<March 16, 1999>
Today I took Bloo to the local tire store for an alignment, and everything seemed to go fine. After the alignment, I thought she was steering even better than before. It got rid of a slight wander I still felt in the steering. So anyway, I was so happy, I decided to drive her into town for lunch with the hubby. We were just going through a drive-through, and when I started to pull away, the steering caught, and I almost hit the building. The rest of the way out I had trouble steering and getting it in gear. The steering seemed to have a rough spot where it was binding, and the tranny was giving me trouble all over the place. We limped home, going slowly to make sure we made every curve or had time to stop if it looked like we couldn't.
When I got home I had my husband help by turning the wheel while I watched. Finally I put it up on jacks and watched from the top and bottom as he turned it. To my surprise the rag joint on the steering column is hitting the clutch equalizer bar (the piece that pivots when you step on the clutch pedal). They are hitting and getting in each other's way, which explains the binding and the shift problems appearing at once.
<Looking up from underneith>
<Looking down from the top>
Now, I must admit I've never taken a good look at the equalizer bar before, in fact I only know what to call it because I've been reading up about it in the shop manual this afternoon. But it doesn't look right to me from underneith, there is a big felt washer I can push around with my finger, and things look loose. And from the top I can see where the rag joint is hitting the curved bar, and I know that's not right because I've rebuilt the steering enough to know it's all in the right place.
So this must be my next project. Obviously I can't drive it until this is fixed. Stay tuned...
Update March 31, 1999
Well, I removed the equalizer bar, and it's bent. Apparently these things happen after 30 years of stress. Metal fatigue sets in and even thick metal parts can bend out of alignment. Maybe it's been getting worse and it finally became intolerable.
In the picture above, the end on the right should be flat on the table, if it weren't bent. It's got about 3/4 inch to an inch bend in it. I elected to buy a new bar instead of heating and bending this one back. I think it's time to retire this piece. I called Sacramento Mustang and should have it by this weekend if I'm lucky. It's spendy though, it's an $85 part. I hope the new one lasts another 30 years!
Final update: I got the parts. I ended up replacing the rod and pivot also, because the rod was bent and the pivot was very worn. With all new parts under there, I hope it'll last another 30 years. It was a real bear to install though, and occasionally required an extra set of hands.