70 Amx steering story

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   Well thought I would share this story for anyone who might be interested. Have had this car for over 30 years now but in the last 10 years or so I noticed the steering getting ever so light. Couldn't  seen the feel the tires on the road, of course through he years have had many front end alignments. It really didn't don om me until I picked up anther 70 amx with the same power steering setup and it drove great, had the road feel. So as time went on did some research and discovered the 70 went to the variable steering box, the so called one finger steering and the 69 did not have that. So I found a 69 pwr steering box had it rebuilt before installing, of course close ratio and it did help some. The steering was off about a 1/4 turn so it was time again for a alignment, forgot to mention I had it aligned before the new gear box. So decided to go to someone else this time, I actually took the service manual this time and asked to put it to factory spec's and not what he had, which he did. It dives fantastic for a 49 year old car. I got the tire feel once again. Very pleased.
Just thought I would share the old school book, no generalized computers then.
Take care
Rod

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rodhhrod Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AMC Addicted Joined: Jul/11/2010 Location: Oregon Status: Online Points: 1040	Post Options Post Reply Quote rodhhrod Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: 70 Amx steering story Posted: May/11/2019 at 10:13pm
	Well thought I would share this story for anyone who might be interested. Have had this car for over 30 years now but in the last 10 years or so I noticed the steering getting ever so light. Couldn't seen the feel the tires on the road, of course through he years have had many front end alignments. It really didn't don om me until I picked up anther 70 amx with the same power steering setup and it drove great, had the road feel. So as time went on did some research and discovered the 70 went to the variable steering box, the so called one finger steering and the 69 did not have that. So I found a 69 pwr steering box had it rebuilt before installing, of course close ratio and it did help some. The steering was off about a 1/4 turn so it was time again for a alignment, forgot to mention I had it aligned before the new gear box. So decided to go to someone else this time, I actually took the service manual this time and asked to put it to factory spec's and not what he had, which he did. It dives fantastic for a 49 year old car. I got the tire feel once again. Very pleased. Just thought I would share the old school book, no generalized computers then. Take care Rod

tomj Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AMC Addicted Joined: Jan/27/2010 Location: earth Status: Offline Points: 7553	Post Options Post Reply Quote tomj Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: May/12/2019 at 11:12pm
	quantify "feel" on a scale of 1 to 10, eh? lol. that's pretty funny. that one finger' power steering thing never made sense to me. some time in the 70's we drove a friend's mother's Chrysler Imperial Tuna Boat to upstate new york, i was all over the road driving it, it was like the steering wheel wasn't connected to anything. i dislike power steering entirely. i hate the noise, the leaks, the complexity, and mainly the feel. i used to put wider-than-stock wheels and tires on, not paying any attention to geometry, and just put up with the terrible steering effort. more recently than i'd like to admit to, i started paying attention to that -- i bought 7" steel rims (for a car that came with 4") but made the effort to order with the offset to put the tire patch under the "kingpin" (sic) tire patch and lo! what a difference. easy manual steering! glad you got yours straightened out! (lol, pun unintended). yeah, correct alignment, the factory made some effort to get that stuff right. power probably necessary with the fast-ratio box too. nice.
	1960 Rambler Super two-door wagon, OHV auto 1961 Roadster American, 195.6 OHV, T5 http://www.ramblerLore.com

304-dude Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AMC Addicted Joined: Sep/29/2008 Location: Central Illinoi Status: Offline Points: 9082	Post Options Post Reply Quote 304-dude Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: May/13/2019 at 11:21am
	Gosh, even back when I had driven a 68 Galaxy 500, and 65 Buick Riviera, both were soft on steering, but Ford was a bit softer than the GM steering, and from what other Mopar peeps talk about, the Mopar steering is the worst of the bunch. So, all in all GM steering was the better option by AMC. I bet back then they knew better by leaving it well left alone on any changes later on. Though, i had standard steering on my 71 Javelin, and power on the 73, I was happy with the power steering specially when I rebuilt the steering components. Both cars had a sports steering wheel, which is smaller in diameter than the earlier steering wheels.
	71 Javelin SST body 390 69 crank, 70 block & heads NASCAR SB2 rods & pistons 78 Jeep TH400 w/ 2.76 Low 50/50 Ford-AMC Suspension 79 F150 rear & 8.8 axles Ford Racing 3.25 gears & 9" /w Detroit locker