Eric's 1960 T-Bird

[Eric S]

I solved the problem or part of it.
I removed the idler arm and slide the bushing down by about 4mm. Made the idler arm lower and cleared the oil pan by anb extra 3mm. So now I have about a bit less than .40" clearance.
Still can't explain the dragging on the valve though but I am putting everything back together.
Installing the new power steering hoses I received. They require quite a bit of bending though...

[partsetal]

Eric, I never got back to you about your problem. I checked my '60 that is on a lift and everything that I see is very close to what you show. One thing I did notice is that your control valve has more threads showing than mine. There is a dimension of 10 1/2" in the shop manual and it shows the measuring points. This is not the cause of your problem but as long as you're cleaning things up it wouldn't hurt to check this measurement.
Carl

[Eric S]

Thank you Carl.
I will check for that. When I first rebuilt it, I made several measures and put everything back in the same place. Except on the idler arm as I replaced the after market set up there with regular OEM bushings.

[jopizz]

Installing the new power steering hoses I received. They require quite a bit of bending though...

If you are talking about the steel hoses they should not require any bending. Remember they go above the pitman arm while the rubber hoses go below it.

John

steering linkage.jpg
1959 steering hoses.jpg

[partsetal]

When installing the steel lines I've found that removing the cylinder and starting the steel fittings in the CV and the cylinder makes the job a bit easier. Re-installing the cylinder might be a challenge but nothing like starting the threads on the 4 fittings.

[Eric S]

I had to stop for the day but in the meantime I also found pictures showing the tubes above the pitman arm. Too bad my garage is not close to my home/computer/pictures and of course the paper manual was home when I needed it at the garage! Anyway I wanted to check before bending anything of course.
Carl, I also had to remove the cylinder to remove the original 1 tube and 1 rubber hose. Looks like I will start the thread and see how it goes from there. A bit from there and there should do it.

[Eric S]

Here are the lines pre-installed
The only one I can install right away is the more straight. From the pictures John posted, it should be on the rear ports and above the arm. I can only install it on the front ports and it comes under the arm.
Now the other one has been bent a little bit and it still need much more bending to reach the port but it will end above the pitman arm.
I tried every combination possible and this is the best I can do so far.


image_21333.jpg image_21334.jpg

[jopizz]

You can't install them crossed over like that. You have to install them like the diagram. There are in and out ports and they have to be correct. If you install them under the pitman arm your risk them rubbing when the arm turns. This may be why they started making rubber hoses with the correct size ports. I would install them in the control valve first above the pitman arm and unbolt the ram cylinder as Carl suggested and work from there.

John

[Eric S]

John
I don't see what you mean by "crossed over"? I mean they are on the right ports, ie the frontmost port on the cylinder ram goes to the frontmost port on the valve, for the one that is in place on both ends (end under the pman arm).
I have no way to get them both above the pitman arm without bending them. I can't fit any in the valve and above the piman arm and they would not point to the ram cylinder anyway. So except bending them I don't see how I could do it.
I will screw them in the valve to show you how they start from there...

[jopizz]

Oops, my bad. I mistook the open top port for the inner most port. When you took the original steel line off was it above or below the pitman arm. I don't remember ever using the repro steel lines so I can't say how accurate the bends are to the originals. Maybe you can compare the two. I just know that putting them below the pitman arm is probably not a good idea. The bend on the one that's not connected should put it well above the pitman arm and out of trouble.

John

[jopizz]

Also, if you loosen the lock nut on the control valve you should be able to rotate it slightly which may help.

John

[jopizz]

Did you ever measure the control valve as Carl suggested. If the distance is too long or too short it will affect how the hoses connect. It's more critical with the steel hoses than with the rubber hoses.

John

conrol valve spec.jpg

[Eric S]

Comparing the original line to the news ones allowed me to find one that was the closest so I managed to have one fitted.
The other one required so much bending that I now fear to use it as some bends seem to be too much. I gave up before even having a chance to get it fully in place.
My UK dealer for brake supplies owe me a roll of 5/16" lines that I may use to make those lines for more than 1 month. I guess I will check on Amazon and make my own lines from Cunifer or copper and that will be much easier.

I didn't checked this 10 3/4" measure as I re-assembled the way it was originally. But today I checked and it was above 11". Carl has hawk eyes !
Then I decided to remove the pressure valve. I guess it may be easier to assemble the valve in place, installing first the valve sleeve and ball stud on the piman arm, then approaching the valve housing on the lines and on the sleeve.

In any case removing the pressure valve might seem to be too much but this allowed me to see that the ball stud cover failed (after I put too much grease in the valve earlier) and also looks like I had water in the oil as it came as a pink paste !?!?
Can we get the rubber alone?
Is it normal that we got oil in the centering spring cap?
The reservoir being now empty with just a little pool of clear oil.

I also noticed the pitman arm touches the exhaust tube when it comes to the full left !?

20211127_162742.jpg 20211127_162715.jpg

[jopizz]

No oil should get past the spool seals. You obviously have a leak and need new seals. Also if the inner spool housing is scored new seals will not last very long. I had issues with the replacement spool seals and could not get them to hold fluid very long before leaking. I finally sent my valve to Precision rebuilding. The valve did not leak after that so maybe they have access to better quality seals. The pink may be the oil mixing with the grease. It is a closed system so unless you live in an extremely damp area you should not get water in the steering lines or reservoir. As for the pitman arm it should not go that far once it's connected to the control valve.

John

[Eric S]

I "repaired" this valve a year or so ago. Was not really leaking but what I saw yesterday tend to indicate I have a problem. So here is a new job to do again. I keep faith but get bored at re-doing the same works.
I wasn't sure where I can get moisture in the system, glad to learn it's just grease/oil.

As for the piman, from what I checked, once the valve will be screwed more on the rod than it used to be (10 3/4"), the problem will be even worst...