55.2-59 1955-59 Chevy 4x4 Power steering problems

[leegreen]

dsraven is correct that pin has considerable wear, the original flat grease pocket would have looked more like this

[1957Napcofan]

Wow, they really are worn. My fault for installing the worn bolts in the first place. Hadn't seen a good picture of the original bolts. Thanks for the replies.

[dsraven]

As a heavy duty mechanic I can say big rigs use the same style of spring pins that are greasable. A lot of them use a completely round pin and the bushing has the grooves for the grease to disperse though. Any time you see wear like the old pin has you know it's not gonna have a happy ending. Some of the new bushings have a teflon lining with "bumps" so the low spots can hold grease.

[mr48chev]

The pin in post 23 is worn out. Very well worn out at that. The bushing be worn though too. Simply lots of miles and probably not enough grease. These suspensions still want to be greased every thousand miles even with modern grease.

I don't ever remember seeing spring bolts for small trucks = 1/2-3/4 ton with grease grooves in them. It would be very hard to clock them to get the groove where you would want it.

[1957Napcofan]

The new bolts came with new bushings, old ones were shot too. Truck drives so much better now, lesson learned

[1957Napcofan]

Update on my steering problem. Tried 4 different steering arms and found one
that now has the drag link going down hill instead of uphill to the steering arm.
Drives really good now. Ended with an International Harvester 100-200 4x4
arm. Was using a Ford F250 highboy steering arm before.