Re: More Steering Questions

Posted by Steve Watrous on May 15, 1998 at 16:57:17

In Reply to: More Steering Questions
posted by Frank Smallman on May 15, 1998 at 11:47:31

It's nearly impossible to adjust the steering box in the car.Our 31 coupe had nearly 3 inches of freeplay at the steering wheel.I tried more times than I care to remember to adjust the steering gear in accordance with the service buletins.I resigned myself to a complete overhaul.When I recently installed our rebuilt engine I pulled the staeering gear and was able to adjust the gear.I used a dial indicator to determine that I had equal lash one half turn either side of center.At first it was impossible to get equal lash.That's when you must adjust the sector to worm centralization (absolutely can not be done in the car as the eccentric rivet cannot be reached) once you tweak the centralization you must readjust for zero lash straight ahead and equal lash one half turn either side of center.On our box the lash worked out to about .025" either way but the exact amount will vary depending on where you apply the dial indicator to the pitman arm.The important things to strive for are: zero lash at center with no binding through the whole range of travel. Equal lash at one half turn each side of center.THE FINAL RESULT OF ALL THIS EFFORT WAS APPROXIMATELY 3/4" OF LASH AT THE STEERING WHEEL WITH NO OTHER CHANGES.You can't imagine how great it feels to drive when the car goes exactly where you point it and don't have to chase it all over the road.It's a tedious procedure, but the results are more than worth it.Hope you have good luck with this.
Regards,
Steve

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