The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop steering box rebuild w/ new bearing, no lefts

I put a new lower bearing in my steering box and turning straight is fine, turns to the right are fine, turning back to straight is ok, but thats all the further it will go. I can not turn the truck to the left now. I have loosened and tightened the side adjustment screw bolt in and out and the bottom large adjustment bolt in and out and no settings seem to give me left turns. anyone have suggestions on setting these bolts to get this right? all turned fine w/ crushed bearing and housing in the bottom of the steering box, it just had tons of play in it, so I replaced the lower bearing to get the play out..when trying to turn left, the wheel wont go any further. the manual covers installing the bearing, but not settings of bolts to get even play. i tested all of this in the garage w/ fluid back in the steering \box.

Just from the sound of what it's doing, I would say that the sector gear is not centered properly on the worm gear. Most likey, it's too high up on the worm, and is hitting the end of the ball track when it comes back to "center". Posibly the steering shaft got turned when you had it apart. You might try taking the pitman arm off, center the box, then re-install the pitman.

sector gear? is that inside of the steering box somewhere? is the ball track way up in the top of the inside of the steering box? you dont think the screw in bolt on the side of the steering box has anything to do with this?
I only took off the bottom of the box, but all I saw in there was the worm gear. I assumed it is machined onto the bottom of the shaft. I heard theres a bearing up high in there but I didnt see it. I dont think the wheel was turned. so you are saying remove the pittman, straighten the wheels to center the box?? and then re-install the pitman? I wondered if the 2-3" screw in bottom is possibly to far in and is jamming the new bearing.

Hy 56 stepside, maybe you should tell us just how you accomplished the replacement of the bottom bearing. Was the whole box disassembled, or just the large bearing nut at the bottom of the box? Did you remove the pitman arm?

The bolt on the side of the box is only for setting backlash in the steering gears. The sector gear (called sector shaft in the manual) is thedriven gear to the pitman orm, it meshes with the ball nut, which rides on the worm shaft. When I mentioned "ball track", I'm referring to the machined groove in the worm gear itslelf. The ball nut has a similar track machined into it. Whith the lower plate off, it could be very easy for the worm shaft to turn in the housing without moving the ball nut or sector gear, then when the bottom plate and worm bearing adjuster are reinstalled, the worm may no longer be centered.
Did you do the repair in the truck? Or on the bench? Might need some more disassembly if the pitman arm suggestion doesn't work. May need to pull the side cover to get things recentered properly.

i did not remove the pitman arm. my truck had alot of play in the steering and I wanted to clean it up so I tried adjusting the bottom large bearing nut. well it would not budge. so I screwed in the screw / nut on the engine side of the steering box (thinking this would keep the worm gear in place) and remove the 4 bolts on the bottom of the steering box and removed the square bottom. this revealed a broken bearing race and lots of small barrell bearings. I bought the new bottom bearing and put it into the large bearing nut and put the large bearing nut into the steering box square bottom and screwed in the 4 bolts. I backed off the screw / bolt on the side of the steering box and filled the box w/ fluid. there was no fluid in the box before I started all this. I tried turning the wheel and it turns free to the pass. side and back to straight, but will not turn to the left or drivers side. my adjustment to hopefully correct this was to screw out the large bearing nut on the bottom thinking the new bearing takes up more room than the broken one and this adjustment did no good, so I screwed it in as far as it would go and the truck would not turn at all, so I backed it back out. the side screw / bolt doesnt seem to adjust anything. i do not think the wheel was moved while I was waiting on the new bearing to show up. i did not remove the side panel of the steering box or remove the steering box from the truck. I just removed the bottom plate and replaced the bearing.

Hy 56 stepeide, I think LONGBOX55 is on the right track, I think the center shaft must have rolled down through the ball nut while you had the bottom of the box off. I'm not sure how to proceed at this point, but I think removal of the entire box for cleaning inspection and rebuilding would be the most prudent course.

is the entire box difficult to remove? looks like upper shaft is hammered or welded onto the top of the steering box. can some one give me a step by step on how to pull it out? I agree better safe than sorry.

The box and column are 1 peice. It's not really too hard to remove, but it can be a bit awkward. The one thing that helps the most with taking it out will be to remve the drivers side fender and inner skirt. This will allow for the much needed clearance. Tp remove the box, remove the pitman arm, the steering wheel, column shifter and trun signal controls (if equipped), column drop bracket under the dash, and the 3 bolts mounting the box to the frame. The column will have to be tilted down to allow it to slide out of the cab (this is where having the fender off come in), then once clear, the whole assembly should come out over the frame rail.
BTW, the second bearing you mentioed earlier rides on the top of the worm gear, the gear/steering shaft (again, 1 peice) has to come out to get to it.

got the box rebuilt. removed whle shaft to work on it on the bench. put everything back. smooth swinging of wheel w/ front on jack stands. all seems ok except screw in bottom piece leaks and steering wheel still swings about 6-8 inches either way w/o starting to turn the wheels.

Hy 56 stepside, do you have a maintenance manual for your your truck? First you adjust the worm shaft preload, with the sector shaft adjuster screw backed off, and the steering box not connected to anything. Gently turn the steering wheel in one direction until it comes to a stop, now turn the steering wheel back one turn. Now tighten the worm shaft adjusting nut at the bottom of the steering box until there is no perceptable clearnace between the worm shaft and bearings, snug the lock nut. At this point you should check the amount of pull required to turn the wheel, if you have a fish weighing scale, attach it with a string to the outside edge of the steering wheel, it should require 1 1/2 lbs. of pull to move the wheel. Any less than that your worm bearings are too loose, any more, or if the turning is lumpy, then your bearings are too tight or you have damaged/incorrectly installed bearings. If you don't have a fish scale then just turn the wheel by hand, it should not be loose, it should not be too tight either, it should require a slight effort to turn and it should not be lumpy. If you can achieve that, then you can adjust the sector shaft clearance/preload. Gently rotate the steering wheel all the way until it stops, now turn it back in the other direction all the way to the other stop, counting the turns as you go. When you know how many turns it is lock to lock, gently turn it back precisely half the number of turns. This will put the box in the center of its travel [wheels straight ahead position], now you can turn the sector shaft adjusting screw on the side of the box, until there is no clearance between the sector shaft and the worm nut, snug the lock nut once you have that adjustment, now turn the wheel one turn in either direction, and using your scale, or just by feel turn the wheel back through the center of its travel, its required pull should now be 2 - 2 1/2lbs. or slightly more than the worm shaft bearing adjustment, it should be smooth, with no lumps. You can now fully assemble/install your steering box and go for a road test, there should be no clearance in the box at this point, good luck, and let us know how it went.

I just want to add that when adjusting, use hand tools only, and go easy. There is a alot of feel to adjusting bearings, so do it two or three times or more till you get it right. You should feel some drag, zero play, but no binding.

Joe