Factory setting is as follows. With notch at 6 o'clock and steering wheel cross shaft at 9 and 3 o'clock, and tie steering wheel in this position. Then adjust wheels straight ahead by turning the tie rods on both wheels. The pitman arm will only go on one way as it has a large notch to line up. Drag link has to be adjusted before any alignment can be done. There is more to do also on the steer ing box also. Walt.

Thank you Walt.

I've determined that the notch and Pittman arm are centered together, nothing off there.

There was a little binding in the kingpins, which have since been replaced.
I can't find any other binding in the system.

I did find more slop on the left side.
By grabbing the wheel at 2 and 7 I have about a quarter inch of play.
Difficult to say as I'm checking this alone, but it seems to be either in the steering arm to spindle assembly (which appears very tight, or the kingpin/bushings, which were just replaced, and don't appear to be moving much at all.)

Is the steering arm to spindle assembly connection a tapered fit-bushings-other?
This area showed a lot of slop in an earlier check. It showed to be the upper and lower outer A arm bushings. While apart we replaced the kingpins/bushings (that is when we found the binding in the kingpins).
The amount of slop remaining is similar to what showed before this work, even though a lot of play was eliminated.

Rob

I'm sure you are doing it, but that's usually best as a two man job, i.e., one to move the tire back and forth and the other with eyes on the inside looking to see where the movement is. You've been through the whole nine yards with this front end, so keep in mind that you could have a little play in the wheel bearing, or the hub could just not be tight enough. Sometimes people get lazy and don't put the cotter pin back in and the nut backs off or sometimes it just isn't tight enough to begin with. I've always tightened, spun the wheel, tighten a little more, spin the wheel and when you can't move the wheel anymore, back nut off 1/2 turn, make sure wheel can free spin and put cotter pin back in. Might want to try this and then do your wiggle test again, just to eliminate the possibilities.

The wheel bearings in these Hudsons are Timken roller bearings, not ball bearings like one would find in a Chevy, etc. This means you can dial in this front end like no other car on the road.

Rob,

My '51 Hudson manual says: "Adjustment of the worm gear for end play is accomplished by removing or inserting shims between the worm cover and housing".

Checking for end play is done with the front wheels off the ground.
Turn the steering wheel about one turn to the right from the center position.
Place one hand around the steering tube with side of finger barely touching lower edge of steering wheel.
Have a helper shake the front wheels hard sideways.
If the steering wheel hub moves away from or against the finger, there is end play.

Per

Per,

I got 2.75 degrees between marks, 11 degrees total.
Numbers were 9.75 inches, and 1 inch.

Rob

Russ,

Interesting you should mention that...

Yes, I usually have a helper, but being a holiday...
The wheel bearing on that side is snug. I have tried to tighten it, and always "pre load" them when putting the hub back on.
With the nut as tight as I can get it, the wheel just starts to drag...slightly (it won't lock up, maybe another clue?) but it doesn't affect the looseness. You can still grab it at 7 and 2 and get a lot of movement.
Doug suggested using a hardened washer as a shim to tighten the nut to the closest hole. I believe he was telling me how to turn the nut tighter when the cotter pin wouldn't line up, but maybe he had something else in mind and I didn't "get it"?

Thanks for the tips, I think I'm doing it right, but at this point would be happy to say I goofed/forgot/missed something so I can move on to other systems!
I'll have a buddy by tomorrow to help me check it again.

Per,
Thanks for the quote from the book. We did that test a couple weeks ago and it checked out fine.

Keep the tips and procedures coming 🙂 ...surely I must have missed something... :unsure:

Rob

Rob,

That's great. Right in the middle of my range!

I'm glad there's no end play, so your box is working perfectly. I guess you should remove the steering wheel to put it on to have the correct position when going straight.
The play you are getting wiggling the rim is a mystery. Maybe you need two helpers, to try to find movement somewhere that is hard to see?

Per

Rob
I'm glad you have the steering box dialed in. I won't go through that. Please bare with me even though you have checked everything. I'm going to list the procedure I used in my alignment shop to find worn suspension/ steering linkage parts for the benefit of those who have never done this before and may not know how and what to be looking for.
Have a helper to shake tire while you look for what is loose.
I only jack up one side at a time as close to outer end of lower control are as possible while not interfering with pivot point or tire movement. That keeps the control arm closer to normal ride height and where pivot points wear the most. Remove the upper control arm bumper so as upper arm drops down it does not touch it. Pretty sure it will, it did on my Hornet, I had to let the jack down to remove bumper and lift lower control arm up again..
Remember the road is not gentle with suspension parts so don't check gently. you won't hurt it.

