Steering Box Mounting

[clifftt]

Seeking the recollections of those who have been through this. ..... I have the 273 out of my '64 Barracuda. The car has power steering. As I was cleaning the engine room for paint, I noticed two things:
1). The welds of the steering mount on the crossmember look terrible! Does this appear to be a factory weld? It appears solid. I haven't had the front end aligned because the suspension components are worn, that's down the road, so I can't confirm that the suspension will align at the factory specs.
2). The crossmember has no paint. It had a thick cake of grease on it. When I cleaned it with Gunk Engine Degreaser, this is how it looked. I kinda like its patina finish, not sure if I want to paint it black or leave it (I'm painting the motor that old Plymouth red.
I'm the third owner of the car as best as I can tell.



Help and comments welcomed!
Cliff

 

[junkyardhero]

ya know, i don't know if that's OG or not but i'd *highly* suggest that you pay that area some mind during your rebuild.

personally, i'd weld and gusset that whole mount area up. not only from a safety standpoint, but from a performance standpoint as well. less deflection from the steering box area is always a good thing.

also, with modern tires and suspension components you don't want your ride aligned to factory specs....

-JYH

 

[RedFish]

Heres what I suspect. Steering box bolts kept comming loose until over tightening ripped the threads out. Somone cut the end off and stuck a bolt through from inside out (see upside down castle nutfor spacer). Then wekded it back on again.
I would be looking for a K-member or alternate steering like rackand pinion

 

[clifftt]

I think you're right. Shortly after I got the car, it started "wandering" on the road. Got underneath and found the steering box mtg bolts all loose. Then I found that castle nut placed in backwards, like some handy spacer someone figured on using. Probably it was a chronic problem. If this has happened to anyone else, I'd like to hear about it.
Welding some gussets is a good idea, too.

 

[RedFish]

Yeah these bolts were another of Chryslers' reasons for funding the development of Loctite. The correct bolts are essential also. I like the special head bolts (12 point I think) better than the hexheads altough factory used either or .

 

[clifftt]

Cool! Also got a history lesson here on Loctite!! Back to the welds, do any of you recognize these as factory welds or not? I'm wondering if I need to cut this cap off and relocate /weld it, or leave it where it's at and just beef up the area. It looks as though it is a little offset.

 

[340mopar]

Being the mounting area may be mis-located now, I would agree with RedFish and just find yourself another K-member. That's the one nice thing about an early A is the K-members are all the same.


Chuck

 

[black betty]

I would cut that thing apart weld a nut on the backside. Then weld it back together and reinforce it. I always reinforce the steering mount it will drive better if you do. I would also reweld all the seams on the kframe. I swear the guys at the factory that welded them together were drunk. I use loctite and arp bolts on all of my steering boxes.

 

[sweatybetty]

Being the mounting area may be mis-located now, I would agree with RedFish and just find yourself another K-member. That's the one nice thing about an early A is the K-members are all the same.


Chuck

i agree. reinforce a new k member and replace all the front end parts at one time.

 

[clifftt]

Thanks for all your suggestions. If I was building a replica Trans-Am racer, I'd replace it, but it's an in-town cruiser. I'll probably weld this one up, like Black Betty suggests.