The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline I think I destroyed my steering box!

You all may recall my issues with a severely shaky front end in my 58 Suburban from several months back. Problem turned out to be very out of round front tires. I believe the previous owner left the Burb parked next to his house for a quite a while. Got new front tires and problem was solved.

Aside from the tire shake at high speed, the truck always drove great. No free play in the wheel, didn't pull one way or the other and stopped straight and true.

Around that time someone suggested that adjusting the pre-load on the steering box might help with the shimmy. I followed the procedures in the shop manual. I loosened the large ring nut on the bottom/front of the steering box and then tightened the large flat adjuster. I think I may have overtightened it.

Well, what started as a rock solid steering is now all over the place. I've developed almost a half a turn of free play/slop in the wheel. The truck will dive to one side or the other going around a corner or on a crown in the road. During my vacuum gauge driving test on the highway it was borderline unsafe.

I'm disgusted that I "adjusted" a perfectly good steering box into something unsafe to drive. Does anyone have any ideas? Can I "readjust" it somehow to tighten it back up? Do I need to rebuild it? If so, is that a hard job?

Help!! I can't take this white knuckle driving.

check your steering linkages well for slop and worn joints, isn't necessarily the box

Bill

I don't think that your adjustment caused your present trouble. If that bearing is failing and loose, you can tell by pulling up on the steering wheel. If it is loose, the wheel will move up with a clunk.

From your description it sounds like you adjusted the worm shaft preload. That adjustment seldom needs to be touched after initial set-up. It is possible by over tightening that adjustment you could have broken the thrust bearings????
The only adjustment that is most commonly needed is on the three bolt side cover. It has a lock nut and the adjustment is done with a screw driver in the end of the bolt.
I would do as suggested and look at the rest of the components first.

The unit is pretty simple. Nothing to be afraid of at all. The rebuild kits are $65. If you have not driven it much since you adjusted it, it is probably OK. You said you followed the procedure. I used a fish weighing scale to measure steering wheel torque. Anyway they last forever because there are no Rev's or RPMs on the bearings. The huge worm gear does all the work. If you adjust both places again and check all the items listed by previous posters, you may be OK. Keep in mind these are fairly easy to find at $25/up, used, if you broke something and need a part. I think 57-59 is same column length and 55-59 same box parts. You must adjust these boxes in a certain sequence. It's just an end play/pre load adjustment of the worm shaft/bearing and a lash (or backlash) adjustment of the sector gear (fancy name for not a whole gear). They like you to do it all on the bench. The gaskets are easy to make and you can mix up your own lube if you do take it all apart and clean.

Bartamos;

I just went back and re-read the shop manual. I did the worm bearing adjustment last time, but I didn't disconnect the steering connecting rod or loosen the the lash adjuster lock nut/screw. darn!! I'll try again. I'll also do a complete once over on the steering components.

Hopefully I can recover. I have a sinking feeling that I somehow ruined the bearings. I'll keep you posted.

Hope you didn't damage bearing, don't think you did. As said, there are a whole lot of components between the steering wheel and the king pins. It is not real easy to find something when the weight of truck is on the wheels, things bind and seem tight sometimes. I really don't know the proper way to check all the linkage/joints. Also be sure to adjust the wheel bearings per instructions. I've never had a TF that didn't "wander" a little with stock steering.

The shimmy most likely exposed a warn tie rod end or Pittman arm. Possibly a worn spring bushing. Unless you put a lot of pressure on the screw you won't break a bearing. My money is on a worn part. You can readjust the box and look at one part at a time. I like to get a helper to sit in the truck. They wiggle the wheel while I look at each part to see where it gets sloppy. I do this with the truck on the ground. It will expose the worn part rather quickly. Helper can watch for the steering wheel moving in and out of the column. If it all looks good then check those king pins. You will need to lift it for that. Don't forget wheel bearings as well. The shimmy is putting more force on those parts than you can.

All;

Problem solved! When I set about to try and fix the loose steering I discovered that the large ring nut on the bottom end of the steering box that locks in the worm gear adjustment had worked loose. It was allowing the steering box to basically unscrew itself. I got the shop manual out and followed the complete adjustment procedure step by step in order. I even went and bought a scale to do it right. Now its back to the way it used to be. Straight and true down the road with no wondering or play whatsoever. All the remaining steering components seem pretty tight and based on the way it drives I think I'm done.

Is there any way to lock that nut in place?

Thanks for all the help.

When I was working on airplanes, we safety wired everything. Just drill a small hole in one of the tabs of the nut, and use a piece of bare steel wire to connect it to a handy bolt head or other lock point. I believe if you tighten the nut firmly that won't be necessary, but it's always an option.
Jerry

You mean you don't have a spanner! I don't either. (Brits call every wrench a spanner) Tighten with a large channel lock then tap it around another 10-20 deg with a screw driver and a small hammer, using the notches in nut....or tap it all the way around if no big channel. A pipe wrench with screw it up.

Another free fix! Good on you.

Bartamos;

That is basically what I did. I tapped it home with a ball-peen hammer and a large cold chisel in the notch. I'll put it on my weekly maintenance checklist. If it starts to back off I'll try Jerry's idea with some safety wire.

Perfect.