34 to 37 steering box

[Tom in TN]

I’m still in the process of curing my ‘death wobble’ on my ’34 and a fellow offered to give me a 1937 Ford steering box, that is suitable for rebuilding.

So, my question, is a ’37 box a bolt-in fit on a stock ’34 frame? If not, does anyone have any ideas as to what all needs altering?....IOW, is it worth rebuilding and changing it out?

TIA

[deuce lover]

Won't work.In '35 Ford went with cross steering. The 48-52 F1 might be an option and has been done but that can be a challenge as the angle is slightly different along with the orig light switch/ horn.The F1 shaft has a splined end for the steering wheel. There are companies(Larescorp.com, for one) that can totally rebuild your steering and totally new made in NZ which are pricey and back ordered. Regarding the death wobble,have you checked for king pin,tie rod,drag link play and toe in set right?

[bobH]

I'm gonna suggest that my experience with 'death wobble', is that it is usually something else besides the steering gear. The steering gear might be loose & worn, but, all the stuff that Sheldon mentioned needs to be taken care of, as well as loose wheel bearings and out-of-spec brakes. My 'death wobble' experience is mostly with Jeeps, but also a few early Fords, and I've never had to correct a loose steering gear to fix the problem. And, if you have tires that are worn 'cockeyed', combined with 'loose stuff', you have a great recipe for death wobble. Does it get set off by 35 mph, in a turn, hitting a pot-hole, and touching the brakes? If yes, I wouldn't be too concerned with the steering gear. Obviously, just opinion....
(And, can you 'drive out of it', by increasing speed to 50 or so?)
(Oops.. I see your avitar car seems to be slightly 'raked'... Need to be sure you have good castor and camber... especially a little castor, not too close to zero. -- sometimes a problem if a 'rake' has brought castor to zero.) Again, just opinion...

[Tom in TN]

Thanks guys -the rake is a result of large rear tires and smaller front ones. I have everything set as right as I can, but I do know that there is some play in the drag link ends.
Usually it happens at about 40mph, straight flat road, but a railroad track crosses and if I don't have the wheel 'loaded' to one side our the other- here we go. Never have tried speeding up- mainly because the only thing I can think of is stomping the brakes to get it back under control. Its pretty ugly.

[joe 1950]

I had the same problem with my 1931 model A rebuilt my king pins problem solved

[32phil]

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Use The SEARCH function on here. Lot's of good info there.
The Death Wobble issue has been beat to death (sorry I couldn't resist)on here.
In a nutshell
On STOCK Ford suspension it's usually caused by loose/worn parts, mismatched tires and/or out of alignment (toe in ).
On modified suspension......big and little tires plus dropped axle , reverse eye springs etc.
IMHO
it's incorrect caster.
When the whole car is down in the front it's tough to change the caster back to where it needs to be.
I had the same problem on a Hot Rod 32 roadster I have.
Everything was brand new or perfectly rebuilt. Alignment toe in/out on the money.
Nothing would cure it.
Finally.... after 3 years, 2500 miles and out of desperation I installed a So Cal steering damper.
Done and Done the car goes down the road straight as an arrow even on the roughest roads at any speed. RxR tracks don't even make it jiggle even a little.
No change to the steering effort, I don't even know it's there.

[Andy]

I had the wobble and new king pins fixed it. What is not widely known is the pins were supposed to be greased every 1000 miles. We are too used to modern cars.