Steering wheel slop - how to fix?

[440beep]

My '69 Super Bee with power steering has quite a bit of slop/play in the steering wheel. Was going to get the car aligned, but before the guy would align it he felt the steering wheel slop and said I should fix that first before getting an alignment. He looked at the power steering gearbox and pointed out that on top of the gearbox was a nut and a flat head adjusting screw. Will this adjusting screw tighten up the steering wheel slop or is there something else I need to do? Everything in the steering components is tight with no slop.

TIA!!

 

[Dennis H]

Firm Feel Stage 2.

 

[Mogre]

Steer and gear in Ohio. Replace the box or have yours rebuilt. Excellent customer service. Very worthwhile upgrade.

 

[Cmmopar]

Firm Feel Stage 2.

X2... Excellent box, I had them powder coat mine too.

 

[bm02tj]

find out where the slop is then decide what to do

 

[440beep]

Seems all the slop is in the steering wheel. The steering wheel freely moves an inch or two to both sides when I touch it for play. There's no slop in the actual road wheel.

 

[YY1]

Do you have a rubber "biscuit"?

In between the box and the column?

My 73 had about a degree of slop, which I thought was just the old box.

Turns out that rubber/fiber "rag joint" biscuit is split and that is the slop.

Cheap, but kinda hard to locate.

In 74 they got larger and are the same as ford and truck parts.

 

[Moparsmitty]

You can get under the hood and turn the steering shaft as it comes out of the tube in the firewall and sometimes get an idea of where the slop is. The steering box itself has two adjustments, the adjustment screw that you described on top of the box and an adjustment ring around the input shaft that has a locking ring holding it in place. You need to get a factory service manual for instructions on adjusting the box. It's not really complicated but it needs to be done correctly for your own safety and to not damage the gear itself.

 

[69Bee]

Seems all the slop is in the steering wheel. The steering wheel freely moves an inch or two to both sides when I touch it for play. There's no slop in the actual road wheel.

With the engine off, and you have 1" to 2" of play, that is fine. The play is in the sector & worm shaft of the PS gearbox. I believe the service manual gives 2" each direction for a normal adjustment. When the engine is running, you do not feel the play. Hell, I had about 8" of play when the pump wasn't running, and made driving the Autobahn pretty exciting, and parking was fun too... Pulley mismatches kept blowing hoses and pumps, so I went to a manual gear when I returned to the US (pre-internet).

The fella that told you to adjust the steering play first was probably a youngster that has never aligned anything but a rack & pinion car. They should use a bar that holds the steering wheel centered, and do the alignment.

 

[440beep]

Hmmmm....I've got the FSM and its not really clear how to do it. And the funny thing is the diagraphm of the gear box shows the nut and screw but there's no explicit identification of it; everything else is identified. And the adjusting instructions mention what I think is the adjusting screw; but really not clear cut in the FSM what that adjusting screw does. If I mess with that screw on top what does that do? I'm assuming turn it clockwise to tighten things up?


And the fella that told me about the adjustment screw was probably over 50 I'm guessing.

 

[CoronetDarter]

When I bought my Dart the steering slop was scary - 45* before there was any action. Turns out all three bolts securing the box to the K frame were loose. Torqued 'em down and eliminated almost all the play. Doesn't hurt to check the obvious first.

 

[krowbar]

My 67' coronet has a good amount of play in the steering wheel without the pump running. When the pump is operating the steering is pretty tight.

 

[absolutfrase]

Check your steering coupler. I've a '67 b-body, & I had some slop in the steering. Turns out the steering coupler body just "stretched" & the shoes in the coupler wore. I bought a new coupler body & rebuild kit for the insides- all is well. Tightened up the steering nicely.

 

[69Bee]

It is easier to feel the adjustment of the sector shaft when the steering column is disconnected from the coupler. Loosen the nut on top, and turn the screw until you feel a tight spot when turning the coupler. Then loosen until it goes away, and tighten down the locking nut.

 

[440beep]

So I grabbed the steering shaft right above the gear box and it has a ton of slop of in it, I can turn it side to side at will. So I'm assuming the gear box has the slop in it. Will adjusting that top screw take some of the slop out? I see myself getting the Borgesen gearbox here soon.......

 

[miller]

All your talking about, on that adjusting screw/lock nut on top of the box, is adjusting the gear backlash. Pretty simple, as long as there's no other unknown problems. Gotta hope no bad wore parts, or the like. Their pretty tough boxes, as long as treated right.
Get into the service manual, and look it up. Will tell you the correct way to adjust it. Probably take longer to read about it, than making the adjustment. Look over everything else on the steering, good to go.

 

[Gone]

A new gear box will help; however, you're not going to get it all out...it's just the way these old cars are. Steer and Gear or Firm Feel are good sources for a gear box. I went with Steer and Gear and can hold my Bee on the road with 2 fingers on the wheel.

 

[Dennis H]

Firm Feel. Stage 1. Stage 2 next time. Straight at triple digits.

 

[slepr1]

What was the fix on your problem? I had my manual steering box rebuilt and not one difference is noticed in the play. With the car parked, I can turn my steering wheel 8" each way before the tires move. When turning the steering wheel those 8" I notice the steering box input shaft turns as well. When I had the steering shaft out, the rag joint looked in good condition. I don't enjoy driving the car too much when its like that.

 

[eric383]

If you want to try adjusting the steering box loosen the nut and only turn the screw 1/8 of a turn at a time. Then give it a drive and see if there is any difference. If you have gone too far with the adjustment the steering wheel will not return to the neutral position as it normally does. Give it a try cause you have nothing to loose. Of course these old cars do not drive like a rack and pinion car. Good luck.