We spent the entire year changing out the third member,redoing wheel cylinders, master cylinder rebuilding ,fabricating parts for the parking brake assembly,doing a complete change to 12 volts wiring,rebuilding a vintage horn, spindle repair,and kingpin replacement .all with the lofty goal of making the end of the year big show in the south east ohio area. there seems to be a lot of steering slop that makes any drive over a short distance (less than 2 miles) very uncomfortable. before setting ole skool down for the winter project we would like to have taken a nice ride to town and back. I guess the question is ,can we safely tighten up the steering,if so any instruction would be greatly appreciated Hmmm as usual I forgot to say the truck is a 1941 3/4 ton chevy
Hy Fred Jones Jr, welcome, please remember to tell us the year and model of the truck you are asking questions about, please use the model designation 3100,3800 etc. rather than 1/2 ton 1 1/2 ton etc..
For me, new tires made a big difference inflated somewhere near 50 psi.
Also, my steering arm and steering knuckle balls are worn and should be replaced. At the same time there is a kit for replacing the cups and springs in the drag link.
Mine is a half ton so maybe the steering is different than yours.
You did a great job of attacking some important issues. Stopping safely is a priority lots of folks miss the first go around. Now that it will stop its time to make it go where you want it to. First do the adjustments mentioned by Stove. If it’s still unsafe then concentrate on tie rods, drag links, pitman arm and then a good alignment by a shop familiar with straight axles. There is the possibility that you will have to rebuild or replace the steering sector. You got this! ðŸ›
Martin '62 Chevy C-10 Stepside Shortbed (Restomod in progress) '47 Chevy 3100 5 Window (long term project) ‘65 Chevy Biscayne (Emily) ‘39 Dodge Business Coupe (Clarence) “I fought the law and the law won" now I are a retired one! Support those brave men/women who stand the "Thin Blue Line"! Hug a cop! USAF 1965-1969 Weather Observation Tech (I got paid to look at the clouds)
thanks for the info. I have watched a couple of videos on how to check and adjust the steering box .(got that idea from the comments from you all.) thanks for the info and positive feedback on work we have already done. )at this point the positive words on the issues (brakes and such) mentioned we continue to need reminded that it is us that chose the truck and our desire to restore it is what has always been our aim.so sometimes a little frustration is a way to say take a pause. thanks again for passing on knowledge .again let state our truck is a 1941 3/4 am model chevy 3 stake . as soon as we can figure howto download a picture or 2 we will.
Hi Fred, while reading your post I had a thought and recollection about adjusting the steering box in my '66 K20 that might be helpful. I realize your truck is much older than mine, and in all honesty i am not positive it has a rag joint in the column assembly like mine, but if it does, i was shocked at how much play was eliminated in my truck by replacing that joint in conjunction to adjusting the box. The joint did not seem overly worn until i removed it from the column and the extent of the wear on it was not obvious until I did remove it. Be sure to eliminate the end play in the worm gear before adjusting the sector lash. I was able to eliminate about 45 degrees of required turning at the steering wheel by just doing those adjustments. Good luck with that great looking truck ya got there.
The '41 gear box is designed just like the '42 - '46 box with roller balls and a cage, very much like the ones in the link above. The '41 differs slightly from '42-'46 with different size roller balls. This makes the cage and worm gear different size also. I say this, because most assume the '41-'46 are the same and buying parts can get you in trouble. Good thing about these boxes is the 1/2 ton to 5 ton all use the same basic box with the difference being the steering shaft length. So if you need parts, don't limit the search to 3/4 ton only. If you take some time and shop e-bay, you can find NOS parts. I rebuilt my '41 box with all NOS parts. Jim Carters Truck parts is now selling new worm shaft and cage for these, so thats an option as well. The cage nut and sector are the two wear items. The lower ball bearing on the worm shaft should also be checked closely, this is where water collects over time.
