The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Steering Wheel Slop, where do I start

Joe, in case you've never taken one of these steering boxes apart, please let me explain how they adjust just a bit. The sector gear meshes with the ball nut rack and the movement of the nut rack causes the sector gear to move back/forth in a circular fashion. The ball nut rack has 3 teeth which mate with the 5 teeth on the sector shaft. The ball nut teeth are at an angle so that when the sector gear is pushed in (adjusted and pushed further away from the engine) that angle causes these two parts to mate more firmly. The 3rd tooth on the sector gear (which is dead center) meshes tighter than the other 2 on each side of it...the high point. And as respects that sector gear if you pull it outward (move it toward the engine) it gets looser and if you push it inward (away from the engine) it gets tighter. The worm acts like a screw with grooves and ball bearings which mate with the ball nut rack. So when the steering wheel is turned, those balls, the grooves and the ball guides all work to make the movement of the ball nut rack smooth. If you need diagrams of any of this, please let me know.