First off this may be of interest if you have an "improved" car (1926-1927). My late '27 roadster pickup has always had loosey goosey steering which about 2 weeks ago became much more loosey goosey and started making loud banging noises matching up with a bit of jerkiness in the steering. In addition the spark and throttle quadrants started turning the opposite direction from the steering wheel. Accompanying this was a large sudden acceleration on left turns and a drop to idle on right turn.

Upon reflection I decided that this condition was sub-optimal and might merit investigation.

Checking down around the tie rod and environs disclosed no problems. Eventually I settled on the area pictured below.

This photo explains the bolt and nut I found on the floor of the T about 2 weeks ago!

The following may make the problem a bit more evident. A lot of effort on removing the remaining bolts allowed the following photos.



E-bay showed a replacement for $40 + a week or more to ship so I applied some hot glue with my acetylene glue gun:



Buttoned it all up:



Now the steering is tighter than I ever remember it being. By tighter I mean less free play in the steering wheel when a turn is attempted. I now have about 30° total (15° each way).

My post-mortem analysis is that the plates were mounted with 1/4-20 bolts which allowed some movement of the mount. I replaced the bolts with tight fitting carriage bolts and used large washers. The two firewall bolt holes had wallowed out enough that a 1/4" nut was able to fall through. This really cried out for a weld repair, but I shied away from applying the acetylene glue gun to the firewall with all of the combustables in the vacinity. by using correct fasteners the movement of these pieces was eliminated. I feel that the failure was due to constant movement and repeated flexing of the part over the last 20 years I have owned the car, and possibly longer.

This is an area I would suggest be added to your pre-drive inspection list.

IMHO, TH

"- some hot glue with my acetylene glue gun".
I do like that!

You going to be around this coming week?

Wayne,

I should be. I can't go anywhere as I am buried under a mountain of old spokes.

TH

I also like the hot glue with the acetylene glue gun...that beats the hell out of 2 tubes bought at ACE hardware and calling it welding and the miracle cure.

I have had several 26-27 T's with the same defect in the steering column bracket and that seems to be a weak point for some reason. I would also suggest you check the body to frame bracket on the cowl as they seem to break in tandem.

Great post Terry,

Regards,

Tim Moore