I am rebuilding the front end on my El Camino and I bought all Autozone Duralast steering parts. anyway I'm using a fast ratio box with the g-body pitman arm installed.
the problem comes when I try to bolt together the drag link and idler arm. if i have the drag link bolted to the idler arm and the pitman arm then go to bolt the idler arm to the frame, the lower mounting point for the idler will not be flush againt the framerail. if i start tightening it down it puts stress on the balljoints of the idler and drag link because as you all probably know, those particular joints aren't designed to tilt, they should only have to rotate, but they are fixed perpendicular to the links they are mounted in. so just to clarify, there is about 1/4" gap at the bottom where the idler arm should bolt to the frame, and if i forcibly tighten it down, the linkage binds and will clearly cause premature wear on the idler arm, and could possibly break the ballstuds.
so either
a.) my frame is bent from the light wreck the car was in years ago
or
b.) the geometry is wrong on the autozone parts.
I ordered MOOG parts today from o'reilley to see if they fit better, but they won't be in until Wednesday.
what's weird is that the factory linkages all bolt in perfectly, but they are not excessively sloppy as you would expect if the frame was tweaked.
btw, is it normal for the GM factory idler arm to use a threaded shaft as the pivot point instead of a joint?
the problem comes when I try to bolt together the drag link and idler arm. if i have the drag link bolted to the idler arm and the pitman arm then go to bolt the idler arm to the frame, the lower mounting point for the idler will not be flush againt the framerail. if i start tightening it down it puts stress on the balljoints of the idler and drag link because as you all probably know, those particular joints aren't designed to tilt, they should only have to rotate, but they are fixed perpendicular to the links they are mounted in. so just to clarify, there is about 1/4" gap at the bottom where the idler arm should bolt to the frame, and if i forcibly tighten it down, the linkage binds and will clearly cause premature wear on the idler arm, and could possibly break the ballstuds.
so either
a.) my frame is bent from the light wreck the car was in years ago
or
b.) the geometry is wrong on the autozone parts.
I ordered MOOG parts today from o'reilley to see if they fit better, but they won't be in until Wednesday.
what's weird is that the factory linkages all bolt in perfectly, but they are not excessively sloppy as you would expect if the frame was tweaked.
btw, is it normal for the GM factory idler arm to use a threaded shaft as the pivot point instead of a joint?
