I was helping a friend work on his 62 G code Galaxie today. We were putting some steering parts back on. When we tightened down the nuts on the idler arm, the idler arm was very hard to move. The rubber bushing is compressed pretty good. We can loosen the nut some and it moves much better. My question is... how tight are you supposed to tighten the nuts?

I told him I would ask about this on the Ford FE forum. So he asked me to also ask about the Z bar. Is there supposed to be bushings on the brackets (1 on the motor and 1 on the frame I think) that the Z bar mounts between? If so, does anyone sell them?

Thanks,

Dave Coleman
Greenfield, IN
1962 Galaxie 500XL
1963 Galaxie 500XL
http://www.62Ford.com/GalaxieLinks
http://jamesthornton.com/wp/display/378

I will try to check in the manual about the idler arm although I don't want any loose nuts on the steering of any car.
The Z bar swivels on plastic rings that are attached to the pivot balls. Have him use plenty of grease on both ends.

Is it a factory Ford idler arm? I know somebody (Moog maybe?) made a ball bearing idler arm kit for older Fords, which I would imagine wouldn`t want to be really tight, or it would bind up the bearings. As for the cluch linkage, I don`t know when Ford switched to the plastic bushings, but my 57-59 Fords had 2 piece bronze or brass bushings on either side of the Z bar.

428 powered Fairmont drag car, Best ET:10.03@132.11MPH, best 60 ft: 1.29
59 Meteor 2 dr. sedan 332, Ford O Matic
74 F350 ramp truck 390 4speed

I'm at the office so I can't get to my ref books. There are torque specs for all the steering parts. If you don't get the answer here just go to the library and use their Chilton or other books for reference. Torque to the mfg specs (lube where req'd)and key everything. The arm in the steel sleeve/rubber bushing is pretty tight to turn by hand.

Hey Rory, I run the "Moog parts you mention. Really nice on a manual steering Galaxie. Very hard to find kit nowadays though. I had a problem with the lower bearing dropping balls out on one of them.

I'll torque the idler arm to specs and see how it moves. I also found the plastic bushings for the Z bar in Auto Krafters catalog.




Dave Coleman
Greenfield, IN
1962 Galaxie 500XL
1963 Galaxie 500XL
http://www.62Ford.com/GalaxieLinks
http://jamesthornton.com/wp/display/378

A FEForum friend of mine in Calif buys all the plastic bushings, felt washers, etc from his local Ford dealer. My local dealer doesn't stock any of them and wants a LOT of money for them if he orders for me. So I buy them from my friend in Cal. You should check your local dealer for prices before buying from Auto K.