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Legacy of JohnPro - PS drop bracket

S

sigtauenus

Active Member
As you know, my shakedown drive on my fastback has been driving back and forth to a MCA show here in VA Beach this weekend, roughly 8 miles one way from the house.

Today as I was pulling into the show I felt a tug on the steering as I was parking but thought it was a pothole in the crappy mall parking lot. This afternoon when went to leave, and I'm not sure why I thought to do this, but I leaned down and looked at my power steering header drop bracket and it had pulled loose from the frame. One of those T-nuts was still attached to the bolt but no longer in the frame.

I just did a search on Google for "mustang power steering bracket fix." The number one Google hit took me to an old VMF post where JohnPro gave the permanent fix:

You may have something else that caused it. Ripping that bracket off the frame should NOT have any effect on how the car handles, or have it "going all over the road". It will just mean that you immediately go to manual steering. I've been there, done that, twice in my daughter's car. First time it ripped off, the second time it snapped off and the base of the "drop bracket" remained attached to the frame.

The way I fixed this on my daughter's car was a royal PIA, but it will never happen again. There's a hole up above in the frame rail. I dropped grade 8 washers and bolts down through that hole and fished them out through the frame rails using magnets. The only way for her bracket to rip off again will be for the grade 8 bolts to fail or to rip GAPING holes in the frame rail. It was an all day project to do this, though.


Two things come out of this post. First off, although it may sound bad, its not catastrophic when it happens. I can still drive the car if I have to (won't, but if it happened on the highway or whatnot, I could move it to a safe location). Second, it provides the permanent fix without doing the drastic welding of the bracket to the frame.

I have no doubt that this is not an isolated incident. I will Google something 10 years from now and a JohnPro answer will help me.

Thanks John!

Edit: Not sure if this would help or not, but perhaps we could have a sticky topic of stories along the lines of "JohnPro helped me today." Might be neat for Tracey and those here who were good friends with John to see how his contributions continue to help people with their cars.
 
Re: Legacy of JohnPro

I remember that post well. I followed his advice, too, on Trouble.
 
Re: Legacy of JohnPro

I'm sure once I really start working on Gertrude, I'll have some "Johnpro helped me" posts!
 
Re: Legacy of JohnPro

As I read that, I too remembered it from VMF, but more than that, I could hear John's voice in my head! I could hear him as if he were telling me it at the bar at Knott's. In fact I think he did tell me that at the bar at Knott's when I was discussing the fact that my 65 needed a drop.

Mel
 
Re: Legacy of JohnPro

OK, spent a couple hours working on this last night. Although only one captive nut, or T-nut depending on what you call it, was ripped out by the steering, I decided to rip out the other one too.

I was able to fish out one of the bolts inserted though the oval opening in the side of the frame just above it, but I was only able to do that on the rear/lower bolt position (the frame rail is descending rearward in this area). The forward/upper bolt position is blocked off from the oval opening in the frame by the tubes inside the frame that support the mounting bolts for the gear box and the PS bracket.

So for that other bolt, how do I get it inside the frame? Is there an access hole I'm not aware of or do I need to drill one?
 
Didn't see one but might have missed it under the column as it is tight to see in that area with the power brakes and headers.
 
I had this happen once. If you can weld, the fix is pretty easy. I just took a file and filed the hole in a stop sign shape and then I took a bolt with the nut threaded onto it. I pushed the nut through the stop sign shaped hole and then welded it in place. When it cooled, I simply unscrewed the bolt and put the bracket on.
 
I think that's where I'm at with this. I already have a grade 8 bolt down through the side I have access to, I'll weld the nut up inside the other, and then I'm going to tack the bracket once its bolted in place. I'm not fond of "permanent" type mods like this, but just tacking the bracket in place will add to the holding power of it but can easily be ground off at a later date.
 
Actually to clarify, I filed the stop sign shaped hole in the frame from underneath and then threaded the nut on the bolt and then pushed the nut up through the frame from under the car and then mig welded it in place. If you leave the nut sticking out towards the bottom of the frame a 32nds or so, you can then grind it flush. No one will ever know and it is so much stronger than the factory tin nut that breaks loose.
 
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