1959 Power Steering/Centerlink

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LAckerm
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2020 2:25 pm

1959 Power Steering/Centerlink

Post by LAckerm »

Hello, Just bought a 59 sat in the desert 30 years-- nothing ever been updated--history unknown. I inspected the power steering valve and slave cylinder, valve had 1/2" movement and cylinder looked leaky, old. Pump looked good no leaks. I have a local steering rebuilder near me so I bought everything to renew the power steering. The idler arm also had movement- so I replaced the bushings. I bought a 59 Thunderbird shop manual so I'd have an idea where things belonged, what was correct. My new power steering control valve seemed identical to the new one I bought, brand new. The slave cylinder also looks the same, I ordered new slave cylinder steel lines-- I don't yet have those. My old control valve body was so tight into the pitman arm I had to remove the pitman arm and heat it, then beat it until it finally broke free. My old power valve stopped about 3/8" from the end of the threads-- so I planned to screw the new one to the same spot. In the shop manual it says the ball/socket of the control valve body must be 9.5" ctr to ctr with the nearest inner tie rod ball/socket. Except it wasn't. It was almost 11 inches. So I screwed it all the way onto the centerlink until it bottomed. Now it's 10 1/4" as far as it will go. It is also 10 1/4" from the center of the idler bushing to the other inner tie rod end bolt. So that suggests it's centered. Except the shop manual says 9.5". So, does anyone know if they had different centerlinks? My centerlink without the valve on it, is 25 3/4" end to end. Center idler bushing to center valve body ball/socket is 26 7/16". Company I bought my valve from says 58-59 use the same valve, 1960 is different. Except I can't verify if my centerlink is correct, no part numbers on it. Can anyone verify the size of the centerlink or was there a later modification to the shop manual where the 9.5" went up to 10 1/4"?? I replaced the valve with one that looked the same, I'm hoping the centerlink is correct, hoping the alignment guy doesn't tell me everything is wrong. Also hoping the 2 steel lines I ordered from Mac's are the right length-- if they're too long-too short I'll know there is a problem. I can also buy rubber hoses to the slave cylinder-- anyone have these problems? Anyone Understand? Thanks.
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