Steering box area of K frame need welding?

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ppsi

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I've beefed up the seam welds of my K frame. I also read about folks that have added gussets etc to the steering box mount. The steering box mount on my K frame has, what appear to be, the biggest and strongest welds of the whole K frame. Is it still worth adding gussets?
I do plan on adding washers to where the LCA bolts to the frame but the steering box mount really seems heavy duty. I just don't want to overlook something worth doing.
Thanks
 
I just welded up the box mount beyond the factory job. Went over all other welds on the k frame.
 
My 65 steering box mounts cracked on me. Cant remember if it were at the top plate or base at K, scary speed wobbles at about 10 mph. Had to limp it home 9 miles in the gutter at ~7mph. I'd go over all of them and gussett where you can.
 
pishta said:
My 65 steering box mounts cracked on me. Cant remember if it were at the top plate or base at K, scary speed wobbles at about 10 mph. Had to limp it home 9 miles in the gutter at ~7mph. I'd go over all of them and gussett where you can.
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Maybe some had better welds than others or some years had more metal? The metal the is in the steering box mount on my K frame is far thicker than the other mounts and the welds are perfect. Way better than the rest of the K frame which was pretty piss poor in general. It's as if two entirely different factories welded these two areas. Oh well. I'm goons let the original steering mount stay as is and gusset the holes for the control arms.
 
The steering box mount on my ‘74 was cracked. It broke right along the weld and caused the entire steering box to move back and forth when I turned the wheel.

The factory welds were sometimes pretty hit and miss. The weld itself was the initial issue on mine, but after the weld broke the mount itself cracked too. There’s a reason why all the K frame reinforcement kits include additional plates to box the steering mount.
 
I believe the steering box mount is not supported very well for a majority of the middle of the mount, it just kind of floats away from the K member in the middle without anything tying it to the K member. This was my solution. Maybe overkill, but why not while it’s out and ready to weld?

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Firm Feel sells a kit with the needed pieces prefabbed for you to weld in. If you want a surprise, get somebody behind your steering wheel without the engine running, put your hand down on your steering box and have him reef back and forth on the wheel - hint: don't stick your fingers where they might get pinched.
 
I'm convinced and will be adding metal. I'm not racing like a lot of guys here and I have power steering which I'm sure many don't. I can imagine it makes a big difference if it is a manual or power steering car.
 
Reinforce it, you want to eliminate as much flexing as possible. It doesn’t matter how beefy the welds look if theres any flex in that area you will notice it in the way the car handles. The reinforcing is one of the things to do to improve handling on these cars.
 
ppsi said:
I'm convinced and will be adding metal. I'm not racing like a lot of guys here and I have power steering which I'm sure many don't. I can imagine it makes a big difference if it is a manual or power steering car.
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Why would it matter if it’s power steering or manual? It takes the same amount of force to turn the wheels. The only difference is whether that force is generated by your arms or the power steering system.

And for that matter my car had power steering when it had the issue with the cracked power steering mount.
 
I think power would put more stress on it soley for the fact that you can turn it lock to lock at idle without moving the car where as a manual owner would not try that stunt. They would allow the car to roll to assist them in this operation, putting less stress on the box mounts. Just a habit.
 
72bluNblu said:
Why would it matter if it’s power steering or manual? It takes the same amount of force to turn the wheels. The only difference is whether that force is generated by your arms or the power steering system.

And for that matter my car had power steering when it had the issue with the cracked power steering mount.
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I'm not here to argue but the previous poster clearly said to check the box mount flex while someone is trying to turn the wheel. The force to move the wheels is coming from the power assist INSIDE the power steering box and NOT from the input shaft. Different angles etc as far as where the force acting on the mount comes from so, just possibly, different, and perhaps weaker or stronger, areas of the box mount are better able to handle the forces applied.
Again, I'm not arguing other than there is a clear difference between the two types of steering in regard to where the mount is being stressed.
 
Bottom line is box that sucker in and give it all the strength it can get. It’s the best easiest strengthening you can do for that area while the k is out.
 
67dartgtgo said:
Bottom line is box that sucker in and give it all the strength it can get. It’s the best easiest strengthening you can do for that area while the k is out.
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Agreed.
Do people do the front and rear holes for the LCA shaft? Seems like I'm seeing just the front welds reinforced?
 
ppsi said:
I'm not here to argue but the previous poster clearly said to check the box mount flex while someone is trying to turn the wheel. The force to move the wheels is coming from the power assist INSIDE the power steering box and NOT from the input shaft. Different angles etc as far as where the force acting on the mount comes from so, just possibly, different, and perhaps weaker or stronger, areas of the box mount are better able to handle the forces applied.
Again, I'm not arguing other than there is a clear difference between the two types of steering in regard to where the mount is being stressed.
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It’s not the forces going into the box that move it, it’s the forces coming out at the pitman arm. There’s no lever force on the box from the input, it’s a round shaft. The force leaving the box, acting against the resistance of the wheels, is what moves the box.

This is easy to see if you watch the box while someone else turns the wheel. The steering box doesn’t move with/against the input rotation. It moves in the opposite direction of the pitman.

The force requirement to move the tires doesn’t change. Not only that, but the mechanical ratio inside the box is the same between a fast ratio manual steering box and a power steering box, both are 16:1. If you think about what’s moving the box, that means just the mechanical ratio makes the force leaving the box 16x higher than what goes in. With a standard manual box at 24:1 that means the forces leaving are 24x higher. The much larger output force moves the box and stresses the mount, not the input.
 
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