'Bout Studebaker Jerry Blount

 Although there were some changes through the years, the basic

steering geometry of Studebaker passenger cars was the same

from 1951 through 1966.

They featured a center steering pivot, with a pair of equal length

tie rod assemblies left and right. Each tie rod assembly was

approximately 24 inches long center to center, and could be

adjusted as required by unclamping and rotating the connecting sleeve. (Rod with clamps in Studebaker Chassis Manual )

Each set of tie rod ends had one right hand thread and one left

hand thread, so rotating the connecting sleeve would easily adjust the rod assembly to the final required length.

The assemblies used on 1951 through early 1962 cars used a

530203 End (Right hand thread) and a 530204 (Left hand thread).

The corresponding coupling sleeve (Rod) 527977 is 21-1/4” long,

and each end is 3-7/64” long.

The RH threaded end, according to the Chassis Manual, is

supposed to be outer right and inner left, and the LH threaded

end is inner right outer left. Of course in the lifetime of a car these

might have been swapped end for end, so if someone wants to

buy one end only, I have them tell me RH or LH thread, not outer

right, etc.

Then, in mid 1962 a change was made, still using the 530204

short end LH thread, but the RH threaded end, 1554236 was

19-7/8” long. This combination used a 1553703 coupling sleeve

(Rod) that was about 4-1/2” long. This particular combination was used through the 1963 model year.

Then another change for 1964 models. The short end was now

1561767, LH thread, 3-7/8” long, and the long end, 1561769, RH

thread, was 19-1/8” long. This set continued to use the 1553703

sleeve (Rod)Today, the 530203/530204 ends are readily available fromStudebaker Parts Dealers. 

The 527977 sleeve is technically a non-wear part but can be occasionally be found bent, so should be replaced. When I sell to repair shops, they will typically buy these new so they don’t need to take the time to clean the old parts.

The only part that is not readily available is the 1554236 long end

as used on late ‘62 through ‘63 models. In this case, substituting

the 1561769 long end/1561767 short end as used on ‘64 and later

models will replace the tie rod assemblies used on late ‘62

through ‘63 models.