Hi Guys, My steering wheel seems to have lots of play in it. So figuring it must be my steering box and maybe time for a rebuild. One guy said he doubts that it would help and it sounded like the box needs to be adjusted or the the marks are not aligned. I'm not really sure what he was talking about at this point. Can anyone enlighten me on this? thanks Gary
Thanks for the reply Jim. I assume you mean at the box but could you tell me how? Disconnect the box and just turn to see if there is play? Thanks
there is a setscrew on the top of the steering box help in place by a nut. u loosen the nut and use an allen wrench to tighten the screw (clockwise). try that before ordering a new steering box. and yes, there could very well be too much play in the idler arm, or tie rod ends, etc.
Starting at the steering wheel, does it have vertical play within the steering column? No, how about the shaft coming through the firewall? Make sure the area just under the brake master is securely fastened. While looking at the column, check the rag joint where the steering shaft meets the steering box as well as the bolts that snug the ends of the rag joint to the box and shaft. You can adjust the steering box but be careful. If you make it too tight, it will bind when you turn the wheel. Kind of bad when you are expecting it to self center. If it is worn that bad your only choices are rebuild or replace. The pitman arm is a non-wear item but the idler arm will fail before anything else in my experience. The lower ball joints and upper control arm bushings are the next likely candidates. Then the drag or center link followed by the tie rod ends. It sounds long but with a jack and 30 minutes you should be able to narrow it down to one or two problem areas. If it is very old on the last front end work, it may have several problems.
It can be any of the above named problems. I had sloppy steering in my 72 Ford truck and was told by the front end local shop that it might be some bushings in the trailing arms. They also told me that they couldn't find anything that was really wrong with my 65 A-body. Translation; we don't think you can afford to put that much money into an old vehicle, or we don't want to work on that old thing, all the parts are frozen together. My solution in both cases was to put my daughter behind the steering wheel moving it back and forth just as much as I felt there was play in the steering. What I found; truck had a bad rag joint and the A-body had a bad center link. If it is just one problem, and not a sum of a lot of worn parts, you will probably be able to see the sloppy joint. One final point that the front end shop did find, I had worn tires on the truck and when they rotated the tires half of the play in the steering went away. Seems the outer edges of the front tires had become rounded off. I will be replacing the tires soon, but they are a little spendy at around $800.
Thanks guys for all the great information. Just to let give some more info on my car...she has brand new tires...new upper and lower ball joints...no inner and outer tie rods...I will look st some of these things like the rag joint and box some more.
A lot of good tips above. Be careful with the adjusting screw on the top of the steering box. I did this to a 94 Dakota and had it about 1/4 turn too much and the wheel wouldn't return to center coming out of a turn. This did help the dakota a little and helped my 77 f250 a lot (manual steering on that one) Also check the idler arm. Mine actually loosened at the frame. (opposite the steering box).
You can probably see the rag joint from inside the car while you turn the steering wheel, about a 10th of a turn back and forth. Start there; you will see immediately if it is loose. Note that on these cars you will not lose steering if the rag joint breaks completely, because the parts overlap to stop this from happening. It'll rattle like crazy, but you won't be spinning the wheel like a cartoon character while sliding off the road, which is a good thing. Then, have someone watch while you again turn the steering wheel about a tenth of a turn back and forth. The pittman arm should move the instant the wheel is turned. If it doesn't, two things can be working against you- lash from wear at the worm and sector gear, or the box is just plain worn out. Lash in the sector gear is corrected by tightening the aforementioned screw. There is a torque specification (I don't have it handy) for this lash adjustment. The worm gear in the steering box is crowned (has a high area) for tighter steering and better road feel when the steering wheel is centered and the car is driving straight down the road. This avoids most of the road wander issues. If that lash turns out OK, the problem is elsewhere. In rare cases, it is possible that the pittman arm is installed one tooth off. It happened to me once. This will engender the road wander I mentioned. But that's really rare. I worked on cars for decades and only saw it once. Once you have determined that the lash is OK, but the steering is still unresponsive at the pittman arm, it's the gearbox. If the box is worn enough, you can even see the pittman arm move up and down when you turn the steering wheel left and right. Freaky. If there is that amount of wear in a power steering box, it'll be puking fluid everywhere, so if it has power steering and isn't puking fluid, then the problem is elsewhere. Lotta words there. Hope it helps.
Thanks for are the great suggestions. Just to update The rag joint does not appear to be the problem. Next time I will check the other suggestions out. Gary
