Hard steering when not moving ?

[SCD]

  Will too much caster make turning the wheels when not moving very hard?

I can barely turn the wheels, when the truck is on the road, it steers fine and tracks straight.

Steering box adjusted ,The king pins  are smooth and greased.

I am running 5* of caster for straight traiking on the highway.

PS . getting older and weaker; I am two years  older then the truck!!

[lostviking]

Have you ever owned anything with manual steering before?

[Plymouthy Adams]

the more caster, yes the harder the steer at stop, the quicker return to center tracking but at speed the trade off is well worth it in my opinion.  As stated, these old beast were not power assisted and thus the added feedback to you the man behind the wheel.  Hopefully you also did not change out the larger steering wheel as this added leverage works to your benefit.  Sorry but just a nature of the beast.  I would question the 5 degrees and you obtained this out of stock setup, if stock that is, getting to 3 degrees is often a challenge in itself.  I would also ask if your steering sector is set up properly.  

[ggdad1951]

These boys take a few bits of "oomph" to move when sitting still, hence the BIG steering wheel.

[47 dodge 1.5 ton]

 I almost never try turning the wheel when sitting still, figure putting unnecessary wear on the gear box , tie rod ends ect.. Cant think of when I turned it last unless in the air. I do always try to plan where the wheel needs to be when stopping, more of a start position for the next movement like going for reverse, comes natural after while. 
  Just think of it like driving a new truck on YOUR freshly paved asphalt driveway— ?

Edited August 8, 2023 by 47 dodge 1.5 ton

[PT81PlymouthPickup]

On 8/7/2023 at 6:53 PM, Plymouthy Adams said:

I would question the 5 degrees and you obtained this out of stock setup, if stock that is, getting to 3 degrees is often a challenge in itself.

I'm guessing to adjust caster on our straight axle trucks is to use wedged shims between the leaf springs and the axle?  My 39 does not have any such wedges. Did most of our era trucks use wedges for caster or were they manufactured well enough to not need them? I remember having a professional alignment done by a good shop in my area back in the early 80s. They had to bend the axle a bit to achieve proper camber. No easy task for a shade-tree mechanic! Perhaps they could adjust the caster by bending as well?   I think they did it using hydraulic equipment? Not sure if they had to heat them?  Seems to me heat would be a bad thing for metallurgy?

[ggdad1951]

Wedges.  I have wedges.

[Dave72dt]

Alignment shops will use hydraulic s to bend, no heat so it's not a home DIY method.  Most of the caster specs found for various brands in the 60's were in the less 2 degrees.  W 300's in the 62-67 range were at 3 so having a 5 degree is probably more than needed..  It won't take much of a wedge to bring the castor back a couple of degrees and you can do it at home.

Edited August 9, 2023 by Dave72dt

[bach4660]

my half ton had 60's for tire width and air pressure made a huge difference in turning when stopped. At about 38 psi it wasn't too bad. The steering wheel was like my TPMs, at 20 psi almost couldn't turn it.

 

on a side note: my one ton has the skinny tall tires at 80 psi and it turns easily

[PT81PlymouthPickup]

Yeah, I'm running BF Goodrich LT 215/85 R16 Commercial front tires which can be inflated to 80psi. I run 60psi in them which it steers remarkably easier than with the light duty tires which I used to have with 35psi. I do feel the potholes a bit more. I think it was a good tradeoff on my 39. Steers much easier.

[SCD]

Thanks for the input fourm members. I loosened the  steering adjustmentand and raised the air pressure to 40 psi. This seems a little better.

And yes I have a 66 big block corvette and over the years became hard to steer. I over came the problem with a power steering setup which are 

readly avalable.

 

Thank again

Steve

 

[kencombs]

It's funny, the best things for easy low speed steering, lots of air pressure and narrow bias tires are the worst things for at speed handling.  Power steering, radials and correct air pressure are my goals.  Got the parts, just have to get them together.

 

Back in the mid 60s 14in tire/wheels were the thing.  So I bought a set of 14" six lug farm wheels and 8:00/14 tires.    It didn't take me long to go back to 6:50/16s until I could find a set of 15s!   Those wide tires where murder at parking speeds and because to offset was wrong it darted badly in ruts and cracks.

Edited August 27, 2023 by kencombs