I need help with some clearance issues that I'm having on my cuda. I just finished installing all new hotchkis adjustable upper a arms, adjustable strut rods and steering rods, qa1 lower control arms, firm feel 1.06 torsion bars, pst manual steering box, and moog pitman arm. The centerlink and idler arm the same ones that I had on the car originally and the k member is original, but it was sent to al debevec for a factory hemi mount conversion. The centerlink is not sitting level and is higher on the drivers side, the heim joint on the steering rod on the drivers side is barely clearing the torsion bar and with any movement, it will most likely hit it and the drivers side tire hits the upper control arm when turned all of the way. The centerlink also hits the oil pan on the passenger side withbthe steeringvwheel turned. I'm not sure where to even start to fix this since just about everything is new. The steering rods were adjusted to the same length as the originals. The car isn't aligned yet, and with everything just bolted on I expected a few issues but nothing like this. I'm not sure if its the new pitman arm or if the idler arm and spacers are installed correctly or not. I'll post a few pictures to show what it looks like.

.

.

.

The lower ball joints were also changed and the front tires are 245/60/15s so there not crazy wide to where the would hit the upper a arms.

Anyone else have a problem with how this brake line is routed?

Yes. And why would the bumpstop go into a void?

As for the center link, disregard the oil pan for now. Are the link ends parallel to the torsion bar centers?

The steering box can be shimmed or the idler can be egged to correct the discrepancy.

But, do you have an E body K to begin with? 66 to 70 B are very similar but IIRC mount the box at a slightly different angle.

I bought a new front brake kit so the brake lines and calipers are coming back off. They're just installed for now until I can get the steering and alignment finished and the brakes are being swapped out. I asked the guy that did the conversion if it's the same k member that I sent him and he insists that he sent back the same one. I questioned this as soon as I got it back.

Uneven center link orientation was common enough back in the day that the Direct Connection books had several paragraphs and a diagram on how to address it. I thought I might have a picture of this, but I can't find it at the moment. Maybe someone else can pitch in with that. As Ruderunner says, you can shim the steering box and/or file the idler thru-bolt mount to allow it to move to the proper angle, then weld a positioning washer to the bracket to lock in its position.

Much easier to do without the engine in, but you might be able to perform this by only removing a header.

I don't think the bump stop goes into a void so much as that is an odd angle for the picture. The bump stops are considerably shorter than stock, so it isn't as easy to see where they would hit, but one of the other pictures shows this is lined up where it should be. QA1 has been making these long enough that everything should line up just fine.

Ok, I'm just wondering if it's something with the new parts because everything fit together perfectly with the original parts and it's still the same centerlink and idler arm

Nothing with the new parts would impact this. I'm betting since everything fit together fine previously, you never noticed this mis-alignment. Especially since the OEM tie rods did not have a big bolt head that was close to contacting the torsion bar. Most people don't notice this is not perfect until their motor mounts get old and mushy and the engine drops down enough to contact the center link or they swap the engine and don't notice the tolerance in the bolt holes that allows the engine to sit slight unlevel and suddenly contact the center link, or they swap in larger t-bars and now the tie rod end hits.

Now, if they removed and re-installed the steering box, that could create this issue. Especially if a small shim fell out and was not re-installed.

Like I said, this was a very common with factory assembly tolerances. I think every classic mopar I've owned has had this issue to some degree.

Looks like I was wrong. There are a more than couple of paragraphs of this.

Sounds like a problem on the driver's side. Do you have the original steering box and pitman arm to compare?

I have the original steering box and pitman arm but I swapped from power to manual steering. Are the pitman arms the same between power and manual? I've read that they are and they aren't.

The center link will hit the pan when the steering wheel isn’t centered when the tie rods are set. I don’t think it’s as big a deal with a stock pan, but a milodon takes up more space and you encounter this.

I’m wanting to say the pitman is the same for both boxes, but it’s been years so don’t quote me.

There is no way you could have the original steering box AND swap from power to manual steering.

As for the pitman arm size, depends on the year of the manual box. Early ones used a different size pitman arm, later ones same as power boxes. Not sure about truck boxes though.

I meant I can't compare them side by side. The car was originally power steering and I swapped in a new manual steering box

Oh, you have the original box, not installed. Ok, makes sense now.

You aren't going to be able to put a small sector arm on a large sector box and a large sector arm will be sloppy loose on a small sector shaft, you'd know if it was wrong.

Both boxes that I have are the large sector, I just didn't know if the geometry or length was different between the power and manual

I'm no sure if PST is selling a manual box that is aftermarket or refurbed original unit. I believe Flaming River is making new manual boxes which may be sold by other distributors.

What we don't know, if this is aftermarket, is if the plane the box bolts mount to are identical in relationship to the input angle of the steering shaft. If this is different even a fraction of a degree, then it could change where the angle the box sits on the mounting plate, which will create a different position at the end of the pitman arm. In any case, a couple of shims on the top bolts should drop the pitman arm angle down to a better position.

Info I have is from the MP Chassis manual. Earlier versions would be Direct Connection Chassis manual.