Classic/Antique Car Repair: 65 T Bird check valve on Power steering, lower ball joints, rod bushings

Question
Hello Dick,

Thanks for your time in advance, I have a 65 T Bird, 390 with PS/PB.  I have put on upper and lower ball joints, new tires and rims, new master cylinder and brakes, new tie rod bushings and had it alligned.  she still pulls to the right.  It started with a small pull but has gotten worse.  I noticed that when the car is started, the steering wheel pulls to the right approximately 1/8th of a turn, (to the right) (when the car is sitting absolutely still), it there some type of P/S check valve that could be failing and causing this? is the valve internal to the P/S Pump?, or could it be in line and a seperate unit, please answer soon as I am pulling my hair out in clumps and soon will be completely bald! thanks again for any ideas you might have

Answer
You can do a simple test yourself to sort out whether this is a mechanical problem in the suspension or alignment, or (which is more likely, considering the starting up problem you noticed), a problem in the control system for the power steering system.

Find a safe place like a big parking lot where you can drive the car on a flat, level surface for a short distance with the belt removed from the power steering pump.  

First, make the test drive with the pump running, then stop and repeat exactly the same drive with the belt removed.  The steering will feel really difficult and sluggish, but pay attention to the pulling to the right symptom, and ignore the other lousy feeling in the steering.  

If it still pulls to the right with the belt off, put the belt back on and take it to where you bought the tires and ask them to swap the right side tires with the left side tires - If that makes it pull the other way, you have a bad rim or tire - probably a belt is misaligned inside one of the tires, and there is no cure for this other than to replace the tire, but you might make it much less bothersome by swapping the front tires to the rear - it won't bother the car so much back there.  Next time, buy Michelins!

If swapping the tires makes no difference, the problem is in the alignment - take it back to the alignment shop and hold their feet to the fire until they fix it.   

There is a remote possibility that the automatic brake adjusters are dragging the right front brakes, also.  You can jack up the front end and spin the front wheels manually to see if there is any drag, or if the shop put the new brakes on, just let them handle it.

Back to your test:

If our guess is right, when you took the belt off, the pulling went away.

The problem is inside the control valve, which is in the steering hardware, either in the gearbox or the spool valve - and in either case, it has to go to a professional to be fixed - these are extremely tricky to work on and very dangerous if you screw up, so let a pro take care of it.  Your alignment shop may be willing to try to tackle it, but more likely they will pull the offending part and send it out to be rebuilt.  Bring money!   The problem is not in the power steering pump - all that does is provide the oomph - it doesn't know which way to push.

Dick