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Slop in Steering Wheel Solution

J

jonward786

Member
So i have PS in my 68 and needless to say there was A LOT of slop in the steering wheel, a good 3+ inches...not fun on highway in windy weather. i was reading about what to do about it and this is what i did:

loosened the set nut on top of the steering box and then loosened the slotted screw. while the car was on i turned the wheel all the way to the right, tightened the screw to the point where i could BARELY feel it come into contact with the linkage then tightened the nut back down.

slop in steering is gone! but what im wondering is: was that backyard's bob solution or an acceptable way to solve the problem? i dont wanna cause problems down the road.

thanks in advance

Jon
 
Be advised that there is a procedure in the FSM for adjusting the steering gear bearing screw, which is what you adjusted. The correct procedure is to do so at the middle of steering wheel travel (i.e. straight ahead) and measure the torque to move the steering wheel of about 7-14 inch-pounds.

That screw is highly sensitive and you can easily damage your worm gear in the steering box by over-tightening it.
 
Yeah, you're going to burn out your gearbox like that.

The better (but not best) way to do it is to disconnect the steering linkage from the pitman arm, and adjust the screw until there's just a little bit of resistance right at the center of the wheel travel. The way you did it, there's not enough clearance between the worm and sector gears. You end up with no slop, but you also put a lot of wear and tear on the gears when you turn the wheel.
 
Mine's broken, actually. Roommate has a couple, though. Why do you need it? If you're referring to the proper way to adjust the box, per the FSM, that's a different style of torque wrench. The ones most people have on hand are click-type. To check the torque required to rotate the steering shaft, you need a dial-type torque wrench. The shop at Cuesta has one, but I can't borrow it.
 
oh well, its already done. i just guestimated it, gave it a little snug in the straight position, feels better now. wheels return to center by themselves out of a turn and slop was reduced slightly. its all good now
 
With the pitman disconnected from the steering linkage, right? If so, that's all I did to mine. Seems to work well, and no extra slop after a year of driving it like that.
 
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