340 Crank Pulley and power steering help

[drew43a]

i have a 70 cuda with the 340 engine and when i put it together it took me a long time to find a combination of pulleys alt, water pump and double crank to get them to line up correctly with each other. the double crank pulley is a 2 groove and both are 7" in diameter. I am not sure if it is correct for the car but its what worked and lined up for me at the time.  So i am having an issue with the power steering in that the car has the most delicate touch steering meaning very responsive to the touch. I do have the smaller Tuff steering wheel on the car. so looking on ebay i see a double pulley that it says is correct for the 340 engine and others and  all the body types A,b,e.  His first pulley is 6-1/2" dia for the water pump and a 7-1/2" for the power steering. Can anyone tell me if that is correct? and if i change it to that my power steering pump would spin even faster. would that make the steering even worse then it is now?

[drew43a]

Oh well that didn't work so well did it?

[Shane Kelley]

I doubt it's a pulley issue. Factory Mopar power steering is very easy to turn and that's a often complaint about less road feel. Only one thing comes to mind. Alignment in specs?

[drew43a]

yes  had that done.  was hoping to get input on the pulley sizes and at least make that correct.  Thought i read somewhere someone making some changes to the box to give it more road feel. but cant find that now.

[71383bee]

Can you elaborate more on "delicate to the touch"?  Do you mean that the wheel spins freely with little effort?  doe it slam to one side versus the other? 

If so this could be an alignment issue with the pressurized input from the pump to the steering gear box.  IF it out of alignment it can literally rip the wheel out of your hands and send you into the ditch!  There is  an alignment procedure in the FSM that centers the pressure spring and valve setup. 

The stock power steering systems I have had typically are easy to turn and have a few degrees of "slack" for lack of a better term when centered.  Meaning you could swing a little each way when straight with out the car responding suddenly.  To be honest I think the stock systems work pretty well! 

[Scooter]

Sounds like an alignment issue... if the alignment was done to factory specs (for bias ply tires) it could make the steering seem touchy. Search the forum for the skosh chart, been posted a few times.

[drew43a]

I have the valve body centered correct, it dose not veer left or right it pretty much stays centered. there is no dead area turning the wheel. Its very easy to steer and you have to hold onto it while driving and constantly correct like the road is move around.  I dont have bias ply tires i have goodrich p235 60 R15's

[Scooter]

I have the valve body centered correct, it dose not veer left or right it pretty much stays centered. there is no dead area turning the wheel. Its very easy to steer and you have to hold onto it while driving and constantly correct like the road is move around.  I dont have bias ply tires i have goodrich p235 60 R15's

Exactly. The original alignment specs were for bias ply tires not radials.

https://www.allpar.com/threads/turn-of-the-screw-front-end-alignment-for-performance-on-classic-mopars.237041/#post-1085245454

[tparker]

A couple thoughts reading through the other posts. I have never heard of alignment so bad the car would jump into a ditch. Usually worn tie rods can cause the tires to wander and can make driving straight a pain. So that might be a thing to check. The other thing to check is the wheel bearings and other components just to make sure they are in good shape.

There are three main alignment components. Caster, Camber, and Toe. Your tie rods adjust toe in and out. The doesn't usually affect handling, it may cause your steering wheel to be off center a tad if both tires are adjusted to one side or the other. Camber is the relation of top to bottom of the tire. Both toe and camber mostly affect tire wear. IF you're racing, of course there are other issues, but you probably won't notice bad camber as you drive.

The last is caster. Caster is how the tire is angled off of a 90 degree line. Think of a chopper motorcycle with the LONG forks. That is a lot of camber. A sports bike has the tire close to vertical. Choppers are vary stable going down a straight line but suck at turning. The opposite for a street bike. Very nimble. This one could cause the steering to be a little too sensitive. I am not sure how much adjustment in the challenger will actually make a big difference or if it is just tweaking things.

Just some thoughts

[RUNCHARGER]

Any idea what your toe-in is set at?

[drew43a]

The car was converted to power steering and front disc brakes. So spindles and bearings are new, and the Tires are brand new. Alighnment was don at a Service garage and i told them to put as much caster in it as possible. and they also used the specs from the service books. Off hand i remember him telling me the could not get to the specs completely but close. i didnt think much of it at the time and didnt ask further.