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Hi all,
Has anyone with a 1949 or 1950 had any issues with steering? On my 1949, the steering feels "jittery". The shop tells me that the camber and castor is correct.
I do know that the steering box bearing preload is dead on, however, that said, it does "feel" to tight and the steering does not come back to center without help on a turn. It comes about 1/2 way back.
As I see it one of three things is going on:
1. The shop is full of dung and the castor is not correct. (I told them to check it even though it is not really adjustable except a little via the camber cam).
2. The steering bearing pre-load is to tight and thus preventing the castor from brining the wheels (steering and tires) back completely during a turn.
3. Desoto has a bad design in 1949-1950 and the new center pull geometry was not engineering correct in some way.
Before I pull the floor hatch out and pull the entire steering box to pull a shim to loosen up the pre-load, I wanted to see if there was a geometry problem on the 1949-1950 Desoto's and make sure I am not chasing a ghost.
Keep in mind that I drive my 1947 Desoto Suburban all over the place and other than the lack of power steering and those stupid isolators needing changing every three years, the thing steers great.
Any and all input would be great.
Best, James
James, my 53 was jittery with bias ply tires - not at all with radials. The car only has 30K original miles so the front was not worn out or anything. Of course you do have the 47 for comparison.
Paul has a good point. What type of tires are you running? Have you rotated them? That may have caused the problem. What is your tire pressure? If running radials, try max allowed tire PSI instead of the 24PSI in the manual.
If all is well, try 1 shim back on the caster.
Have anice day
Steve
Hi All,
The S-11 steering (1946-1949 Frist dix months) was different than the S-13 and that in turn was changed with the 1951 Desoto.
I am running radials. I use on all my cars the Diamondback Yokahama Light Truck Tire which they turn into whitewalls. The contact patch is the same as the original bias and the diameter is within 1/4 inch of the original bias tire.
I need to find an old school place that has the old equipment to double check the alignment. I also need to be present when they do it. Because the castor can only mildly be adjusted with the camber eccentric, I need to make sure they check the castor and it is correct. Also, I need to have the thing checked for toe-out-on-turns as the car is restored and who knows if any of the chassis parts are bent. You cannot tell by looking at them unless it is real bad.
Best, James
Of your 3 scenarios I think #2 is the mostly likely, binding. There is a post by Steve Jensen with a similar sounding complaint. But before you yank your steering box out go ahead and get the alignment checked again. I've aligned cars with $500 worth of equipment with great results. The computerized gazillion dollar Hunter machine I now use is great but it does the same thing, which is basically to measure distance and angles. I could teach anyone to use it within 15 minutes. The key is to know what you are looking at. Make sure they check SAI (steering axis inclination, or in your case kingpin inclination). They may have to manually enter a number. It would be great to find the spec but if you can't start with 12 degrees just to get a reading. If both sides don't read even then something is bent. These cars rely more on kingpin inclination to return to center rather than caster, which is probably 0 or even -2.
The major piece that would throw off your toe out on turns would be the steering arm or arms. These arms are bolted on the knuckles and I suppose somewhere in the cars life an incorrect one could have been put on. A bent or wrong one would show up in the tie rod sleeves. Is one showing very few threads and the other side showing many? Is the distance of the outer tie rod end grease fitting to the backing plate the same on each side? I know you've restored this car so it's unlikely but is there any binding in the kingpins?
I know a lot of people love to run radials, I'm not one of them. Sometimes they are great and sometimes they magnify a problem or just flat out don't work on a car that was engineered to have bias ply. Same goes for different wheels with the wrong offset. Change offset just a little and you've change the way the car handles. I get brand new Chrysler 300's in all the time with 22" wheels and tires that look like rubber bands and the guy is complaining about how it drives. Sorry pal, nothing I can do.
http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Lit/ ... /cover.htm Here's a great Master Tech on alignment. I love reading these old Master Techs and still learn a lot from them. Got to get one of those hats for work!
Tim Mabry
The Lost Cause Garage
47 Suburban
57 Sportsman 4dr HT
Hi Tim,
Thanks for the thoughts. We are thinking along the same lines. It is getting VERY hard around Northern California to find a alignment shop with people that actually know what they are doing.
I will keep looking for and find someone to check the alignment that I trust and see what is up. I agree with you about the uprights. If they are a little off that can cause an issue. The steering arms look good, with the distance from the plates being the same. All the tie-rods are equal and well placed.
The king pins are all new. In fact, I got a honing bar off ebay for my machinist honing machine and we line-honed the bushings. We crept up on them so that there is zero play and they spin like a fine bearing. Also when I was putting it together they would flop around so there is no binding.
I suspect that the problem is either a bent part or the steering box is too tight.
I will keep everyone posted. In the mean time if anyone out there has a '49 or '50, how about describing how your car steering "feels".
Happy T-Day, James
