poor mans power steering

[Robznob11]

I remeber seeing an artical in the late 90s or 00 that was talking about drilling the drag link and pressing in a pilot bushing where your pitman arm connects. Does anyone remember seeing that or has anyone heard of that trick.or have i gone crazy and read too many stories over the years. It would have been in classic trucks or custom classic trucks more than likley caus thats what i suscribed to back then
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[bigguy69]

im curious

[68gmsee]

I'm trying to figure out what they were trying to accomplish or how that would have helped unless it was to minimize the friction that the pitman arm has.

Back in the old days when most vehicles didn't have power steering a sure indicator of front end problems including pitman/idler arm wear was loose steering. If that's what they were trying to do, then there's no cushioning effect and a driver would feel every movement of the tires on the road.

[Robznob11]

Im sorry i said bushing i ment bearing
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[Longhorn Man]

I remember a story in that time frame that was dealing with a straight axle truck, probably the old fords f 1... they had rollers in the ball joints. Vette guys used to do this too. I remember thinking it wasn't very cheap though.

[TobyArnot]

I know something about this. TRW used to make a thrust bearing conversion for tri-fives, among others. I had one on a '62 Bel-Air I built (pic), but that was the only one I have ever seen. It is a neat deal with a new arm with grease fittings, (4) thrust bearings and shields and hardware. Since the idler arm on these trucks has a intergral stud, I'm not sure anyone makes a kit.
IMHO, I had a P/S conversion an the same car and I missed the slight drag of the idler arm. Car had a tendency to wander at 100+. Might be a different deal w/o P/S.
.
Forgive the rusty brake rotors. That was a long build.

[Robznob11]

well there are a few reasons why im looking into the thought. my frame is z,d wher the gear box bolts on and its a tight fit with the manual box. also weight, and with tho body drop i have to run a 13.5 steering wheel to clear my knees well, even with tilt. also most preformance drivers want to feel the road so they can judge how the vehical is reacting and that can be hard with some true ps setups