Tie Rod Length

I need some thoughts from you guys on this:

It has always been my understanding that tie rod length for each side should ideally be the same. It has generally worked out this way for me in the real world also with some minor variation of 1/16-1/8 inch being acceptable.

After making time and doing a real alignment on the Corvette, the passenger tie rod is 5/16" longer than the driver side. I pulled out the jeep box and double checked with the original steering gear to make sure that did not cause it. Same result.

What am I missing? The frame is probably not as straight as it could be, but it seems like something else is messed up and I am not sure where to start looking. The car drives well enough, but this is bothering me.

Thanks.

Phil

If I jack the front on my car, the right wheel has more deflection then the left....but I have never noticed it on the street/handling, and I toss it around a good bit....

when I did my rack conversion winter 01-02 the tie rods wound up being 2" difference in length....

IMO, it's non critical.....:thumbs:

I mocked up the frame rail section to compare the pitman arm and input shaft position of the Jeep and Corvette box. As I recall, the pitman arm hole was very close (with a Chevelle arm). Now this is no plates between the Jeep box and the frame rail. Also, something I didn't realize is that the Corvette box mounts at a slight angle (birds eye view) to align with the steering column which is also at a slight angle.

I think you are really not that far off. A 5/32 difference in the pitman position will produce a 5/16 measurement difference in the tie rods. 5/32 is pretty close.

BBShark, Sigh, those tools you used on the above pix are a modern equivalent of some of my Dad's tools I have in my tool box now, for every day use...

Dad's date from some 80? years ago.... talking of the square/protractors with the steel rules....

:amazed::mime:

Thanks, those pictures are a big help. I will just leave it alone.

Phil

The single most important thing is to get the gear right on center when driving down the road. The tie rod lengths should be roughly equal but 5/16" difference would still seem to be in the ballpark.

MRVette's 2 inch difference is with a center takeoff rack and pinion gear. That type steering system has very long tie rods that mask any right to left steering differences.

Jim

JIML82 said:

The single most important thing is to get the gear right on center when driving down the road. The tie rod lengths should be roughly equal but 5/16" difference would still seem to be in the ballpark.

MRVette's 2 inch difference is with a center takeoff rack and pinion gear. That type steering system has very long tie rods that mask any right to left steering differences.

Jim

Click to expand...

Hey Jim, long time no see....I got the power steering all hooked up on that '71 van/class C motor home....got the ratio down from 6 turns L/L to 3.5+ .....

and now wife can drive it, it feels good on the roads....wish it didn't drive like a truck....

:crylol::amazed:

I believe the pittman arm and idler arm should be straight...is your steering wheel straight?

redvetracr said:

I believe the pittman arm and idler arm should be straight...is your steering wheel straight?

Click to expand...

ME, yes, I'm a bug on that shit....hate crooked steering wheels...

:smash::crylol:

I was able to get the tie rod lengths down to just under 1/8" difference by a slight adjustment with the steering box mount location, pitman arm, and grinding down the two forward mount points on the box to match the frame angle. These adjustments resulted in leveling the center link and placing the pitman pointing forward at the steering center point as it should be. I also got more header clearance becuse the steering box mounts closer to the frame now.

The only geometry issue left is that the pitman is @1/2" forward of the idler. As discussed on this board, the only way to properly deal with this is to cut the frame and mount the box on a plate to match the column and idler arm geometry correctly. I'll do this the next time I have the engine out.

I started with the Delphi 600 conversion kit that Corvette Steering sold which gets the geometry reasonably close but the pitman sits lower and farther forward. The kit uses the stock Corvette pitman, not the shorter Chevelle arm. It also had 1/4" spacer plate to match the angle of frame to align with the column. I could never use the spacer or the rear steel 'sandwich' mount with the kit because of the Thorley headers.

Phil