steering stablizer opinion

[KGBnut]

It appears the spring loaded bars utilize friction against the tie rod to settle down road shimmy.

Craig,

The '30 Coupe that I got this summer has a pretty good shimmy. I came home one day and found that my father, who is 82 and an old-time Model A mechanic, built the nearly identical spring-loaded rig from memory. There is now one on each side. He says it was a common fix back in the day. The shimmy didn't go away completely, but it sure decreased, and the car handles better overall.

We are going to fix the front end properly, but as a temporary fix this was pretty good... Plus, I get a kick out of showing this old-time fix to people...

Ken

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

"On the spring setup for the front tie rod as shown above, I has seen a few of these and they go right in the junk pile! "

Junk pile? That's what ebay is for!

 

[Doug in NJ]

should there be any vertical movement where sector goes in steering box,and what is needed to correct as far as free travel in steering wheel hardly any

That sort of sounds like the sector bushing in the steering box being worn out. And/or maybe the pitman arm is not tight on the sector? The square hole in the pitman arm or the square end of the sector shaft can get worn, making it hard to keep the arm from moving, even if you tighten it well.

As for the steering wheel play, don't judge it by how far you move the steering wheel before you feel resistance- measure how your you move it before you see the front wheels starting to turn!

Doug

 

[Modelakid31]

I had the same spring one on my Tudor when I bought it. I took it right off. Anyone have any info on that spring loaded one pictured on that roadster??

 

[4bangerrodder]

If the steering is tight, and I mean in good shape the steering dampner makes them feel better, especially on country gravel roads like I have going to my house and a couple of friends. I like the ones sold by SoCal speed shops, they are smaller and a little more petite and hide better. I have them on all of my A's, both 4 cyl and hot rods. I also use a front panhard bar and rear panhard bar on both of my modified bangers one with a B block and one on a diamond block, the handling is much improved, especially on corners, highway etc even with stock Model A shocks! They used to be sold by AC&R, they are now owned by Bert's Model A in Denver.