Tie Rod ends

[Cold Blue]

I replaced the tie rod ends at the steering pitman arm on my 48 Plymouth Special Deluxe. Now, in looking at them, should the tie rod end that goes to the drivers side be flipped over and installed to match the orientation of the one going to the passenger side? I should have taken pictures, I know, before I removed the old ones, but I didn't...I took a photo of the tie rod ends - are they installed ? I looked in my manual, but couldn't find any diagrams to verify. It drives fine; I am hoping I got it right...

 

Another question - I just replaced the rubber isolators on the steering box, and noticed an electrical wire coming from the steering box. I cannot find out what this wire does??? Does anybody know? See the photo showing the wire coming from the hole in the steering box.

 

Thanks in advance!!!

[busycoupe]

I don't know about the tie rods, but I am pretty sure that the wire coming out of the steering box is for the horn.  It should go to the horn relay.

[Cold Blue]

Yes! I think you are right - it is the horn wire. Thanks! And the more I look at the tie rod ends I am almost positive I need to flip the driver's side tie rod over. The angle of the rod that the tie rod end screws into is too much for my tastes. I am going to flip it over!

[Dodgeb4ya]

The tie rods look correct..one up ones down.

If the car is jacked up that's why they look so goofy.

[Cold Blue]

Yep - they are right. I just removed the driver's side and found out that the hole in the pitman arm is tapered, and you can only install the tie rod end one way...Oh well, did some wrenching I didn't need to, but now I know!!! Thanks guys!

[Dodgeb4ya]

 

The tapered TR studs fit into the pitman arm only one way and you would immediately see that.

[Cold Blue]

Hey Dodgeb4ya - I have a steering box rebuild kit I got from Bernham's and I think I will take the box out of the car and rebuild it. I have never removed a steering box before on a 48 Plymouth - but it looks like loosening the clamp at the steering tube and removing the 3 bolts that secure the box to the frame will allow me to get it out. I have the pitman arm off already. Is that all there is to it? Thanks!

[Dodgeb4ya]

I have pulled gear boxes out from under the car and out of the tube... only thing is the cars have been on a lift for ease of removal and ground clearance.

Yes... loosen the clamp on the column tube and of course remove the wheel and tie rods or pitman arm with the tie rods.

[Cold Blue]

Thanks! Unfortunately I don't have a lift..I do all my wrenching by rolling around on the floor under the car. But I did take the cross shaft out of the steering box and it looks pretty good, as does the worm gear. Hardly any scoring on the gear faces. So I put her back together, and installed a new oil seal at the bottom of the box. ( it was leaking a bit). I am going to adjust the box per my shop manual, and hopefully all is good. I am going to fill the box up with 90 wt. gear oil. 

[desoto1939]

on my 39 Desoto both tierod ends bolt from the top and are not staggered like on your car.  It just looks very weird to see them that way.

 

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

[Andydodge]

The one up, one down orientation of the tierods is correct and as the tapers in the dog bone pitman arm will show is the correct way to install the tierod ends......I think you'll find that having them that way also increases the clearance under the oil pan on hard lock........and yep that wire is the horn earth wire.....and it is possible to get steering box oil, Penrite here in Oz make some so I would think something similar would be available in the US.............andyd

[Cold Blue]

Andy - you mentioned that having the tie rod ends positioned the way they are increases the clearance under the oil pan, on hard lock. If you look at my photo of the tie rod ends, there is a small dent in the oil pan where the pitman arm, on the passenger side, has hit it. It is directly above the tie rod clamp. (small circle where there is no red paint). I have never noticed a noise or clunk when I am at full lock - I think that the dent in the pan has given me enough clearance. My question is this - is there an adjustment in the steering box that would limit the travel of the pitman arm so it stays clear of the pan? I know that the pitman arm has a flat in it's splines that will only allow it to be installed in one position on the steering box shaft, so rotating the pitman arm slightly on the shaft to gain clearance is a no go. Any ideas?? Thanks!!!

[Andydodge]

Blue, I had't noticed that "little" dent in the pan..........lol...........the only steering lock limiter that I know of on our mopars is the adjustable limit bolt on the inside of the stub axle on each side......maybe the one on your car has been screwed in too far thereby allowing the pitman arm to gently "caress" the pan.............lol.............wouldn't it be nice if we could find a wayback machine to take us back to the time our cars were new so that we could ask the designer........how come its like this?...........lol....................andyd

[Jerry Roberts]

If it is the bolt part of your clamp that has hit your oil pan ... can the clamp be turned downward for clearance ? If you have a shop manual for your car , it should show the ' stop ' bolts that Andy is referring to . 

[Cold Blue]

Thanks Andyd and Jerry. I will look up the "adjustable limit bolt" in my manual. Jerry - The end of the pitman arm is what made the dent in the oil pan. If you were to draw a line from the center of the pitman arm end, going left, and that line was parallel to the tie rod, you would intersect the dent in the oil pan. That line follows the path of the pitman arm swing. 

[Andydodge]

The limit bolts have a lock nut on them so you can screw them in/out then set them with the lock nut..........andyd

[Cold Blue]

I have taken another look at the dent where the pitman arm "caressed" the oil pan. I'll be doggoned if it doesn't look like that dent was put there from the factory. It is nice and smooth, with no creasing or anything that would indicate that the pitman arm travel had forced the dent to occur...And the oil pan is really thick metal - I don't think you could ham-fist the steering wheel to the point of knocking that dent into the pan. Just my two-cents worth...Blue.

[Bobby]

On ‎2‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 5:08 PM, Cold Blue said:

Thanks! Unfortunately I don't have a lift..I do all my wrenching by rolling around on the floor under the car. But I did take the cross shaft out of the steering box and it looks pretty good, as does the worm gear. Hardly any scoring on the gear faces. So I put her back together, and installed a new oil seal at the bottom of the box. ( it was leaking a bit). I am going to adjust the box per my shop manual, and hopefully all is good. I am going to fill the box up with 90 wt. gear oil. 

Hey Blue - 

Any chance you can post the procedure on the forum? I will be getting into mine soon and would like to rebuild/adjust 

TX Bobby

[Cold Blue]

Bobby - I did not do a total rebuild on my steering box. I did remove the cross shaft, cleaned the box thoroughly, installed a new bottom oil seal, and inspected everything I could to try to verify the steering box's condition without doing a total disassembly. I followed my shop manual to get it adjusted correctly. I did not remove the worm gear and it's parts because I don't have a lift. As I understand it, the worm gear is connected to the steering shaft which goes to the steering wheel. The steering box and shaft must be removed as one. So that means having the car up in the air high enough to pull the 6 foot long (I'm guessing..) steering shaft out the bottom of the car. I can document what I did, step by step, if that is what you would like for me to do ...Regards, Blue.