Steering arms???

[doghows]

Does anyone know if the steering arms on Falcons are different than mustangs?
I'm curious if they are shorter than the falcon ones. I know there is a difference in the 6 vs 8 cyl. Thanks

[pbrown]

My steering arms are universal and work on any car. They can even operate the shifter and radio knobs. They vary in length from person to person.

:shift:

[Luva65wagon]

Patrick made a funny? :WHATTHE:

And he was still technically correct!

I didn't know what is common, but I use Rock Auto a lot to see if they call out the same part number for other cars. A poor mans interchange.

65 Falcon with V8

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?carcode=1333325&parttype=7428

65 Mustang with V8

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?carcode=1333381&parttype=7428

[doghows]

I might be using the wrong term here.. I'm questioning the part that the tie rod goes into. The arm off of the spindle.

Thanks for the laugh Patrick I almost fell for the whole thing..:rocker:

[pbrown]

I'm curious about the reason for the original question. Do you have concerns over your now larger turning radius? If so, you should know that the rack and pinion kit from Unisteer and RRS and some others use the Chevy Caviliar rack which has a shorter lock to lock travel. This means you have a bigger turning circle.

I don't think there is a large difference in the steering arm length if any. We can get some measurements from various cars to see.

[Luva65wagon]

Did you already remove the stops on the strut ends (used on the 6'r front end)? Just curious whether the tighter turning radius is induced by the rack or the stops.

It was a nice simple install that Unisteer kit. I'm not liking the steering in the Ranchero post-V8 install, but wondering how much less a turning radius you really have now?

[doghows]

You guessed correctly, my turning radius is not what is used to be..
I did remove the old 6 cyl stops before the rack and that helped but still not right. That was the reason for the rack. I love the rack the steering and the ease of the kit to put in. I am going to measure my turning radius and see where i am at now.. A stock power steering 65 mustang is 38 ft, they installed the same kit as mine and their turning radius went to 37 ft.
I called Unisteer and they told me that the Falcons and some mustangs would loose a little in their turning radius.. I feel I've lost about 20%. I can live with it but I would rather fix it if I can and it was suggested to me to check that part of the spindle to see if there were different lengths.
Looking under the car nothing is hitting so right now it's the rack running out of travel.:o

[Luva65wagon]

I think you had '64 spindles, but measure those against the Granada ones you have. I can measure mine tomorrow when I get home from some errands I have to run first-thing. Mine are 65 V8 Falcon.

[doghows]

Will do thanks. [BOW]

[doghows]

So the Granada arms are about 1-1.5 inches shorter than the one in my car. Mine are 1964 sprint V-8 non power steering 5 lug units. I think (not proven yet) that if I had 1964 sprint V-8 power steering units the arms would be shorter.
So I think I will look for a replacement set of spindles, knuckles, or whatever you want to call that piece. This should put my turning radius back where I want it. :BEER:

[Luva65wagon]

I never got out under the car yet to measure mine. Too many irons firing at once here. Will do this though to see if 65 spindles would help. But what were the measurements from these two?

[doghows]

They were so noticeably different I didn't even throw a rake at them. I would guess my 64's to be around 6" and the Granadas to be around 4".

[Luva65wagon]

I found this image on the web showing the difference between the inline 6 spindle, the 65 Falcon in the center and the Granada on the right. The 65 and the Granada are very close the same length, but the Granada does measure shorter than the 65 by a little. Whether the 63/64 setup you have the car is longer or shorter than any of these, I could not find a page saying "here are all the various measurements." Though I have been looking...

[doghows]

Mine looks closer to the 6cyl one?? Did they make a 5 lug 6 cylinder? The far right Granada one is like the ones I have at home. Looks like I need to find me a set of Granada spindles.. ll take a picture of mine tonight..

Great picture by the way, always something new with these cars..

[Luva65wagon]

No, they didn't make a 5-lug 6cyl, but I'm not really sure what the 63/4 spindles look like. Maybe you can lay on the floor and snap a picture of yours. That 63/4 setup was short-lived for a variety of reasons, but since the reast of the parts (drag link, spindles, tie rods) were all different, it wouldn't surprise me that the spindles were a cross between the early 6 design and the later V8 design (that was common to the Mustang).

[pbrown]

The Granada spindles have a different taper to the tie rods. You'll need to use Granada outer tie rod ends. No big deal. Just something to be aware of.

Bump steer is more of a concern with Granada spindles due to the different position of the steering arms. It's not just length that is different.

[doghows]

Here is what I have now.

[Luva65wagon]

I would venture a guess that the shorter the arm, the more the bump steer. Correct? Geometry and how long or how short the arm is (shorter being more responsive) would determine this. Since there has always been some bump steer in Falcons and Mustangs with the stock arms, and considering (from my crude measuring of images on a computer screen) that the Granada arms are shorter (both decreasing the overall turning radius and being more responsive too) they would because of that increase the bump steer.

If the rack just doesn't give you the movement to go from stop-to-stop (internally) as much as the stock steering box did, then adding a shorter arm would decrease the turning radius at the risk of additional bump steer.

Did I surmise this correctly?

[falcon cobra]

I have granada spindles and 65 mustang tie rod ends, and no bump steer at all, it goes down the road like a new car strait as a arrow. and I have a borgeson steering box internal power and I love it...jh[yay]

[doghows]

Uhhhmmm yes??