Last night I misjudged a large landscaping boulder because it was covered with a light snow and it was still snowing when I attempted to go around it. I was barely moving when I sideswiped it, throwing my jeep to the right and scattering my newspapers. It just about dislocated my elbow in it's violence.

I crawled under it and looked it over. Nothing bent or broken, the front fascia was scuffed but intact and no damage to the tire or rim. Driving, it's stable and straight with no wobble or brake pulsations, BUT the steering wheel now is 90* off from straight! Is it possible the steering shaft turned on the coupling? I have a re-man gearbox I am going to put in because the original one was worn out with 210K miles on it and some slack in it as well. I do A LOT of three-point and U-turns on my paper route so it gets a workout all the time anyway.

I did notice my minimum turning radius to the right has increased, but I haven't tried it to the left yet. If I can just get the wheel straight so my turn signals cancel and I can read my gauges, I'll be good until I replace the box.

Thoughts please.

 

I had a similar incident with my old 76 trans am firebird. I lost control when I hit a slick patch going around a 3o mph curve at around 60 mph and jumped it through a ditch. couldn't see any damage except the spoiler but the steering wheel was cocked on it, turned out all but one of the bolts holding the steering box to the frame had snapped and the box had shifted. I replaced the bolts and didn't even have to realign the front end.

 

I'm headed up to my buddy's shop in the morning to check it out on the lift.

 

My buddy who owned a garage retired and sold his shop a few years ago. He had one bay set aside just for our personal projects. We built a lot of hot rods in that shop over the last forty years and I sure miss having that bay to work in. I have a pretty good basic shop of my own but it has no lift, pipe bender, tire machine, etc. At my age and physical condition crawling around under a vehicle on a creeper gets harder every day and some jobs just demand a lift to accomplish.

 

For $1400, you can buy an Eagle 2 post 9000 lb lift. All you need is a good concrete floor and enough overhead to fit it, and 220 VAC.

I found out what I broke! I bent the drag link, the one from the pitman arm to the right front wheel. The end joint has a bend built into it, so it bent the adjusting tube. Buying the parts locally cost me $160 and he had it delivered in 2 hours. The same Moog parts from rockauto including shipping (Fedex ground) would have been $80 and 2 days. I'm still going to replace the steering gear just because. 210K miles and it's making a clicking sound.

 

That beats the heck out of a broken frame. I was kind of thinking the whole differential unit might have slipped and shifted sideways. I have been thinking about buying a lift but my slab floored 2 bay shop doesn't have the roof height to handle one, and my outdoor roofed over shop/hanger doesn't have a cement slab to hold a lift So a lift would end up costing me the better part of six to ten thousand dollars to get up and running. I'm not an active mechanic anymore so I can't justify spending that kind of money on something I wouldn't use but a couple of times a year.

I would like to do one last build though. I been looking for a 66 Chevelle body to make a hot rod out of but haven't found one locally yet for a reasonable price.

 

My mechanic buddy does the on-line auctions and he just bought a 67 Dodge Coronet with 67K original miles on it for $600. It needs interior work, but the body is good. He has to get it transported from NJ because it doesn't run. From the pictures, I told him it looked like a hurricane victim, but he doesn't care. He's got a buyer already who wants a shell for a drag car.

 

That's a good price for a 67 coronet body in good shape. I spotted a mid 60's 2 door Belvedere out in a field the other day but I really want a 66 chevelle SS. A 65 would be ok, it's basically the same car, but I can't find either one anywhere around here. I think I have my charger sold and if the deal goes through it will more than pay for a good body and frame. edit to add: I'm not looking to build a track car, just a good quick semi daily driver with about a four hundred horse small block and Muncie 4 speed transmission.