Shimmed the K-Member - A few more questions

[cdr]

on the steering column there is a large plate that it goes through & the plate bolts to the fire wall, it has 4 or 5 bolts, the bolt holes in the plate are larger than bolts, loosen these to let the column move down. yes the alignment is off & could cause the non centering steering.

[XH29N0G]

Thanks,  I will revisit the steering column bolts.  I only loosened two bolts when I made the swap.  I must have missed some or loosened the wrong ones. 

[Troy]

If you adjusted the torsion bars at all you threw off the camber/caster in the steering. It either won't center or it will be super twitchy. Always realign after touching the ride height.

Troy

[XH29N0G]

Thanks Troy.  That revelation hit me a day ago when I started to better understand the suspension geometry and how it works.  I have an appointment to get the car aligned and am now just waiting for that and looking forward to driving it. 

[469 runner]

Won't lowering K-member put your torsion bars into a bind?  You will essentially be having them bend to work the change in angle.  Also, the steering box is fatter towards its middle. This barely clears the frame rail. Now you will have it against the rail. Seems easier really, and definitely cleaner to modify the trans tunnel I think.

[green69rt]

Won't lowering K-member put your torsion bars into a bind?  You will essentially be having them bend to work the change in angle.  Also, the steering box is fatter towards its middle. This barely clears the frame rail. Now you will have it against the rail. Seems easier really, and definitely cleaner to modify the trans tunnel I think.

As for the torsion bars, there is some slack in the fit of the torsion bars in the rear socket.  If you just stick them in and the k member is not installed the end that goes in the k member will hang down at some angle.  So, lowering the K-member (only 1/2 inch) probably won't change the TB action.  If you tried to lower it 2 inches then you'd probably have a problem but that much change would also introduce so many other problems nobody would do it.

[Mike DC]

Won't lowering K-member put your torsion bars into a bind?  You will essentially be having them bend to work the change in angle.  Also, the steering box is fatter towards its middle. This barely clears the frame rail. Now you will have it against the rail. Seems easier really, and definitely cleaner to modify the trans tunnel I think.

As for the torsion bars, there is some slack in the fit of the torsion bars in the rear socket.  If you just stick them in and the k member is not installed the end that goes in the k member will hang down at some angle.  So, lowering the K-member (only 1/2 inch) probably won't change the TB action.  If you tried to lower it 2 inches then you'd probably have a problem but that much change would also introduce so many other problems nobody would do it. Twocents

Yeah, 1/2" of shim isn't a whole lot.

Also, bear in mind that the torsion bars are springs.  

[XH29N0G]

Putting the 1/2 inch shims required me to back out the torsion bar adjusters to bring the height of the body back to the way it was.  I suppose it could put more stress on the torsion bars. 

I also had the car aligned.  The camber was set at -0.5, the toe at less than 0.05 and the caster could only get to about 1.5.  I dropped the wheel as described.  I found in order to have it dropped that I needed to loosen the 4 bolts on the firewall, the 2 to the plate that goes to the firewall, the three that hold the steering column up to the dash and the four under the column.  It then slid down slightly closer to the power steering box and I tightened them up.  I think it might have been binding a little after putting in the shims.  After the alignment and steering column adjustment it recenters better (not perfect at speeds less than 20 mph, but well at higher speeds) and the car drives well.  It reduced, but did not eliminate my driveline vibration.  I can now drive up to a little higher than 70 mph before it sets in, and that is only on deceleration.  It is now very smooth at 65 mph.

Thanks for the help.  This will work until I get back to it and try to fix it some more, but that will probably be 12 or so months from now.   

[cdr]

I found after the kframe drop, I had room to raise the tailshaft some, & then had to remove the leaf spring pinion angle shims to get the angles correct. SMOOOOOOTH & quiet. so now my pinion angle is at the stock setting.