I grab tire at close to 12 & 6 o'clock position and shake in and out HARD, looking for loose parts at locations listed below.
1. check upper control arm inner & outer pivot points for loose bushings or worn inner shaft.
2. check lower outer control arm pivot bushing. Unfortunately with spring tension on lower arm you can not shake it to see if inner shaft bushings are loose. Probably ok if always lubed regular . But if upper bushings are bad the lowers are probably bad also. If you can see the busing is offset on the control arm inner shaft, the busing is worn oblong and the inner shaft has worn flatter on one side.
3. check king pins for looseness
4. look at top or bottom edge of brake backing plate to see if brake drum rocks in and out. If it does, that is a good indication of bad wheel bearings if bearing are adjusted .
5. put pry bar under tire, pry tire up and down & check for excessive up and down king pin movement and lower control arm pivot bushing movement. On other makes of cars using pry bar under tire will indicate bad lower ball joints.

Now put hands at 9 & 3 o'clock position to check steering linkage looseness. Shake ( HARD ). One front tire need to be on the ground when shaking tire for leverage against the parts.
6. check tie rod ends for looseness
7. check center steering arm, it should not move up and down very much. Better if no up and down movement to limit toe in changes.
8. check drag link loosness
9. check steering gear box looseness/steering box and wheel centered.

Let tire down, reinstall upper control arm rubber bumper and then do the same inspection on the other side..

Remember roads are not gentle, shake HARD. I once had a tie rod pin and ball pop out of the tie rod socket on one tie rod by shaking hard when gently they looked ok and I had been told they had been checked before and were ok. The socket was full of rust that help fill in the worn area.

Something I think may be a problem you are experiencing that you have checked. If the wheel bearings were loose , what happens is the wheel bearing needles wear out at both ends of all the needles. So even if you adjust the nut until it just begins to feel snug and the wheel moves it is because all the needles in bearings are now tapered thinner at both ends. So now the bearings rock on the bearing race surface. You can verify this after adjustment by moving wheel and watching movement between edge of brake backing plate and brake drum. The fix is to replacing both inner and outer bearings and races even if visually they appear good.
Needle bearings should never be run adjusted snug. They needles need slight clearance. New bearing can be ruined quickly if adjusted snug.
Adjust bearing until barely snug and back off nut to nearest cotter pin hole. Never tighten to get to a hole. The fix I use if the nut has to be loosened too much to see cotter pin hole, I place enough thin king pin shims between nut and large outer wheel bearing washer to install cotter pin. Most of the time one shim is enough.

I mentioned toe change earlier. That is a relationship where the steering arms, idler arm (center steering arm) and pitman arm are level with each other. If any one of these is higher or lower then the other and the center steering arm has excessive up and down movement the tires toe-in will constantly change as the car bounces up and down or whenever the tires are turned.

I hope I didn't leave something out and that this information will be helpful.
Lee O'Dell

Lee,

Your write up and information is very helpful, thank you! 🙂

I'll be able to find a helper today...

Rob

Latest report;

Had a helper this morning. Jacked the right front under the outer arm. Found a lot of play when grabbing the wheel at 2 and 7.
At first glance it seemed like a loose wheel bearing, but the play was also there when the tie rod end was pushed up and down. It almost looked like king pin issues, though they, and the bushings were just replaced.
We decided the best place to start was the tie rod end (also new). So tonight when I got off work I pulled the hub and wheel, then removed the tie rod end. The tie rod end was good. Next I turned the spindle assembly; is was free and turned very easily. Next was the steering arm; also tight, no play there.
That left the king pin and bushings...there was a little play, not a lot, but enough you could see, and feel it.
The next step was to stare at the spindle assembly and ponder over why this would be loose.
The answer left me dumbfounded...
When it was installed, the man greased it (I watched him do so) He did say I should grease it again soon to be sure it had plenty.
So, while I had easy access and I was pondering, I greased the kingpin.
After greasing, the play was gone... :unsure:
I put the wheel and hub back on and tested it again; just the slightest amount of play, what one would expect from a normal setup.
So, I greased everything else too. All I can think of is maybe his grease gun had run out and he didn't know it, or it had grease but ran out, or...
It is pouring down rain so it will be tomorrow or so before I do a test drive. I don't think this will solve all my issues, but it did help this one.

Each part we replace or rebuild helps a lot with getting the steering tighter and the suspension in tip top shape. We've come a long way, and the car rides and drives completely different from when we started. With luck we are getting close to the end, and I will soon have a Hudson that truly drives "like new". 🙂

Rob