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Steering box question

gtxno1

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What box was actually used in the AAR and the T/A in trans am series race power or manual can not find any info just curious thanks
 

Challenger RTA

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They are stamped as in the picture. also had a longer pit man and idler arm.

challenger ta steering box.jpg
 

Challenger RTA

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The 70-71 has a 1 1/8" pitman arm shaft. upgrade to 1 1/4" shaft longer pitmam arm and longer I think c body idler arm. If I find the number I'll post it.installed a remanufactured from advance auto until I get a chance to rebuild other one. With discount it was about $120.just give them another core.or pay extra.

20210617_093034.jpg


20210617_092733.jpg
 

70chall440

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Are you asking about the race cars or the production cars? The race cars used a manual box (at least the ones I have pictures of did).
 

ctaarman

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While the vast majority of AARs were sold with the quick ratio power steering, a few documented examples had manual steering.
 

70chall440

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They were manual. I have a binder of nothing but TA/AAR stuff that includes a bunch of pictures a guy took at one of the vintage races of an original AAR.
 

moparleo

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The production Trans Am cars were not the same as the race cars just like the production Superbirds were not the same as the track versions.
Similar enough for homologation but not to actually race with.
Race cars don't like the street very much and vice versa.
 

Challenger RTA

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Referring to what moparleo said. the track versions used manual for weight and power savings. ounces and fractional hp counted,for a few laps not 10,000 miles. The T/A I had and other street versions that I have seen. and AAR had power steering.
 

Racer Dave

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I was under the impression that the factory race cars had a different type VIN number? Mine is a regular production BS23J0B VIN. An "exception" car? I'm reasonably sure the manual box is original - I bought the car in 1975 with under 30K miles.
 

Mopar Mitch

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The factory-backed TransAm race cars only used manual steering.

The street TransAm cars had three options: manual, regular ps, or else the preferred optional T/A Fast Ratio ps (marked TA on the box)... and that option had a longer "Fast Ratio" Pitman arm (also marked "Fast Ratio"). The idler arms we all the same. Later, into the 71 model year, as you could still get the optional FAST RATIO ps on 340 Cudas and 340 Challengers, it became known that the idler arm was too short causing un-equal turning radius left-right. The corrected idler arm that matches the longer FAST RATIO Pitman arm is the same from a 70-71 big C-Body car... that is what should have been factory installed with all the optional T/A FAST RATIO ps boxes.

NOTE: No company -- Firm Feel, Hotchkis, PST or anyone else... ever "created" or designed the corrected longer idler arm to match the longer FAST RATIO Pitman arm. It always has been and will be the factory 70-71 C-body idler arm. And, this was exposed many long years ago in-print via the SIAC news letter (for T/As and AARs).. to use the C-Body longer idler arm. Furthermore, I had personal discussion with Chrysler/Mopar staff about the matter to confirm that they were aware about it.... all the way back into the early 70s.
 

VillaTA

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The factory-backed TransAm race cars only used manual steering.

The street TransAm cars had three options: manual, regular ps, or else the preferred optional T/A Fast Ratio ps (marked TA on the box)... and that option had a longer "Fast Ratio" Pitman arm (also marked "Fast Ratio"). The idler arms we all the same. Later, into the 71 model year, as you could still get the optional FAST RATIO ps on 340 Cudas and 340 Challengers, it became known that the idler arm was too short causing un-equal turning radius left-right. The corrected idler arm that matches the longer FAST RATIO Pitman arm is the same from a 70-71 big C-Body car... that is what should have been factory installed with all the optional T/A FAST RATIO ps boxes.

NOTE: No company -- Firm Feel, Hotchkis, PST or anyone else... ever "created" or designed the corrected longer idler arm to match the longer FAST RATIO Pitman arm. It always has been and will be the factory 70-71 C-body idler arm. And, this was exposed many long years ago in-print via the SIAC news letter (for T/As and AARs).. to use the C-Body longer idler arm. Furthermore, I had personal discussion with Chrysler/Mopar staff about the matter to confirm that they were aware about it.... all the way back into the early 70s.
I was just going to write a post about this. My T/A has a standard steering box, but whoever put the front end on added a fast ratio pitman arm. It steers WAY too quick. I want to put a standard pitman arm on the car to determine if this will reduce the speed of the steering. My alignment is bad as well...car wanders all over! I was unsure about whether the idler arm needed to be replaced as well. Sounds like if it is the stock idler, it will work with the stock pitman arm. Is the classic industries part #2835880 the correct piece? Is there a better part I should be using?
 

Mopar Mitch

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I was just going to write a post about this. My T/A has a standard steering box, but whoever put the front end on added a fast ratio pitman arm. It steers WAY too quick. I want to put a standard pitman arm on the car to determine if this will reduce the speed of the steering. My alignment is bad as well...car wanders all over! I was unsure about whether the idler arm needed to be replaced as well. Sounds like if it is the stock idler, it will work with the stock pitman arm. Is the classic industries part #2835880 the correct piece? Is there a better part I should be using?
VillaT/A -- the idler arm number you gave, per Classic's web-site, is simply the standard length idler arm (not the longer C-body/fast ratio idler arm).

Further, you can tell if the pitman and idler arms are correct for geometry IF the steering crosslink is straight or else at an angle... angled means the arms are not equal length as they desirably should be.

You say that the steering is way too fast... what do you mean by that? The fast-ratio really isn't even all that fast... simply adding the longer pitman arm (marked FAST RATIO regardless of the source ...) is what makes the steering a little quicker.

Many newer modern vehicles of today have steering that is dramatically faster than the old Mopar T/A Fast Ratio.

What year is your power steering box? What is the size of the pitman arm spline?

There are aftermarket fast ratio pitman arms with different size splines -- small 1.125" vs large 1.25". The larger diameter pitman arm only fits the T/A box, as well as 1973 and newer ps boxes.
 

VillaTA

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By fast, I mean that minor movements produce drastic darting of the car. It is disconcerting at higher speeds. Without two hands on the wheel, it will invariably pull, especially when there are ruts or bumps-and require constant correction in the tracking of the car. I discussed in my own previous post. I don’t mean to hijack this one. My steering box is stamped 2267262. My current pitman arm is stamped 10031-103. I also bought with overresized tires. Just hoping to avoid a full steering box rebuild. Maybe I need to look into the shimming suggestions as well. Alignment is a must also.
 

Mopar Mitch

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By fast, I mean that minor movements produce drastic darting of the car. It is disconcerting at higher speeds. Without two hands on the wheel, it will invariably pull, especially when there are ruts or bumps-and require constant correction in the tracking of the car. I discussed in my own previous post. I don’t mean to hijack this one. My steering box is stamped 2267262. My current pitman arm is stamped 10031-103. I also bought with overresized tires. Just hoping to avoid a full steering box rebuild. Maybe I need to look into the shimming suggestions as well. Alignment is a must also.
Sounds more like an alignment problem.... also, extra wide tires (50-40-35-30 series) typically grab the crowns of the pavement and then introduce darting. The Toe-adjustment is critical, as well.

Also, IF you have negative caster... then that is another whole new story... you want positive caster... factory setups barely allow positive caster... so.. plan to eventually change the upper control arms.. yes a hassle and a time consuming and with some expense (pending the parts source)... but very well worth it!
 
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