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Re: '65 idler arm stud to center link fitment
Jimmy,
So the truck is my son's who has inherited my passion for classic cars and trucks but due to his medical profession has limited time for hands on maintenance and repair. I, on the other hand, am retired and free to play at my leisure. So I pulled it apart last night. There are many unknowns as this 65 is highly modified and upgrades performed are questionable from the POs: Power steering, disk brakes up front, etc., etc.
I can assume therefore that the steering components have been swapped out for God knows what GM era. The idler arm that was in place was surely newer and for sure correct for a stock 65. There is no evidence of wear to the center link's tapered mounting hole. I had an available 66 and up "Dog Bone" arm with mounting bracket and all appears to be resolved with a little bit of tweaking.
The idler arm stud to center link 'locks up' nicely. There are stock drilled holes in the chassis for the diagonal mounted frame arm. All of the geometry looks good. The only issue is that the grease fitting on the ball joint closes to the frame needs to be removed for the dog bone to pass under the frame when turning left. At that I would still like to have more clearance. I'm considering marking the area, take the arm out, heat up the frame and beat it to give me more clearance. Hope my approach works. I'll let you know.
John
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