71 Lemans front turning issue
 

I am new to this forum so please excuse stupidity for now...I have a 71 lemans sport convertible and I'm doing pretty much everything to it...I ran into a problem today with the suspension..it turns 2 and about 1/4 turns from side to side ...the problem is the passenger side wheel turns a lot more than the drivers..while the left side looks as if it turns the proper amount...when you bring it back to the drivers side stop,, the wheels are only turned a tiny bit.it has drop spindles 2" ..1" drop springs and 17" wheels...everything is new..but the diameter of the drag link..tie rods etc..are larger than the factory ones I replaced...I had to use the factory idler arm because the one in the kit was slightly different and would not work...if anyone has any suggestions or have had this problem in the past...any help would be much appreciated. thank you

Are the steering knuckle arm lock stops touching the control arms as they should when you have the steering maxed out in both directions?

I am not real sure what the steering knuckle arm lock stops are.. but I will check the passenger side and see if anything touches..the driver side ..I am sure nothing touches..turned all the way to the stop ..the wheel is turned very little

when the wheels are straight the pitman arm looks like it is pointing to the gas tank...I might just tear the front end back down and re assemble it..I got the steering wheel in today and that is how I discovered something was wrong.

See photo below. Those little tabs on the steering knuckle arms are what (in theory) limit your steering travel, not the steering box itself. The tabs should make contact with the lower control arms when your steering angle is maxed out.

https://i.imgur.com/ijV1NO7h.jpg

not perfectly..no..it it is pointed slightly at the driver door...(the problem side)

Just a guess based on the minimal information offered. You said you could not use the pitman arm in the kit, so I assume you had the original one off at some time. My guess is the steering gear was not centered when you reinstalled the pitman arm. I would remove the pitman arm again. Then turn the steering wheel all the way to the left and right and center the steering wheel. Then make sure the front wheels are pointing straight ahead. Then install the pitman arm.

It does not appear that they touch...

That sounds like a good idea..but what other info do you want or need? I could write you a book ..but this is the problem right now.

not the pitman the idler arm would not work..pitman is fine and factory

Is that idler arm not holding the center link level?

It seems to be fine..it rest the center link slightly above that lip on the crossmember and does not rub..it steers smoothly ...just not correctly..haha

That's a good clue. It should be pointing straight back towards the rear of the car.

Hey Thank you and ZeGermanHam for the advice..gonna break it down this weekend...I did assemble everything down there without a steering wheel..or body so it makes sense the pitman arm is probably not centered ..it is very nice to find a place to bounce stuff off of people that know

Also make sure the intermediate shaft is clocked correctly to steering column spline. I had this problem on my 68 Lemans. Someone before me assembled wrong.

Sorry I didn't get back in a timely manner. Have you found/corrected the issue?