65 steering box ?

[DesertRat]

I am putting a borgeson PS conversion on my 65 Cyclone with manual steering. It appears that my pittman arm has a smaller diameter mount than the 1" sector shaft on the borgeson box. The arm slides on fine but does not sit deep enough on the sector shaft. Did the early manual boxes have smaller sector shafts? Seeking suggestions, thanks in advance:-)

[poboyjo65]

No there was a larger one in 64. But should be 1" for all 65's .

Post up a pic.

Could it be that the pitman arm hole is gummed up and hardened ? Maybe get a small wire brush and clean up the splines in the hole.

[poboyjo65]

Here is a pic for reference of my borgesen (16:1 older version) with shelby quik steer pitman 1'' shaft hole.

Not much shaft hanging out with the thick washer & nut that came with it.

[DesertRat]

Below is a photo of the pittman arm on the new steering box. The nut is flush with the shaft but I didn't torque it.
Does anyone on the site have Opentracker front suspension? I'm getting ready to install mine while the car is on the rotisserie.

[poboyjo65]

If nut & shaft are about flush I would think that is about right if you haven't tightened it all the way down. Think I put anti-seize on the splines because I saw guys breaking pullers trying to get their pitman arms off . So I suppose it has tapered splines? so it gets tighter & tighter as you turn.

But if it is just the gap above that concerns you, I think I remember that, & thinking their rubber boot should have been a little thicker .

Ok I went out & stuck camera under mine ,& I guess aimed it at the pitman arm a few times,fenders are off so I could reach in easy , took a few trys but I got a couple decent shots.
the first one shows some shiny shaft where I still have a gap above the rubber,confirming my memory. you might find something ,rubber,plastic or something to fill that gap at top before you torque it down;


but also better shots showing about how much shaft hangs out of the pitman arm nut .

[poboyjo65]

Doug you would probably have a better chance of replies about the opentracker susp on a separate thread & title to it. & responses to will be easier to find in the future for others using the forums search engine. I have to search my own stuff sometimes just to remember how I did stuff.

[DesertRat]

John: yeah, I didn't want to start a thing, just asking. Need to buy wheels & tires so I was researching those threads. I saw a response of a guy who said he had it. It is on my mind because preparing for assembly I discovered that there is a camber kit available that is new since I bought my stuff. It requires some welding and drilling and my car is in color but I ordered the kit from opentracker and it stops my assembly until I get that mod done. It solves a lot of problems and makes the car better!

[poboyjo65]

John: yeah, I didn't want to start a thing, just asking. Need to buy wheels & tires so I was researching those threads. I saw a response of a guy who said he had it. It is on my mind because preparing for assembly I discovered that there is a camber kit available that is new since I bought my stuff. It requires some welding and drilling and my car is in color but I ordered the kit from opentracker and it stops my assembly until I get that mod done. It solves a lot of problems and makes the car better!

That is a great addition to the car ! especially with the power steering! It may sound weird but the camber kit allows you to get more + caster as well, & makes alignments a whole lot easier. I put one on mine. being able to adjust camber at the LCA mount allows you to get more caster on the shims. some UCA's come with extra caster built into them ,usually about 3°+caster,if you got those would help a great deal.

I looked at their site , I didnt see a new kit,,,,I only saw the same kit they had back when I was looking ,but I liked the kit I got better than the one open trackers had at the time because it only has one set of adjuster plates vs OT's kit has 5 sets so you have to keep up with 4 sets that dont get used. I figured my luck I'd loose them & need some of them later. but the company I got mine from went under when covid hit & I haven't seen another one like it since.
but either kit gets the same results . If you had adjustable LCA's,though expensive , would do same thing ,,, yet easier to adjust than the camber kit, & doesn't require welding. But all the work you do will save you lots of time,grief ,money & work in the future .

on mine you have so many adjustments by turning the plate in one hole & some in the other .
by turning the plate.