel re-centered.

 

Now, I presume that you have "history" on the roads you normally drive on. This can be important as you know, generally, how the steering wheel is positioned on the straight stretches of those roads.  FEW roads that appear to be or can be considered "flat" as almost all have some degree of "slope" and/or "crown" to them so that water will drain from the road surface.  That relates to the steering wheel angle AND the caster adjustment of the front suspension alignment.  When your vehicle was designed and built, it was somewhat common for alignment shops to ask what kind of road the customer normally drove on so that they could set the caster to compensate for the road's crown.  Reason was that many customers felt that if they were driving "straight", the steering wheel needed to be centered rather than having to "counter-steer" to keep the vehicle in its lane or on the road itself . . . and some customers could be "difficult to please" in this respect.  As roads have improved from "back then" and are now generally flatter, the need for these customized settings (within factory specs, just "staggered" side-to-side) has tended to decrease.

 

Considering the size of the steering wheel and the steering gearbox's ratio, things might not be quite as far "out" as you might suspect.  Just needs a little fine-tuning on the drag link sleeves, possibly.  Then, when you get a chance, get the toe-in checked to verify it's where it needs to be for best tire wear.

 

NTX5467

[packick]

NTX5467:

 

Thanks for the info.  Some time back I had the alignment checked at an alignment shop and it was dead-on specs.  So I think I will play with the ends of the drag link as you suggest.  I assume one end or the other is just a bit off and a minor adjustment will again center the steering wheel.

[old-tank]

Joe, first the bad news:  you did not need to remove the drag link to get the pan off; just unbolt the idler arm from the frame on the passenger side and drop it.  Page 251 of your service manual gives the adjustments for the drag link which should not have any effect on the steering wheel centering (look at the tie rod ends or idler arm if you disconnected that and turned if while disconnected for centering at the alignment shop).

If you didn't already, remove the drag link and completely disassemble to clean and inspect.  Sometimes there are broken springs and if it is still filled with original grease, clean all remnants  of that since mixing with modern grease will result in both greases liquefying and making a mess...you should paint it real purty too! 

Willie

[buick5563]

And if you do have a broken spring, I have a bunch of used ones, and they sell rebuild kits at CARS... for a lot of dough.

[NTX5467]

Joe, I must confess that 5563 and Old-Tank are FAR more knowledgeable on your year of Buick than I am.  What I mentioned is how things are on vehicles in general, although the Buick you have has some things I wasn't aware of on it.  My apologies fo that indiscretion.  I obviously need to do more research on that particular system.

 

NTX5467

[packick]

Thanks everyone.

 

I think I will remove the drag link ends, clean everything out and check for broken or misaligned parts then, as Old Tank suggested, follow the instructions on the Shop Manual for putting the ends back on.  Then test drive to see if all of that helped the steering wheel alignment.

 

Thanks again.

[packick]

Final chapter of this thread.

 

I took my '55 Century down today to have the alignment checked.  It turns out the toe-in was way off.  So they reset the alignment and centered the steering wheel.  

 

I still don't know what we moved to cause the toe-in get off.  (I did have the alignment checked a few years back and it was OK then.)  We did not remove the idler arm when we did this job which, according to the shop manual, could alter the toe-in.  I guess we will just chalk it up as "one of those mysteries."

 

Thanks to everyone for your feedback.

[old-tank]

Joe, one of mine is always off when checked at tire change time, the others never change.  Once it was severely toed-out...correcting that solved the  brake pulling on hard stops.  Then the last time I changed tires (radials from Diamondback on Toyo) the steering would not return to center until it was set at maximum positive caster.

Willie

[packick]

Old Tank:

 

That is interesting.  I wonder what causes them to go out?  I assume jamming the front tires into the curb when parallel parking is OK?  How else can you tell how far from the curb you are?

[old-tank]

More like states like Oklahoma and Arkansas in my way with their horrible roads...like ramming into curbs at 65 mph.

[60FlatTop]

 

 

  How else can you tell how far from the curb you are?

When my Daughter started driving I gave her my wife's 1965 Electra to drive to school. For practice I took her to and empty parking lot with painted spaces. She had to stop the car with the front bumper parallel with end stripe of the spot. After a lot of very evil looks in my direction (she's a redhead) she was all smiles with her new skill. Then I told her "OK, now the back bumper." Phew! Evil looks again. And she had to be centered in the space.

Once , when we were talking alone, she confided in me that she made her friends shriek with fear driving fast into parking spots. She just told them, with attitude, that she knew how big her car was.

 

She's Tommy when she drives- becomes part of the machine.

 

Bernie..... and she's a girl.

[Ttotired]

Hitting the curb will keep your wheel aligner in business

 

When I did my driving test (many moons ago now) hitting the curb while parking was an instant fail

 

Maybe a set of curb feelers might help?

[leon bee]

More like states like Oklahoma and Arkansas in my way with their horrible roads...like ramming into curbs at 65 mph.

Hey, now! I'm sure we must have some nice roads in Arkansas. Somewhere. In my part of the state, there are a few spots where they could have built a straight section of road, but nobody knew how to do that.