55.2-59 cpp power steering play

[Hcb3200]

If you are power steering I would think you would need more like 4 degrees. (some guys have done more) but lee is correct measure it prior to adding. good news you can always start with one and switch to another.

[mr48chev]

There is a HUGE difference between "something feels loose" than "it doesn't want to return to center and or doesn't track right. Caster on a I beam axle rig is going to do just a very few things.

1. the steering wheel returns to center when you come out of a turn and get on a straight stretch of road again. adding caster usually helps with this.

2. the truck doesn't track straight and want to wander a bit on a straight flat road. This is what we add caster shims in our AD trucks the most for. Get out on the long roads at road speed and you have to herd it all the time because it doesn't want to stay in it's lane/line. That's my 48 with too many leaves removed in the front end and that biggest shim Napa had isn't enough to get enough caster. Most of the time we pick the shim that sets the caster at the point where it still steers reasonably easily with manual steering but tracks great.

one thing I have found is that reverse wheels or extra wide tires hurt steering on AD I beam axles more than they help. I ran 14x7 Enkie 32s on my 48 for years with either 195 or 205 60 tires and you can tell the difference between the two steering going down the road. The wider 205 wants to wander a bit more.

Another thing is that disk brakes usually move your wheels and tires out a tad from the designated centerline for perfect king pin inclination and you end up with the wheel and tire again putting more leverage on the spindle than is perfect. This often means that you feel imperfections in the road more in the steering wheel than you want.

[dsraven]

here is a little blurb on steering with solid front axles

https://www.hotrod.com/how-to/0902sr...straight-axles

supplier for axle shims, basic ones are commonly used for large trucks etc but could easily be cut down to the size you need. other shapes are also available, as seen in the website pics. these can also be used to correct a poorly set up pinion angle on a rear axle, to match the ujoint angles on the front and rear of the driveshaft

https://www.spcalignment.com/tandem-axle-shims

one thing to consider is the tire size and wheel offset compared to the stock original specs. changes from that will change the steering feel. offset towards the outside of the truck will make the tires want to follow any cracks in the road surface or ruts in the road. shorter tire diameter also changes things as the new tread contact patch, under the tire, is in a different location than was intended.
here is a website that helps show these changes and gives the amount of angle changes etc.


https://www.wheel-size.com/calc/


hopefully something here helps. if you're gonna start changing things I suggest to do 1 thing at a time and test drive it to see if that 1 thing changed the situation. try to drive the same road under the same conditions (wet/dry/speed etc) and try to find a nice smooth flat road with a normal crown to the surface
nice diagram mr48

[Hcb3200]

IF you do start changing shims use the steel ones. They sell aluminum ones and other softer metals mainly used for racers or show cars. If you using it as a daily or live and drive on some really bad roads you will with steel.

[dsraven]

Good advice. Aluminum ones aren't good sandwiched between Steen cuz they corrode, dissimilar metals.

[gsinon]

I went through something similar recently when I replaced all of the steering and suspension components on my 55 Chevy BelAir. I had someone get in the car and crank the steering wheel back and forth while I layed under it. My center link where it attached to the pitman arm wasn't tight enough. it was crazy obvious. Once I tightened it everything waqs perfect.

[popeyestruck]

I figured it out. I ordered some shims and while waiting for them to be delivered I figured I'd just get under it and check for anything lose. Everything seemed tight so I jacked it up and could feel a little play in the wheel bearings so I tightened them just a bit more. I didn't have torque specs when I changed over to front disks so I just tightened the preload until they wouldn't turn the back them off just a bit. My feel might have been off that day or maybe they just didnt seat at first. Next problem I was getting an unbalanced tire feel at 50 and above. When I got new tires on they had balanced them but put them in place where they hit the caliper .So I pulled the wheel weights and added an equal amount of balance beads . The rims are 70's slots made for drums not discs. the fit was so tight I had to grind the caliper to get it to fit. So I took the truck back down to the tire store and had them remove my balance beads and put weights back on but in a place they wouldnt hit the caliper . Went for a drive today and truck drives great no wheel shake at high speed and no more wander on the steering. I still have the shims coming but I dont think I need them unless tire wear or something indicates otherwise. Right now I can drive straight with no hands and corner perfect. Sometime you overthink things I guess

[dsraven]

glad you got it figured out, and fessed up. haha

[57tailgater]

Nice solve on the issue. What degree of shims did you use? Sorry reread and see you haven't used any other shims yet. I am going to be doing a similar set up so I am watching this thread.

[mr48chev]

Great, I'd say you don't need the new shims but might later if the springs settle a bit.