steering box

[53 randy]

my steering box, stock, and V8 exhaust on my 53 3100 touch what to do????

[OrrieG]

Typical problem on AD trucks with V8. Some guys shift the steering box or offset the engine; others "adjust" the headers. Lots of build threads that show solutions.

[mr48chev]

The old rude and crude way to do it is to weld a piece of fairly stout 1-1/2 angle to the outside of the frame rail and move the steering box out enough to clear the exhaust. After that most guys heat and bend the pitman arm back in a bit so the drag link clears the tire. The two big problems that creates is that you have to hog out the hole in the firewall for the column and then you have to deal with the that the steering wheel ends up a bit crooked unless you move the column to the left a bit.
These days a lot of guys running stock suspension and steering are moving the center line of the crank to the passenger side of the engine compartment a bit to help the exhaust clear.

[53 randy]

thanks men i will look into both.

[tmoble]

you might just need new motor mounts.

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by tmoble

you might just need new motor mounts.

No this has been an on going thing with these trucks since the first small block V8 was stuffed in one in the 50's. Usually guys are bent on having the engine centered in the engine compartment and that aggravates the steering box clearance problem.

One solution would be to put cross steering in it with a steering box up inside the frame rail and steering to the passenger side steering arm but as far as I know there are no kits out and a guy would have to fabricate everything.

The following list of things would have to be done to to that though.

Build a mount for a steering box up inside the frame rail.
Make a new tie rod that used something like the Jeep tie rod end that has the hole for the drag link in it.
Make a new drag link.
Build a panhard rod setup for the front axle to prevent the steering from pushing the axle sideways on the spring.
Build a new steering shaft to connect the steering column to steering box.

It could be done but my guess is that the exhaust is still going to be right in the way of where you want to run the steering.

[zenchal26]

Do block huggers solve this problem?

[Coryd501]

I am doing the same thing right now, I called Sanderson Headers and they guaranteed the Sanderson CC2 headers they make will fit I will know in about 3 days.

I have a 1950 Chevy truck with factory steering and strait axle. and center mount K member for the block

Hope this helps

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by zenchal26

Do block huggers solve this problem?

No the problem is in the ares of the #5&7 exhaust ports. They are usually even with the inside of the steering box and I haven't seen any manifolds or headers that will clear without moving the steering box or moving the engine over to the passenger side an inch or so. A lot of guys used to run the 265 manifolds that dumped towards the front to help a bit.

[B_Hix]

Edit - mines a 49 - srry - didn't catch you have a 53 till I re-read....

Not a great picture, but you can see I have block huggers and the rod still rubbed a bit. Simple solution for me was to heat the header up and give the tube enough taps to just clear the rod - flattended the tube over about a 1" square area, taping it in maybe 1/8" - worked for me.

[mr48chev]

He still has the stock steering box B and that's the problem. The box sits right where the manifold wants to be off # 5&7 cylinders unlike the stub on your truck that lets you run most any Chevelle, Nova or Camaro headers.

[B_Hix]

Yea, I'm a little slow this morning - caught that after I posted

[Coryd501]

got the Sanderson CC2 and wont even begin to fit going to have to move the box or upgrade

[Trekster]

I installed a V8 with the stock steering column. I added a 2x2 piece of angle iron to the frame and moved the steering box over. I cut the fire wall where the column goes through and kept the attach point in the same place under the dash. Doing this actually moved the steering wheel away from the window a little and it looks fairly stock.

[tmoble]

can you post a pic of the box and mount?

[Trekster]

Here is a picture (not very good) of the bottom of the mount. The other picture shows the steering column going thru the firewall.