How do you fix steering wheel play?

[prayers1 153]

I have the 16:1 stock steering box. The PO took off all the Power asst stuff so it's basically manual steering. When I center the steering wheel,

I can move the steering wheel to 10 & 2 o'clock postion without the tires moving. How bad is this and is there an adjsutment.

 

I've read that adjusting at the steering box can be very tricky and if done wrong it can be fatal.

 

Can I fix it or do I buy another.

[55Mach1 10]

Forget fixing yhr old box buy yourslf a new box from Flamming river or best yet get a borgeson ps conversio. It will be the best investment you make and your car will drive so nice afterwards. I think the bogeson is the best system compared to every single rack and pinion i have tried.

[70Mach03 12]

Forget fixing yhr old box buy yourslf a new box from Flamming river or best yet get a borgeson ps conversio. It will be the best investment you make and your car will drive so nice afterwards. I think the bogeson is the best system compared to every single rack and pinion i have tried.

 

I agree. A previous owned had installed a Mustang II rack and pinion on my '70 Mach some years back and I never really like it. It was a "real" system from a 1978 Mustang judging by the part numbers on the rack. I finally replaced it with the Borgeson system last year. I had to basically rebuild my old system to pre-Mustang II standards as some needed parts had been removed and tossed when the MII system was added. A steering link, pitman arm, and a few other parts were re-added. Also they don't make a kit for a 351 Cleveland. I had to get a aftermarket power steering bracket also.

 

The Borgeson system got rid of my bump steer problem, gave it more road feel, shortened the turn radius from the R/P system, and made my car more fun to drive. I'm a Borgeson fan and recommend it as a replacement for the stock system if you're not worried about originality.

[prayers1 153]

Borgeson is a little too pricy for me right now1

 

Nothing really wrong with the steering, just the play really bothers.

[55Mach1 10]

Did you ck the rag joint for tears? See if you can find a rebuilt box on an exchange i know NPD offers them or find someone local who can adjust. They can be tricky to mess with.

[bomccorkle 12]

Rag joint, pitman, and idler arms would be the main places to start. All of the recirculating ball linkage should be fairly rigid. Most of the time you can crawl under the car the start trying to wiggle things, when you find something that's it. There is also adjustment for the steering box but I have yet to fiddle with that.

[Cruzzar 22]

If the rest of your suspension is in good shape you might be able to remove some of the play in the box. Jack up the front end so the tires are off the ground. On your steering box you will find a threaded shaft with a nut locking it in position. Loosen the nut and you will be able to turn the threaded shaft and by doing so you will either tighten up the distance between the gears inside the box or loosen them some more. Do your adjustment and then turn the wheels lock to lock to see if your are making any improvement. Your box's gears are worn more in the center of the gears than at the extremes because that is where most of your driving is done. You may or may not be able to make any improvement by trying this adjustment. Adjust it a little and then turn lock to lock. You may be able to tighten up the box in the middle where the gears are worn more but have the gears get too tight at the extremes and have the box lock up. This is why you need to turn the wheels lock to lock after each adjustment to see how tight you are getting the gears. Once adjusted be sure to tighten the lock nut around the adjusting shaft when done. I hope this helps.

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

borgeson also sells just the gear box. I believe they refunded something like $80 if you returned a gear box. Not sure if they still do that.

[prayers1 153]

Thanks everyone for your input.

 

What increment of a turn makes a difference. I've read that you tighten by inches not pounds. So, is a 1/4 turn on the adjustment screw too much?

If I understand correctly, If I adjust too much for center play I can cause a bind at the extreme left or right.

 

I guess that's why I was freaked out when I was reading somewhere else how to make adjustment, but they didn't explain this way, which gives a better perspective on how far to go.

[prayers1 153]

Forgot to ask. Which way to turn the adjuster right or left

[LoneWolf2U 136]

Inspect steering system first, Have helper turn wheel left/right while you look at ALL of the componants.

Next loosen the locknut and screw the stud down till you feel slight resistence. Now watch the movement of the pitman arm to wheel as it is rocked left/right.

Your looking to have an almost instant responce of movement of pitman arm to steering wheel l/r.

Once you have this lock the nut down and check FULL left/right turns for binding. No binding and your done, Binding and you may need the box repaired.

[Lil John SVT 27]

My steering has tons of slack. Haven't had tine to track down what's wore on it. But I do know that if my steering is centered, it's hard to turn the wheel. I have p/s also. After you get past the binding part of the center it turns easy. I'm thinking the p/o tried to take some of the slack out of the steering thru the box and messed something up.

