Tie rods different length

[Leanburn]

I recently installed a borgeson box.. With the box centered the passenger tie rod is over 1” shorter than the driver.. I also noticed that the pitman arm is pointed slightly to the centre of car and not straight back.. It’s as if the pitman arm is out of clock 1 spline but I have two pitman arms and they are both the same… My question is, how will the handling be affected?. On another note I do suspect I have a b body k frame but cannot confirm but I don’t believe it should change the pitman orientation, maybe I’m wrong on this ?.

 

[Challenger RTA]

Quick answer. Read steering center link challenge '73 Challenger

 

[Leanburn]

I actually read that one... The original poster was able to solve his issue by turning the pitman arm 1 spline... I'm not sure how he done that because all the pitman arms i've seen are clocked, i can only turn 90 degrees.. I sent him a message, hopefully he responds..

 

[Challenger RTA]

To close out this thread the problem has been resolved. It appears that the pitman arm was off one tooth. When i moved the pitman arm, the tie rod sleeves became even, the steering angle is now the same side to side. Furthermore, with the increased positive caster, the car now drives almost perfect.

thanks all who helped provide informatoin to help me trouble shoot this installation!

 

[Leanburn]

Yes... Thats what i mean

 

[Challenger RTA]

From center to center of each tie rod are equal I think it's 12" . Set both of them at that and see what it looks like.

 

[Leanburn]

I did... Makes the steering input shaft 1/4 turn out..

 

[Challenger RTA]

The steering geometry is more important. Equal turns on the tie rods fix that when aligning.

 

[Challenger RTA]

The steering geometry is more important. Equal turns on the tie rods fix that when aligning.

Go back and look I think I gave him a thread count on the tie rods.
I looked and didn't see it, might have been on an other post. But I did see this.
I.D. numbers K - Frame Member question

 

[Chryco Psycho]

This is actually more normal than you would think often the center of the steering box & pitman arm position is not exactly center with even tie rod length , it really doesn't affect anything .

 

[Leanburn]

Thanks Chryco.

 

[cuda joe]

when wheels are aligned and there are different length tie rods you can get bump steer' which is when going over a bump it will pull to one side i shimmed my box to fix that

 

[Old Mopar]

The steering box is not centered in the k frame, the box needs to be shimmed to correct the center-line angle. This will correct the tie rod distance. Simple geometry