47 ford front suspension

F

fisheasy

Senior Member
Anyone know where i can buy some stock front end tire rods and stuff like that? My steering is loose and my car is hard to keep straight so i figured i need to change some parts
 
"Stuff like that" is certainly availble, but rather than a wholesale replacement program, an economical approach would be to make the proper adjustments to see if your problem can be improved.
 
I am definitely down with making adjustments if possible. I am going to upgrade eventually but don't want problems going down the road. It is hard to keep the car in the right lane when your running over 30
 
You should take the car to a front end shop that is experienced in early front ends. Have them examine it and tell you just what it needs.

There are many shops that sell early Ford front end parts. Early Ford Store, Dennis Carpenter, Bob Drake to name a few.
 
Here is the page from the owners manual that gives the alignment specifications. The only one adjustable is the toe-in. The others will only be out of spec if your king pins are worn. Check that by jacking a front tire off the ground and pushing the top and bottom of the wheel in and out to see if there is any play. If there is, the king pins need replaced.

If you don't have an owner's manual it would be good to get one. Here are some:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw...0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313#ptm130588581924

If your tie rod ends are worn enough to have play in them you'll need to replace them before you can check and adjust the toe-in. Here are some:
http://macsautoparts.com/search.asp?sb=0&ls=y&camid=F30&year=1947&make=Ford&ss=tie+rod&x=15&y=9
 
Oops. Here are the alignment specs:
 

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"Loose Steering" can most likely be adjusted out of the steering box with the adjustment screw on the top. Here is one set of instructions telling how (it's the cross shaft end play adjustment): http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/flathead_steerngear_adjstmt1937-48.htm

I adjusted the play out of my steering wheel in this manner but I didn't disconnect the drag link. I just left the wheels on the ground and adjusted until the play was out of the steering wheel. Much easier and worked just fine for me.
 
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Here is another explanation for adjusting the play out of your steering that I like even better. It's simpler. It's actually the one I used.
 

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one thing i see already is if the driver side tire is straight the pass. tire is turned to the right some. I think thats my biggest problem. how do you go about fixing that?
 
after lifting the car up and messing with the steeering wheel it is real responsive so i dont think that is my problem. If i lock the wheel with the "ford emblem on the steering wheel up like you can read it" the passenger tire is straight and the driver tire is turned to the left.
 
I think you can set the toe in at 1/16" and it will be fine. That is what i set my 47 coupe at and it drove fine with radial tires. Marv
 
fisheasy said:
one thing i see already is if the driver side tire is straight the pass. tire is turned to the right some. I think thats my biggest problem. how do you go about fixing that?
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If you don't want to take it to an alignment shop to adjust the toe-in you can probably get pretty close by just measuring the distance between the back edges of the front tire with a measuring tape stretched under the car and then the front edges to see how far off they are. 1/16" toe-in means that the front edges of the front tires should be 1/16" closer than the back edges. If they are not, and it sounds like yours are way off, then you adjust that by getting under the car, loosening the clamps that secure each end of the tie rod to the tie rod ends. (That's the rod that goes clear across and connects to the back of each front wheel. Not the one that just attaches to the right wheel and to the steering arm.) Then twist that tie rod to adjust the toe-in until it's correct then tighten the clamps to secure it.
 
fisheasy said:
after lifting the car up and messing with the steeering wheel it is real responsive so i dont think that is my problem.
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Check the play in your steering by measuring the limits to which you can move the steering wheel without moving the tires. That doesn't mean the limits you can push it to, it's the limit that it will rest. What that means is that you turn the wheel one way to it's limit then let it go. It will come back slightly to a resting position. Then turn the wheel the other way to it's limit without moving the tires and let it go. It will come back to the other resting position. The distance between those two resting positions should be no more than 1 1/2". Any more than that and you have play in your steering box that can be adjusted out as previously explained.

In my state (Utah) the limit of play in the steering wheel for non power steering is 3". Mine used to be like that and I thought "Since it's within the legal limit it must be OK" even though I was pulled over for drunk driving once because the car drifted so much back and forth in the lane. When I found out that the play could be adjusted out and did so I have no more drift at all.
 
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