Alignment shop says sleeves are too long...

[charles messler]

I just rebuilt the whole front end on my 68 fury with most parts bought from a-resto parts in Utah and a pitman arm and Gabriel shocks from autozone. The owner of the shop I took it to said that the tie rod sleeves are to long to set toe in right and bring the steering wheel to center. What am I missing?

 

[polara71]

New sleeves or the originals

 

[charles messler]

I got new sleeves and they are the same length as the old ones. I also checked the sleeves on my 71 fury and they seem to be the same length

 

[polara71]

It sounds like he's missing something. Is he a good trustworthy shop or a random shop? Not sure how that can be.

 

[Big_John]

Are there threads showing on both sides of the sleeves? If so, you should be able to shorten them up.

One tie rod end is left hand threads and the other right hand threads. Turn the sleeve and it either expands or contracts. If this guy doesn't know this, find another shop.

 

[polara71]

That's where I'm at

 

[charles messler]

I figured it out. The pitman arm made by rare parts from Taiwan has no master splines in it. Figured out where the pitman arm needed to be on the gear box splines and now I have adjustment on both tie rods.

 

[charles messler]

I had the fury aligned yesterday and now it drives great.

 

[Justin Patton]

I just ran into the same thing. Changed all the rubber and ball joints on my 68 300 and the shop I took it to said the sleeves are too long. I guess I will cut them the sleeves on either side and put them back on. Then back to the shop for alignment. I have the stock pitman arm on, but the car is lowered about two inches.

 

[mr. fix it]

Did you accidentally switch the tie rods and sleeves left to right side?

 

[Justin Patton]

I don't know.....I didn't know there were specific sides. The only thing that was labeled left and right were the lower ball joints.

 

[mr. fix it]

check the lengths. I had a similar issue with my Polara. I ended up flipping the tie rod assemblies to get that extra 1/4" I needed to center my system.
Another thing to keep in mind.
If you removed the pitman arm and it doesn't have a double wide centering spline it could be out by a notch

 

[Justin Patton]

Ok great, I’ll give it a shot. Thank you Sir!

 

[MrMoparCHP]

I just checked my parts books, the C-Body used the same ONE parts from 66-73, if I read it correctly it should be 8-11/16" long.

No left/right numbers given.


Alan

 

[mr. fix it]

I just checked my parts books, the C-Body used the same ONE parts from 66-73, if I read it correctly it should be 8-11/16" long.

No left/right numbers given.


Alan

thanks for checking this Alan.
I wonder if my car had another mechanic messing with mine..

 

[Gerald Morris]

I bought my kit from A-Resto-Parts also. Glad to see another fellow come to this Forum using their kit. It's not bad, for the $$. I filled out some stuff w Moog's top line stuff. I did the driver side last week, and plan to do the passenger side next. My greatest difficulty was disassembly of old parts which had chemically welded together over some decades. I centered up by taking the tie rods all the way IN, and Tilly is steering better than she did when I bought her, as I had hoped. Once I do the passenger side, I'll have a shop alignment job done, though I've learned plenty. Be this as it may, I lack the level, square ENVIRONMENT of an alignment shop and the specialty tools. Being an AARP member, I get a nice discount.

BTW, the tie rods I got from Andersen measured ~8 5/8" + a hair, so I suspect that hair is close to 1/16". If you want a decent budget package, I guess they're OK.

 

[charles messler]

FYI I found that if shorter sleeves are needed that ones from 74-76 furys es440 moog are around 8 inches

 

[MrMoparCHP]

FYI I found that if shorter sleeves are needed that ones from 74-76 furys es440 moog are around 8 inches

Whereas that may be true, I did check the part numbers for the 74 at the time but with the original question being about a 68 I didn't want to muddy the waters.


Alan