My 1928 A Tudor steers very hard What ca I do?

[pickup]

Purchased a 1928 Tudor that had been setting up for 20 years. Rebuilt Carb, Distributor and replaced the gas tank. Cranked it up and went to take a ride but it is very hard to steer. Jacked up front wheels and it is still a little hard to steer.

What should I look for and what should I do?[

[Will N]

You have to check each moving part in the steering for binding. A common area are the balls on the ends of the pitman arm and the steering arms. They can get flattened out from wear, and people crank down on the drag link and tie rod tension adjusters to take up the slack. This causes you to have to overcome the spring tension in the adjusters when you move the steering.

[J Franklin]

Oil and grease everything thoroughly. Remember there isn't any power steering in a 1928 auto.

[TMarsh]

Disconnect the pitman arm from the drag link to see if is the steering box or the front steering parts such as mentioned above.

[P.S.]

If it still has the factory steering box, it is a 7-tooth. The 2-tooth steering box wasn't introduced in Model As until around February 1929.

The 7-tooth boxes are very picky. Lubrication is critical. Did someone pump grease into it? Although many have a grease fitting on them, that doesn't mean they take the same grease as the other fittings on the car. The steering box takes thick oil. Grease will gum it up.

You can disconnect the pitman arm and isolate the stiffness to either the steering box or the front end for starters. If someone has added the steering arm shock absorber to the tie rod (I see that a lot), that may be the source of the stiffness right there. People tend to add those to reduce "death wobble" instead of fixing the actual problem.

[JayJay]

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Especially since the car has been sitting for a long time, check whether there is any lube in the steering box. Original steering boxes tend to leak around the shaft and can dry out the internals. Use a thick oil such as 600W obtainable from the Model A parts suppliers, or something like 85-120 differential lube obtainable from auto parts houses. Do not pump it full of grease, even if someone has installed a grease fitting on it! As PS notes, that was a common "fix" even though in the long run it doesn't work.

[WHN]

You can steer a correctly refurbished Model A when moving using one hand.

I would raise the front end up off the ground and just start checking things out. I would think that your problem is going to be made up of many worn things. I would be very surprised if all you needed to do was grease things and your good to go.

This is one of the most important parts of your car. Needs to be correct.

Happy Holidays.

[Charlie Stephens]

First thing you should do is put your general location in your profile. If there is another Model A close to you drive it. They are hard to steer when working correctly compared to todays power steering. If you end up rebuilding it at least consider a later truck steering. Randy Gross is the resident expert on truck steerings, 714-292-8660
[email protected]

Charlie Stephens

[Marshall V. Daut]

Originally from the factory, Ford installed a Zerk grease fitting in the seven-tooth boxes so that at Ford dealerships, lube could be pressure-forced into the steering box from a big drum. The fitting was never intended to be used for introducing chassis grease into the box. Because misinformed mechanics and maybe even owners were doing exactly that - resulting in customer complaints about hard steering and prematurely worn inner steering gear parts - Ford replaced the grease fitting with a standard pipe plug sometime in 1929, if I recall correctly. Then lube could only be introduced the slow, time-consuming way by pouring the syrup-like lube through the plug hole, which was enlarged later to make filling the gear box easier and faster.
Whenever I see a Model A with the Zerk fitting still in place, I can just about bet the farm that someone is pumping chassis grease into the steering box. Rapid wear on the sector teeth and worm gear will result due to lack of lubrication between them after the grease has been squeezed out. Then it's metal against metal contact, and we all know what happens then! Yup - wear and hard steering.
Marshall

[Gene F]

Post #6. Yes, start there. If it looks like someone pumped a grease gun in there that is a whole other kettle of fish.

[Synchro909]

I have filled my steering boxes with grease for years - Cornhead grease. I thoroughly recommend its use. Its lubricating qualities are good and leaks are almost zero. I no longer use those thick gooey lubricants I so often read about of here.
Back to the question. If there has recently been grease pumped into the kingpins an steering joints, my bet it is either the ball joints (dry or worn) or the steering box being dry. I'd start there, like most here have suggested. A rebuild may be in your near future. Parts for you guys are readily available and excellent results can be obtained with careful and thoughtful assembly. Consider asking a workshop to make eccentric sector shaft bushes so you can get the pinion/sector engagement as good as possible. I was lucky with mine when I rebuilt it, there was ZERO play in it when I assembled it and now, after about 20,000 miles there is still less than an inch but steering is still heavier than my other cars fitted with 2 tooth steering boxes.

[nkaminar]

I will go with what Paul said in Post #5. Any grease in the steering box should be removed (hard to do) and replaced with gear oil. I use 85W-140 but that may leak out of the box unless you replace the packing nut at the bottom of the box with one with a tube that extends beyond the level of the oil. (Packing nuts were used on the 7 tooth boxes and a plate was used on the 2 tooth boxes.)

Grease everything and if the ball joints are still tight, loosen the springs a little. As others have said, if the balls are worn they should be replaced. To see if they are worn, move the attached arms and if they tighten up when at an extreme angle, the balls are not round. If the parts have the original grease fittings, replace them with modern Zerk fittings.

To isolate the problems, disconnect things and try to move them.

After you fix the tightness, make sure the steering geometry is correct. If the king pins are worn the wheels can have incorrect camber which will make the steering hard.

[700rpm]

Originally Posted by J Franklin

Oil and grease everything thoroughly. Remember there isn't any power steering in a 1928 auto.

It’s what my dad, in 1955, called "Armstrong steering".

[J Franklin]

I had a box with chassis grease instead of lube. I removed (suction & pick) some that was easiest, and filled with light oil. It liquefied the grease.

[nkaminar]

Update: I fixed the steering in a 29 Fordor that had been sitting for 15 years. The felt bearing at the top of the steering shaft, where the steering wheel is, was very tight and no oil would fix it. I ended up having to replace the bearing. The steering was almost impossible to turn. Dangerous to drive.

[Synchro909]

Another possibility is because we don't know why the car was parked, could it be that the king pins were done poorly and are too tight? I made that mistake once and never again! At anything over 30 mph, the car was all over the road. It certainly got the adrenaline pumping!

[fried okra]

The F100 Ford pickup steering gear from the 1950's era works great in these cars.

And looks the part also.

[CatMan1]

I'm going to be studying these responses carefully. When I got my restored '28 Sport Coupe in 2021 I was impressed with how it didn't wander down the highway and that the steering had no play in it. The more I drove it I began to realize that there is an issue. I've had many old cars and they didn't have power steering, but when I back out of the driveway and I have to use both hands to tug the steering wheel to make the turn, something is wrong.

[gdmn852]

Hello, the balls on tie rod and steering links are often worn , also kingpins are usually worn , as they have to reamed to size when replaced, they don’t get done. Parts are available from most of the usual vendors, kingpin sets may need shims at bearing areas, do a search on Ford Barn on this topic.

[nkaminar]

Cat Man, you may have too much caster. That will make the car track well forward but raise hell backing up.