1948 2 door ill handling

[BMarg]

I have a 48 2 door deluxe, it handles great if there is no wind outside. Any wind and its hard to keep on the road. I have replaced the king pins ,tie rod ends, frame to sway bar bushing. I had the front end alignment done and four new cooker 600.16 tires put on. All four arm shocks feel good and I also put tube shocks on the back,also new pan hard bushings. I don'nt know what else to try? Anybody have any suggestions,thanks.

[Lawson Cox]

That is just the nature of these old Fords (and other old cars) of the era. They are not aerodynamic like the modern cars. Get used to it. That's part of the experience, and fun, of these old relics. lol

[GaryTx]

Maybe the steering box is worn out. There is an adjustment screw on top of the box to tighten the gear.

[Torchie]

Some people switch to radial Tires as well, but as lawson says alot of it has to do with aerodynamics.
My former every day driver was a repowered 1950 GMC Panel truck. Look virtualy stock from the outside. It could be a hand full at times especialy in the wind and the rain aganst that almost flat windshield could be bad as well. Even with new electic wipers.
I liked to say that it had the glide charecteristics of a free falling safe.
I sure do miss it though....
They take a little getting used to.
Torchie.

[fordor41]

I have the same problem with my '41 Fordor, especially in side wind conditions. Radials helped. I've played with shocks, sway bras, spring leaf combos but I haven't figured out how to eliminate all the drift. I have found if I hold the wheel in one position instead of trying to correct that the car will most likely return pretty close to the original track. Don't chase it.

[Old Henry]

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My 47 fordor is just the same. Has very little to do with all of the things you mentioned and mostly to do with the aerodynamics of the old prewar body styles. As "streamlined" as they look, they are not. Just this last week drove up the canyon with very strong head and side winds and I was lucky if I could just stay in my lane. Was rarely in the middle of it except for the instant passing from one side of the lane to the other. Wondered what everyone behind me thought.

[Mart]

You could check the toe in, at least you know the car is set up as good as it can be.

it is just aerodynamics, though as people have stated.

Mart.

[31chevy]

Modern day vans are also affected by side winds, my 2005 Dodge Caravan certainly is. My 31 chevy 4 dr. is really bad but my 34 ford pickup with radials handles pretty good.
Gary.

[raceron1120]

This is a great topic, one that many of us with older cars might tend to overlook especially if we've had new vehicles for the last many years.

As someone told me when I was discussing this with a friend, he simply said "... you actually have to drive the older cars..." When I thought about it, 'driving' my old Ford with its handling quirks & characteristics has made the experience a bit more interesting.

[G.M.]

With the wheels on the ground facing straight ahead turn the steering wheel from center to the right and from center to the left in the "free" zone. Meaning the slop area before the wheels turn. If you have over
1-1/2" total you will get wondering. Have someone turn the wheel as described above and get underneath looking CARFULLY at every place that can move all these little fractions of an inch add up. I bought a 40 Ford coupe years ago that had over a half turn of slop. With NO parts replaced we got it to almost zero slop. The steering wheel nut was loose, the box needed adjustment, the bolts from steering box to the frame mount adaptor was loose the adaptor to the frame was loose plus the wheel bearings were loose and maybe a few other places. One thing I have found loose on several cars that is hard to find was where the perch bolts go through the front axle. This can be seen as perch bolt rock forward and back as the wheel is turned. All of these problems are spotted as the steering wheel gets hard to turn just on the edge of the slop before the wheels turn. The loose perch bolts usually have a faint ring of rust on the top where they enter the axle. The cars I drive all have bias tires stock shocks and go down the road almost straight if I leave off the steering wheel at 55 or 60 MPH and have no wondering at any speeds. Real strong winds on a bridge or open area will get a reaction. I have radials on one old Ford and see no difference over the bias tires. I have on many occasions driven 1,200 miles in 2 days at 65 MPH + with a nice comfortable ride. G.M.

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by raceron1120

"... you actually have to drive the older cars..." When I thought about it, 'driving' my old Ford with its handling quirks & characteristics has made the experience a bit more interesting.

So true. My son, who helped me restore Old Henry when he was 15, just returned from his two year long mission for the church and drove Old Henry last night for a short trip and he made almost that same comment, "You have to be constantly concentrating on driving. You can't just 'let the car drive itself' like all of the new cars I drove on my mission (when he wasn't riding bikes). But, you can actually 'feel' the car and the road and actually hear and feel the engine." He liked it although he said it was a lot more effort, but well worth it.

[1931 flamingo]

What's your tire pressure??
Paul in CT

[Pete]

These body styles handled very well off the showroom floor. Definitely not susceptible to wind gusts.
I have driven a stock body flathead powered 48 4 door sedan 124 mph at Bonneville. (not mine) I hardly had to move the steering wheel.
The point is like GM said, everything has to be like new to get proper performance.
The steering box is an often neglected item when chasing tracking problems.
The worm and sector roller can NOT have the slightest pits or galling or zero adjustment clearance can not be achieved. This can't be stressed enough.
This type of steering is not the best design but it was the best compromise cost wise for Ford.
Adding 2 degrees of caster to the front axle will improve tracking at the cost of slightly heavier steering. If parts are worn it can also cause death wobble.