[JHCain]

Greetings;

On my '69 Torino, I've had to use one of those "drop brackets" on my power steering cylinder to clear the headers.

Drove the car last night to dinner, and just as I was swinging the car around to back into the garage, THUNK. No power steering. I was able to back into the space, and peered under the car.

The bracket was broken, at the weld. Obviously, there is a lot of force at that joint, but just snapping off was not what I expected.

Any thoughts on these brackets? Are there "better" ones? I suppose it could be reinforced.. I'm hoping that a set of shorty / just plain better headers will allow the use of the factory bracket, but until then, I need to get this car back on the road!

Thoughts?

-Jim

 

[Cman]

Did it break off at the weld from the base to the actual drop down part? It probably wasn't welded properly from the manufacturer. If it broke clean then just reweld it properly and I would also suggest that you weld the base of the bracket to the frame where the 2 bolts attach the bracket. There's a lot of force there and sometimes if the weld doesn't break on the bracket the force of the PS system will actually pull the bolts out of the frame and you have the same problem.

Who made the bracket? I had the one from Hedman Hedders and it worked fine for my 78 Granada (408W with Hooker LT's) but I did weld my bracket right to the frame and attached with the 2 bolts. Before I got the chance to get it welded I would check those bolts every week and they would need to be cinched down so the force of PS does work the bolts loose.

Weld it and you should be good to go.

Tony

 

[JHCain]

Howdy;

Yup, it broke at the weld, cleanly. I got the bracket from Mustangs Unlimited, it wasn't in any packaging, so who knows who made it. I've seen the Hedman bracket, looks pretty much the same.. Perhaps of higher quality on the welds?

I hate to weld to the frame, but I totally see your point on those bolts. The extra leverage from the longer bracket really does put some strain on the mounts.

-Jim

 

[allenman85]

I added gusseting to mine and then it tore itself out of the frame. If you can still run the factory mount -- do it!. I ended up having to reweld the frame and then weld a support plate onto the frame and gusset the bracket -- and the factory mount would have worked.

 

[GregP]

I presume you need the bracket for header clearance.

On my '71 Torino, I went thru 2 of those stupid brackets, tore one out of the frame, and said "screw it" and put the factory iron bracket back on.

Sure, the steering ram was close to the header tubes, but it cleared, and I never had any more trouble out of it.

Might check to see if you can in fact still use the factory bracket on your car, too!

Greg

 

[JHCain]

Greg, all:

Brilliant suggestion.

My bracket broke, because it's obviously crap:

Oh, and the end of the cylinder rod bent, too. So I bent it back with a large wrench.

Found, cleaned, painted and reinstalled the factory bracket. I've got a little less than 1/2" of clearance between the cylinder and the headers. Plenty, I think. Works like a charm. I used a spare set of urethane sway bar end link bushings to make the connection.

Another shot of the broken bracket. Nearly zero penetration on the welds, nice craftsmanship. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did, frankly.

Anyhow, all fixed and back on the road!

Thanks,

-Jim

 

[GregP]

Jim,

Glad the factory bracket worked for you. In my opinion, whoever markets that drop bracket should be SUED!

They are ALL awful, unless you get SERIOUS with rewelding and gusseting.

Then, the frame breaks!

Lame.

Greg

 

[66GT289]

Ditto on the cheapie bracket. Never had one break,
but they are manufactured shodily and they work the
frame rail in a big way- sometimes enough to break it.
We used to re-use the original bracket but place it on
a solid block of steel and weld the whole thing to the
frame rail. Between the 1/2-inch thick block and
moving the whole mount forward on the rail, you
not only clear most header tubes but you get better
geometry for the steering ram. When the bracket is
in the original location, the ram is working at a funky
angle and moving the mount forward makes the
angle more advantageous and the ram's action more
efficient.
Using sway bar end links for the connection to the
frame bracket is another good trick that takes more
than 1/2-inch of play out of the rams' action.

 

[coolfalcon]

On 2006-04-11 19:26, allenman85 wrote:
I added gusseting to mine and then it tore itself out of the frame. If you can still run the factory mount -- do it!. I ended up having to reweld the frame and then weld a support plate onto the frame and gusset the bracket -- and the factory mount would have worked.

What he said gusset the snot out of it.

 

[Cman]

Good pics and I'm glad to see you got it taken care of and it's good now.

Tony