The WC53 Carryall thread .

[Bruce in BC]

and here is the finished crossmember

If I had been firing on all cylinders I would have left the old motor mount threads in place . As it is some restoration guy is going to go nuts trying to figure out what changed on the member . The leading edge is welded on the inside as well as the outside. I left the rivets in place and dressed it too a stage that I would consider apropriate for a PW. The rear welds are totally ground down. I was going to leave them but hiding them seemed to have a better feel.

Bruce

[Bruce in BC]

Now to this little engineering detail

The steering arm has to be reamed out some more and the tie rod end will drop about 1/4 of an inch. Got some issues here that need to be thought out. Dropping the pitman arm is an option . Heating and bending it does spook me abit . I do have access to a forge but not a furnace. Flipping the rod end around to the bottom gets it a bit too close to the spring.

[MoparNorm]

That picture confuses the heck out of me...???
Are you converting to cross-over steering?
That box looks too close and too high, in relationship to the frame???

[Bruce in BC]

Cross over steering it is.

The tie rod is pointed in the wrong direction . What you are looking at is the frame on the drivers side. The steering box is above the axle.

[MoparNorm]

Got it!
Have you seen these boxes from Howe Performance?

http://www.howeperformance.com/acces...eringboxes.htm

Look at #509, #530 & #531.

[Bruce in BC]

You are looking at part 509

The one in the photo is not painted up all purty though . Great link thankyou.

[MoparNorm]

...except, those are high strength, high torque boxes with aluminum cases in some applications.
They are direct bolt in replacement boxes for off-road use. May be overkill for what you are doing, but I was curious if they have a slightly longer shaft to give you a tad more clearance at the frame.

[Bruce]

Scout Box?

Am I right, that #509 is Bruce in B C's box?

[Bruce in BC]

number 509 is BC Bruce's steering box choice

At least it is today . This is a saginaw box from an intersmashable truck . I am uncertain as to the year.
It will work but is far from perfect.
I would stick with the drag link style if at all possible.

Bruce

[Bruce in BC]

Still mucking with the steering

I "C" d the frame for tie rod clearance. I think it is possible to do it without the notch but I wanted the clearance. I will shoot some photos and explain my aproach when it is done.

Anyways has anyone boxed a PW frame?
The way I have done the notches it is not necessary to box the frame but I need to create a crossmeber for the motor mounts and was mulling over boxing the frame frome the front crossmember to say the body mounts.

take care

Bruce

[bjackson]

Located in Calgary

Bruce,

Sorry to take away from the subject in this post but I am searching for a WC-53 in Canada that is for sale. I am in Calgary. Do you know of one for sale, completed or a project?

Thanks for the help

[Bruce in BC]

You have not hijacked anything. If it is WC53 it is OT

If you go back far enough on this thread you will find the name of a guy in Golden with one for sale. There is a guy in Alberta with 2 . He talks about selling on occasion . Post over on the Power Wagon page and see what turns up.

gotta run. Driving the taxi .

Bruce

[Bruce in BC]

Dropping a tie rod or "that did not work "

Well I am getting some exasperated but I can see a solution too . I made up a dropped tie rod to connect to the NWF steering arm on the passenger side . The drop was necessary to clear the pan . I used a early chev tie rod and tie rod ends - pre 71 . The tie rod ends had a 3/4 drop in them over the standard ends but are kind of small when compared to the late 80s Chev and Dodge tie rod ends which are 7/8 diameter . Once I got the tie rod in I found that I had bent it in the wrong location . This was a result of the bender, I bent the thing as close to the end as possible and it still hits the engine . What I need is to have the bend one inch over from it's present location .
I need to make some changes to get this cross steering to work . One change will be to make a steering arm that sits one inch lower and closer to the spring the other is to up grade the tie rod end to the larger diameter and then bend a new tie rod .
You can see how the end of the rod shrinks down to a smaller diameter. The new rod will not do this. The end of the rod looks a little kinked . The rod came from the wreckers that way. Along with a broken tie rod end that was welded to the tierod.

Bruce

[MoparNorm]

Just a caution, tie rods are not really meant to be bent or heated.
If they lose their factory temper or are bent, they are very prone to failure, unwanted bending, or worse.
Don't ask me how I know this....= )



Any bends will need to be gusseted or heat treated to prevent unwanted bending later.
Don't be dismayed, it can be done, but I'd suggest for your safety and the safety of those around you, get your pattern correct and then take it to a fab shop and have them fab you one, or treat yours to be sure that it is safe.

[Bruce in BC]

Do you think the fab shops are heat treating their tierods ?

This would be news to me . I will phone and find out tomorrow . As far as I know most shops are using DOM and bending cold . I would like a nice heat treated rod that had a consistant yield from end to end .
Heating the rod is a definate no no . The rod ends up soft in that spot and repeated flexing causes it to break . Ideally I would find a common OEM rod that came with a bend in it and just cut it to length and rethread the thing.
This process is a pain in the hoohoo.

Bruce