The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop motion at pitman arm

I am putting my streetrod together and I reached down and moved the disconnected pitman arm. It moved slightly, so I took out my dial indicator and measured it. it moved .025inch. Is this normal or not? This is on a 93 S10 frame. I am using the s10 power steering. Should I try and adjust it for 0 play or is that acceptable? Dave

I would hunt down a '93 service manual and see what the spec's are for that gear box. I would imagine thats a little to much movement.

Mine is pretty tight.

.025 is not much. But it REALLY depends are where you took the measurement. If you measure any arm that rotates, the distance is much greater farther from pivot point. But I'm not sure you are talking rotation or up down or sideways. .025 is really small nevertheless. If you mean one end is still attached to the box and you are measuring rotation, you are measuring all the gear backlash. No sweat.

The steering box must be at the center point to have no slack, assuming you're measuring rotation, not vertical slack. There should be NO slack up and down. Count the turns from lock to lock, split the difference, and adjust the sector preload so there's a 10 inch/lb. rise in turning effort of the steering wheel shaft as the gear moves over center. That should eliminate any rotational slack.
Jerry

I am still all in pieces right now. Yes it is rotational not vertical. Thanks all. Dave

Great advice guys, I managed to turn it stop to stop and then centered it. I now see .005 to .006 radial play. I feel a lot better about that, should I still try to adjust for 0 play? Dave

Wait until everything is set up and see how it is.

Yes. Adapt a socket to the input shaft and attach an inch/pound torque wrench, then adjust the sector preload bolt until you get a 10 inch/lb. rise in torque as you turn the gear across the center point. For instance, if it takes 5 in./lbs. to turn the shaft as you approach center, the reading should rise to 15, then drop back to 5 as you pass the high point. This assures zero clearance with the wheels straight ahead and no wandering. Once the steering system is installed, have a front end shop adjust the wheels for a straight ahead track with the steering gear centered. It used to be standard procedure to center point the steering gear and adjust the sector preload during a wheel alignment, but too many so-called alignment technicians have only seen rack and pinion steering and don't know how to adjust a worm and sector steering gear properly.
Jerry

Jerry, should there be the 10 inch pound rise with nothing hooked to the pitman as mine is? Dave

Yes- - -when a preload adjustment is done on the vehicle it's necessary to remove the Pitman arm, or otherwise isolate the steering gear from the rest of the system. Just clamp the steering gear into a vise and do the adjustment on the bench.
Jerry

Got it.