beerbelly, I took care of the steering improvement answer so your question is no longer the elephant in the room question. :-)

I should say first that I I do chin ups with 130 pounds chained to my waist, no joke, and I crank out about 5 to 8 chin ups with 100 pounds chained to my waist. With no weight chained to myself I crank out about 35 to 45 chin ups, and I was curling 70 or 75 pound dumbbells in each hand but I stopped that and switched to an 80 pound barbell because something was tweaking my back and just in case it was the curls with dumbbells, I cut that out.

Thus I don't know how relevant my evaluation of parking effort will be regarding the Falcon. I have no difficulty parallel parking the Falcon with the quick steer kit, but it is obvious that the steering effort is increased noticeably. I cannot quantify that, wish I could, but can only say the effort required is greater than before and it is noticeable, no doubt at all.

Whereas when I removed my steel fan from my V8 Falcon AND installed a K&N filter, I was constantly wondering: "Has there been an increase in acceleration or is it just my imagination?" I do believe there was an increase but nothing dramatic.

The steering effort, on the other hand, required with this new quick steer kit, there is no doubt about it, more effort is required.

I too read about the roller bearing vs. rubber bearing opinions, and I went with the rubber bearing because that's all my cars have ever had and I never had a problem with them. The messages I read about the roller bearing option not allowing the steering wheel to return to center didn't help, and I figured keeping the rubber bushing had near zero risks whereas the roller bearing option had the risk of not returning the wheel to center if those posts were accurate.

I did use a puller to remove the pitman arm, I bought mine at Schuck's in the late 90's, and it works like a charm, it's a simple device and though I don't know the current cost, I can't imagine they cost much.

Let me tell you something that will hopefully save you some time, something that consumed a vast amount of my time. What size is the socket that fits on the pitman arm nut? I searched high and low for that with no luck on the internet. I did it the hard way, trial and error at O'Reilly Auto Parts, the sale's people were patient with me despite my returning two sockets that did not fit, the third try was a charm.

TWENTY EIGHT MILLIMETERS, 28 millimeters is the size of the socket that fit over MY pitman arm nut on my steering box from a 1965 Ford Falcon with manual steering and the inline six of 170 cubic inches.

As mentioned earlier, the difference in the quickness of the steering is dramatic, I am so very happy with the results, so happy in fact that I intend to ditch the early 63-64 steering setup and steering box in my other Falcon and go to the later 65 setup that will allow the quick steer kit. When I go from my "quick steer" car to my 5 turn lock to lock car, it's awful.

I will say this, the 5 turn lock to lock car isn't really that bad, I've lived with that steering for some THIRTY YEARS in all my Falcons, but the quick steer kit is a nice improvement.

Whether this is something for you really depends, for me, though I drive conservatively, it's nice to have some performance, and keep in mind my quick steer Falcon is probably LIGHT YEARS BEHIND even a budget KIA or Ford Focus, regarding the quality of steering, so I really shouldn't call this "performance" that I have in my "new" Falcon, it's just a nice improvement.

You are welcomed to come by and try out the steering in my quick steer Falcon, just sit there and turn the wheels some as if parking, the car is drivable/driveable but still needs an alignment and small details. Just today I got the Ford Granada anti-sway bar installed. Lots of details to take care of.

By the way, my apartment parking is parallel parking and I've parked it numerous times now, no problem, and keep in mind, even if you keep the car moving at half mile an hour the steering effort is greatly reduced. I really don't recall any issue parking the car.

I hope this helps beerbelly!

Quote Originally Posted by beerbelly View Post
Wilbur, I have to ask the "elephant in the room" question- how's the steering effort? Have you parallel parked it yet?

My '65 V8 Ranchero has manual steering, with the slow 19.9:1 ratio box (4- 5/8 turns). It's pleasant enough to drive, tracks nicely, and the effort is fine for me. However, I'm not sure I'd want much more effort to parallel park it everyday.

I've read that a roller-bearing idler arm reduces effort somewhat, but some have mentioned that the wheel doesn't want to return to center quite as well.

Did you need a puller to change out the arm?