The Ford Barn - View Single Post - 1934 Pickup Frustration- Ready to jump out a one story building

Flathead Fever · 04-19-2019, 10:14 PM

Do you have enough space to make a temporary heat shield between the steering box and the exhaust that will leave an air gap? That will deflect some of the heat and allow some fresh air to circulate between the shield and the box. I'm guessing you have headers. I know its going to be a pretty tight fit to get a heat shield in there. They are usually so tight you have to dimple the tube to clear the '34 box. There must be a lot of '32 -'34 Fords with the exhaust close to the steering box and I have not heard anybody complain about the their box tightening up. You could wrap the header tube with heat wrap. I think O' Reileys has some in there little performance parts section.

Does the back lash in the steering wheel change with the heat? The box should be adjusted so there is no play with the wheel in the straight ahead position but they will have a little play just off of that tight center spot. That's a perfect box which 99% of the time they are not and they have some slop in them. If your does not have any play you might have to give it some. Loosen it up a 1/4 turn and see if it makes a difference. You can always turn it back that 1/4 turn. If the play changes with heat that would indicate the problem was in the box. Like Drolston suggest (great idea) maybe something is heating up and expanding in there.

I can't see the heat having anything to do with the king pin. You still need to fix that grease zerk regardless so you might as well start there. I don't know if you can look in the zerk's hole and see the spindle's bushing turning on the king pin through the grease hole in the bushing or you would see the back of the bushing if that hole wasn't lined up with the zerk? I just went through this on a tractor. The zerk would not take any grease in the position it was sitting in until I took the weight off of the joint, Then the grease went right in. You could try jacking up the a axle and taking the weight off of the king pin. I doubt it will work but you never know.

Take a look at the other thread just posted on the 1935 Ford Indy cars. All of the Ford entries steerings seized up early in the race because the steering's universal joint was too close to the exhaust manifold. There is an excellent photo in that thread that shows the problem.

04-19-2019, 10:14 PM	#15
Flathead Fever Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Yucaipa, CA Posts: 1,096	Re: 1934 Pickup Frustration- Ready to jump out a one story building Do you have enough space to make a temporary heat shield between the steering box and the exhaust that will leave an air gap? That will deflect some of the heat and allow some fresh air to circulate between the shield and the box. I'm guessing you have headers. I know its going to be a pretty tight fit to get a heat shield in there. They are usually so tight you have to dimple the tube to clear the '34 box. There must be a lot of '32 -'34 Fords with the exhaust close to the steering box and I have not heard anybody complain about the their box tightening up. You could wrap the header tube with heat wrap. I think O' Reileys has some in there little performance parts section. Does the back lash in the steering wheel change with the heat? The box should be adjusted so there is no play with the wheel in the straight ahead position but they will have a little play just off of that tight center spot. That's a perfect box which 99% of the time they are not and they have some slop in them. If your does not have any play you might have to give it some. Loosen it up a 1/4 turn and see if it makes a difference. You can always turn it back that 1/4 turn. If the play changes with heat that would indicate the problem was in the box. Like Drolston suggest (great idea) maybe something is heating up and expanding in there. I can't see the heat having anything to do with the king pin. You still need to fix that grease zerk regardless so you might as well start there. I don't know if you can look in the zerk's hole and see the spindle's bushing turning on the king pin through the grease hole in the bushing or you would see the back of the bushing if that hole wasn't lined up with the zerk? I just went through this on a tractor. The zerk would not take any grease in the position it was sitting in until I took the weight off of the joint, Then the grease went right in. You could try jacking up the a axle and taking the weight off of the king pin. I doubt it will work but you never know. Take a look at the other thread just posted on the 1935 Ford Indy cars. All of the Ford entries steerings seized up early in the race because the steering's universal joint was too close to the exhaust manifold. There is an excellent photo in that thread that shows the problem.