swapped 13s for 15s steering gear unhappy now

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h2ojoe8

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Greeetings,
I recently found some killer rally sbp 15 inch wheels, and tires. they mounted with good clearance on my 64 dart, but right away the steering box feels metallic, and tired, with noise at the end of each turn. Am I dealing with a tired gear box, or has the increase in tire demand just shown it's age. It wasn't so bad with 13 inch tires, but now feels like s--t. Am I just looking at a tired gear, or is there some problems with the 15s? I cant go back to 13s
Thanks so much
 
Make sure the PW st pump is full of oil, and re-tension the belt. Try this first before assuming you need to replace something. If the gear box is not leaking, and is not full of slop, then there is little reason to assume its the box. It's probably the pump not being able to keep up with the pressure needed to run the power steering box.
 
There is a lot of geometry that goes into effect when you change wheel and tire size on an independent front end such as our early A's. Make sure that your entire steering assembly is well-lubed and that you have a good alignment, and that your front suspension bushings are in good shape. If your upper control arm bushings are extremely worn it can do very wierd things to the steering and overall road-handling quality of the vehicle, ask me how I know.
-Tim
 
If you did the "plus 2" conversion, you would have retained the OD of the original 13 tire with a 15 and a shorter sidewall, then nothing would be out of spec except the width. Yeah, maybe just a freshened pump.
 
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