Cross steering for 34 Ford

ajohn

ajohn

Senior Member
I am aware that this is a site for stock Fords. I have a modified 34 with Vega steering box. Radial tires and it is a pill to try to steer. While most of you have pure stock cars, you surely have dealt with radial tires. They make steering very difficult at parking lot speeds. I have been told that a cross steering setup will bolt in place of the Vega steering box. If anyone has experience with this, please let me know, and does it really improve steering. Thanks! James jmonroe21@suddenlink.net
 
The Vega box is intended for cross steering, I have Vega cross steering in my 34 coupe and its very easy to steer even at slow speeds
 
The idea of the Vega cross steering is to be an improvement over the stock Ford steering, including Ford cross steering. Sounds like something is not set up correctly.
 
JSeery said:
The idea of the Vega cross steering is to be an improvement over the stock Ford steering, including Ford cross steering. Sounds like something is not set up correctly.
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You might be absolutely correct. Everything appears to be good, but this thing is very hard to steer at low speeds. Radial tires do not help! My cars with bias tires and Vega box steer well. I have heard that the cross steering rack is much easier to steer.
 
I am considering using a Vega box on my 40 ford pickup. Some say the Vega box is too light to handle the weight of a pickup. Any opinions?
My truck should weigh about 2700 lbs, not much more than a 34 coupe.
 
On my 3 deuces with Vega steering you can steer them with one hand, I've used Vega steering on many 35/40 chassis with no problems. I use only American made boxes.
 
JSeery said:
Please keep us updated on this issue, I am interested in what is the root cause.
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Me too! I put the car on my lift this morning. I see that the super slide spring has the second leaf from the bottom turned out of place. This would not cause hard steering, but is a puzzle.
 
Krylon32 said:
On my 3 deuces with Vega steering you can steer them with one hand, I've used Vega steering on many 35/40 chassis with no problems. I use only American made boxes.
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Perhaps I have a foreign made box. Don't know and do not know how to tell the difference.
 
I wonder if you have a 16-1 ratio box? There are both 16 and 20 to 1 ratio Vega boxes, to check jack up your front end and turn the steering wheel lock to lock. Four turns are a 16-1 quick ratio box and will feel stiffer at low speeds. A longer pitman arm might help a 16-1 box if that is what you have, but then there could be clearance issues, or even bump-steer.
As far as a cross steer rack improving things the Uni-Steer rack is 18-1 so the improvenment from a 16-1 would be less compared to going to a 20-1 box.
 
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