Steering Arms Interchangeable?

F

fourbangerbob

Member
A parts dealer is trying to tell me you can use the bolt-on steering arms on either spindle? Won"t one side or the other be going up instead of down?
 
The steering arm on the left side is "two armed": one for the drag link and one for the tie rod connection.

The steering arm on the right side is "single armed" for the tie rod connection.

It may be possible to put the right arm on the left as in a right hand drive. Those more familiar with the RHD cars can comment better.

Joe K
 
He's sort of right, but should have said you can use the spindle on either side. So to be technical he was right that you can bolt the steering arm to either spindle, but you can't switch sides with the steering arms.

I bought a new old stock double ball steering arm about 10 years ago. I thought something looked strange as I was buying it, but the price was right. After I got home I realized it was for a right hand drive car, so I sold it cheap on ebay.
 
Nope. RHD and LHD arms are different.

One thing tho I did find out the other day, is the LHD drag link can be used by reversing the RHD pitman arm.
 
Joe K said:
The steering arm on the left side is "two armed": one for the drag link and one for the tie rod connection.

The steering arm on the right side is "single armed" for the tie rod connection.

It may be possible to put the right arm on the left as in a right hand drive. Those more familiar with the RHD cars can comment better.

Joe K
Click to expand...

Nope! The RHS steering arm on a LHD car will not go onto the LHS of a RHD car. They have an offset in them and if you try to swap them, the ball is too close to the brake backing plate.

POOCH, I have left the pitman arm as is and turned the drag link end for end. That reduces the chances of the wheel hitting the drag link on max right hand turns
 
Synchro909 said:
Nope! The RHS steering arm on a LHD car will not go onto the LHS of a RHD car. They have an offset in them and if you try to swap them, the ball is too close to the brake backing plate.

POOCH, I have left the pitman arm as is and turned the drag link end for end. That reduces the chances of the wheel hitting the drag link on max right hand turns
Click to expand...

Synchro, I don't quite follow what you mean by 'turned the drag link end for end' , I only see each end where the ball hole placement is to be a bit different, but I cannot see how end for end it gives more tyre clearance ?

I did check the variation today of reversing the pitman arm to use a LHD drag link on a RHD pitman arm and it moves the drag link about 1 1/4 inches further out (at the pitman ball ).

This would put the drag link adjacent to the tyre at about 1/2 inch closer .

On full lock right, the tyre was still 2 inches clear of drag link.
 
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