The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Steering Gear Adjustment

Good afternoon all,

Admins, please re-direct this post if there is a more suited area.

Wondering if there is any adjustment on a 54 3100 steering gear box to take up some slop.

TIA!

Kevin

Check HERE.
You can adjust worm gear bearing preload and sector engagement.

Two adjustments available, worm bearing adjustment and sector gear lash adjustment. They are shown in my '51 GMC Maintenance Manual (Chevys use the same steering box). The '55-59 GMC Maintenance Manual (available on line) has the exact same procedure, so you can print two pages starting HERE and have the procedure for both. You must disconnect the drag link from the Pitman arm to do the procedure.

I bought a 5 pound fish scale at Walmart to use as a measuring device.

Thanks guys,

I need to dig my repair manual out! And Thank you Bill!!

Before I even think about touching the steering box, I remove and inspect the tie rod ends and the drag link ends. Then I check for play in the king pins.
Then the leaf spring bushings.
Those items are not sealed from the environment and wear out fairly rapidly especially if they were not lubed regularly or inspected sometime during their long life.
It is much easier to check and fix all of these parts than it is to monkey with a steering box. Save the steering box for last. You may well find that all of your slop is coming from the sum of all of the slop in other components.
(kthomas, if you have already checked everything on my list for wear, disregard. I am just trying to spread the gospel to everyone.)

Carl is correct. Check the easy things first. It's easy enough to find play in the steering system with just a friend or spouse to turn the steering wheel while you look at and feel for play at each connection.

Very good point Carl! I am buying a nice 54, and the current owner told me that the steering has some slop. Oncd I get it home, I will do that inspection.

Thanks, Kevin

I used this link to help me when cleaning and adjusting my steering box. LINK I did not remove the ball bearings since the steering rod was spinning smoothly and free with no gritty feel.

Thanks for the pics and link!

Kevin

There is a section in the Shop Manual that covers steering box adjustments. Here is a link.

You will need a couple of things. A scale capable of reading 2 lbs (I bought a trigger pull scale) and a wrench to loosen/tighten the worm bearing locknut. It’s a special wrench that I was able to fabricate using a flat plate and a couple pins. I included a diagram of how I made it but I would alter it so the socket extension goes between the two pins and cut off the excess. The length of the wrench was too long making it awkward to operate. I found using a few long extensions located the ratchet in a good spot.

Phil,

How much force is required to turn the nut with your tool?

Could the tool be made out of wood with bolts or something used for the studs?

I'm not sure this was mentioned explicitly up-thread but the steering gear has a tight spot when it is within a few degrees of center (straight ahead). Adjustments to the sector gear must be made with this in mind. If you set the sector adjustment too tight the gear will bind as it goes over the center tight spot. There should be some resistance at this center point, which the why a fish scale is needed to set the gear properly. THEN you must make sure that the tight spot is where the wheels are straight ahead. Adjusting the gear at any other point in it's travel guarantees a poor result, as does getting the drag link adjustment too long or too short.

The drag link adjustment is what centers the steering gear at the tight spot when the wheels are straight ahead. You can have the gear adjusted properly but if it's not centered when the wheels are straight ahead there will be objectionable play in the steering wheel. If all is adjusted properly and the alignment is correct you can steer with your thumb at the bottom of the wheel on a straight non-crowned road. No fighting or back-and-forth wheel movement required. On a crowned road you might have to use your thumb and forefinger to steer.

Good point Tommy, but if the procedure in the service manual is followed, it does say that the highest reading should be at the center point of the steering wheel travel. Links to that procedure were posted a couple times, above.

Good evening all,

Well, this has been some great discussion, and I grately appreciate all who weighed in with helpful advise!

Last Thursday, my wife and I made the 600 mile trip up to Hampshire, Illinois to look the truck over and let's just say this, if the truck had of looked as good in person as the photos made it look, we would have brought it home, but that was not the case.

The owner failed to disclose all the flaws in the paint, like rust bubbling through, mud in the rear cab corners that was cracking, (apparently the former owner took the shortcut instead of cutting out and replacing the corners), and just a crappy overall paint job.

Needless to say, we turned around and come home without this truck.

It takes quite a bit if force the break that nut free, so wood isn’t going to cut it.

I just use a punch and light taps with a hammer.

Good advice. Should I do these “wiggle tests” with the weight off the wheels or on the ground?

(Truck is actually on a lift so it’s easy to do it either way)

51 Jimmy - Your question is kinda confusing compared to the rest of this thread by kthomas and others replying.

Are you asking about doing "wiggle tests" on your entire front steering/suspension? That's really different than the original post topic (Steering Gear Adjustment) and probably needs to be asked in a new thread of it's own to best understand your topic and provide best replies.

A wiggle test is not accurate, don't bother with it. A wiggle test is with tires off the ground, gripping the tire and twisting it side to side. It looks impressive but does little to pin point wear.

A proper test is with the tires on the ground, preferably rough concrete so they grip, move the steering wheel enough to take the slop out each direction while watching each joint one at a time. No need to over steer it, just go till you feel resistance. One tire against a curb to really hold it also works.

I just finished up prep work for a Highway Patrol inspection of 170 school buses, I was the guy under them looking at the steering. The guy inside turning the wheel needs to know just how much effort is required to get a good test. We use wheel lifts to raise the buses enough just roll under them, this really holds the tires from turning which is important when checking. All straight axles, just like our trucks, only much bigger! Engines off, no power assist!

Answering “Gdads51” here: I found this thread thinking I need to make steering box adjustments to address the play in my steering wheel of about 4” (before things start to move) but then I read the post from “52Carl” about checking for little movement before doing anything with the steering box adjustments and thought I was replying to his cm ent instead of this entire thread…

Then I went to my shop and tried it both with the wheels hanging and firmly on the ground. I’m not getting any movement rocking the top and bottom of the wheels (which I think would indicate king pins), nor any play at the tie rods(I can twist the tie rod forward and backwards but not side to side. And I set my camera up to watch for movement at the tie rods and pitman and while moving my steering wheel completely side to side as well as just wiggling it back and forth where the play is. I get a tiny bit of play but not enough to account for the 4” at the steering wheel so I’m back on this thread and am going to try the two adjustments. I have the shop manual but will need to dig into a tackle box to find a scale

Oh to answer Joe H: my slop is about 4” from left to right before I get that resistance. So am I on track that I need to do those two adjustments described in the shop manual?

4" is a lot, you are headed the right way with gear box adjustment. This would be a good time to check the oil inside it. You need a semi liquid grease, grade 0 or 00, or 50% gear oil/50% chassis grease so it flows into the roller ball assembly. Chassis grease gets pushed out of the way never to return. CV joint grease or lawn mower transmission grease also works.

Joe

I use this for 00 steering grease:

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/super-s-cotton-picker-spindle-grease-00