Steering upgrade.

[Brian]

I like the feel of the factory steering as well.  I have never had any issues with it and like the super easy feel of it.  Only one I ever had issue with was a 65 Special I drove for many years with manual steering on it.  That was a whole different story.  I remedied that by putting a factory PS setup on it. 

[elagache]

Dear Iain, Jerry, Brian, and mid-60s Buick owners,

For the what it's worth department, the steering geometry on our cars are set up for bias ply tires. If you are using a radial tire you need to change the alignment specs. There have been many articles written about this over the years. The big problem is the upper control arm geometry doesn't like to cooperate with 'radial" retrofit specifications.

Well, I wasn't aware of this.  Does someone have a good reference on how this is done?  I'm definitely curious!

Cheers, Edouard 

[GreatScat1965]

I pulled these up quickly but this will get you in the right direction. The positive caster is the hard part with stock upper control arms. I'm sure there is more information out there but this pretty well sums up the basics:

you want as much positive caster as you can get (stock parts limit you to 1 to 2 deg positive). Camber should be at 1/4 deg Negative. Toe should be about 1/8" in.

1. Basic rule - No more than .25 degrees difference between driver's side and passenger's side.
2. +2.0 to +3.5 degrees caster.(Positive)
3. -.5 to 0 degrees camber. No positive camber, please. There is no problem having a slight variation from driver's side to passenger's side to account for the crown in the road (only a big deal on older 2 lane highway driving.
4. 1/16" to 1/8" toe in

Jerry

[Super65lark]

Interesting tidbit there Jerry. Hadn't even occured to me.
Had my alignment done years ago, by some old timers, they probably were smart enough to have known this. Ever since the car has driven beautifully.

[elagache]

Dear Jerry, Iain, and mid-60 Buick owners,

I pulled these up quickly but this will get you in the right direction. The positive caster is the hard part with stock upper control arms. I'm sure there is more information out there but this pretty well sums up the basics:

Thanks for the overview!    I'll check to see if my wagon has been correctly adjusted!

Cheers, Edouard 

[GreatScat1965]

Glad to help. I pulled this out of a Motor repair manual. So it appears even from the factory the specs were different as radial tires became optional. AKA Radial tuned Suspension. This was actually from an early 70's Chevy but you get the idea.  :idea1

Thanks,
Jerry.

[Dr. Evil]

I did the Jeep Cherokee steering box conversion and couldn't be happier. Hector is a great resource too.
I made my own hoses, used a rag joint from an 83 c10 and my original Pittman arm. It's that simple. Woke the car up.

[Psalm65]

That makes sense Jerry. I appriciate it