72 lower control arm steering stops

[70CHEVYBB]

The po cut the steering stops off my control arms. Do i really need them and if so where can i buy them?

[68c10airstream]

After all of the schooling i have had and read a fair amount, my take on steering stops is this; I want steering stops to be in place so the steering linkage stops BEFORE your steering box hit it's travel limit. Why stress the box when you don't have to!!

In normal use in a stock application the power steering on line pressures can probably reach 1300-1500 psi. Without steering stops i believe the box will see an extra side load, but not sure.

With the stock stops in place and not notched from use, when you are in a full turn against the stop, as the suspension moves up/down it stays stable and doesn't shift around. Steering stops make me think of going into an end drive at an angle with the steering wheel at full lock.

My final check to all of this is with the pitman arm disconnected, or the center link disconnected from the pitman arm, with the engine not running count the turns from full right to full left. Now hook up the suspension linkage and try it again. If done correctly the hooked up linkage should reduce the turns lock to lock by 1/8th to 1/4 turn.

My steering box is 3 1/2 turns disconnected, and 3 1/4 hooked up. Steering stops were welded up and ground down smooth like new.

My schooling in the late 70's during front end classes i think toyota's and datsun truck steering stops would wear a notch in them and squacked from being dry. We would weld them up and grind them smooth and put grease on the stops for quiet action. Our teacher said we should never weld on front end parts but was driven to do a proper job and would be hard to sell a pair of lower control arms because in time it would just do the same thing again.

I think my head hurts now!! Good luck.