[Brian Conway 264]

A undercarriage inspection is a great idea and maybe a quick look at the Shop Manuals steering box adjustment instructions ? Brian

[danno 128]

When I was going through this, I put a huge C Clamp on the pitman arm (output linkage of the steering box) so it would not move. I clamped it to some part of the frame. Then I turned the wheel to see how much I could, so the only source of play has to be in the steering box and column. I have a tilt column, and they also can have play in the universal joint in the tilt part. With this clamped, I realized how much play I had, so I bought a new steering box. The new steering box was not much better, so I gave up on the factory system and went with the rack and pinion.

 

The factory steering in 1969 was just not very good. It is very difficult to get an old system to perform like the new ones. Better to upgrade.

[Mike65 475]

danno, which rack & pinion system did you use & how do you like it, & was it easy to install?.

[Ry-speeed 14]

I had the steering system off recently and opened up the box to inspect the gear mesh and bearings.

 

As Mach1rider desribed, CW on the threaded stud "tightens up" steering box play and CCW loosens it. The Ford shop manual describes setting the adjustments to a maximum inch-pound drag reading throughout the steering's lock-to-lock motion. The proper adjustmented measurement is so small it would be difficult to measure without a dial-type inch-pound torque wrench. Also, this adjustment is also supposed to be done with the pitman arm disconnected from the center link/control valve.

 

If you can isolate your steering slop to the box and suspect it is worn internally, you've got nothing to loose by tightening it down some, but if the gears are too badly worn, no amount of adjustment will remedy the slop.

 

I ended up buttoning my box up too tight and having to re-adjust (loosening off some), but am personally accustomed to R&P and wasn't happy with the slop.

 

Also as noted, this system is antiquated, and expecting it to behave as a new car's system is an unfair comparison.

[Lil John SVT 27]

Which r&p is a good replacement for our 69's? I'm leaning towards this instead of throwing money into the stock steering and not have the sloppiness disappear.

[zudman 11]

Prayers...Sorry if this is a hijack but, I too have some play in my steering wheel that I believe is in the box, I can live with it for now. Guys, at what point does it become a saftey concern ??. Thanks T.Z

[buening 63]

Prayers, as already mentioned be sure to verify where the slop is occurring. My mach has slop in the box, whereas my fastback has a ton of slop in the control valve. Many times these old steering boxes have grease that has hardened after all of these years. If you have the time, it may be beneficial for you to open up the steering box and remove the old grease and refill and adjust the box correctly. Its not as simple as adjusting that top nut until the slop is out. An AMAZING website for all things mustang steering is stangersite: http://www.stangerssite.com/

 

From within that link, a few helpful links:

 

http://www.stangerssite.com/CanISteeringBox.html

http://www.stangerssite.com/KnowSteeringBox.html

http://www.stangerssite.com/adjustment.html

http://www.stangerssite.com/lubrication.html

[prayers1 153]

Slop is only in the Steering box, all else is tight. NO Power Asst, was removed prior to purchase.

 

At first, I did visit Stanger's site. It does have a great wealth of information, in fact that's what scared me at first. I probably read too much.

 

I will try the adustment at the steering box and as others said if that doesn't work it might as well replace or get the box rebuilt.

 

A member here dropped me a PM about a Guy who rebuilds steering boxes, I spoke to him this evening and he wants $195 for a complete rebuild. I still think that's kinda high. What do you guys think?

 

 

I will first try the adjustment at the

[Tgriffin91 27]

If the rest of your suspension is in good shape you might be able to remove some of the play in the box. Jack up the front end so the tires are off the ground. On your steering box you will find a threaded shaft with a nut locking it in position. Loosen the nut and you will be able to turn the threaded shaft and by doing so you will either tighten up the distance between the gears inside the box or loosen them some more. .

I would count the threads before making changes in case you can't get it any better and need to put it back how it was. Just a suggestion.

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

A member here dropped me a PM about a Guy who rebuilds steering boxes, I spoke to him this evening and he wants $195 for a complete rebuild. I still think that's kinda high. What do you guys think?

 

 

guessing something like $45/hr and $75 in parts. That's about 2.7 hours of labor. Assuming it's actually repaired (i.e. the shafts correctly repaired, not just new seals and gaskets...), it sounds good to me. I would spend 2.7 hours just thinking about it.

[prayers1 153]

I see that Stangersite charges $145, that's a little better.

[buening 63]

Fair warning, stanger is SLOW and there is a thread on the VMF about him having peoples parts for years and couldn't get him to answer his phone or emails. I'd use his website for info, pull the steering box, and either open it up to inspect the worm shaft and others or just refill with grease and properly torque the adjustment nut as he mentions. Just cranking down the adjustment nut on an old worn and dried up box will just apply more pressure on the shafts and further wear them down. In a year or so it'll be back to where it was before and even further from repair. My 0.02

[prayers1 153]

Thanks for the heads up. On his site, I believe the $145 was for an exchange.

 

This is one that I'd have to really think about on which way to go.

Maybe I'll just do the self adjustment and then wait until this Winter where I can get a new one.

I appreciate everyones help!