The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk steering worm bearing nut stuck

i'm trying to adjust the worm bearing in my '53, and have hit a snag. The lock nut I have to remove (the big ~4" one on the back of the steering box) is stuck. I beat the heck out of it, and am getting no where. I have a feeling I have to pull it out of the truck to get some room to work on it. Anyone have this problem and can offer a solution? Pulling the box seems like a heck of a lot of work to remove a nut

Fern, you shure that you want to mess with that lower bearing???
If you are trying to adjust out the slop in the sector, then you need to adjust the flat blade screw on the side facing the engine.
Here are a few pixs if you have the time;http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/steering&page=all
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

The steering is very near unsafe in how sloppy it is. The front suspension has new tie rod ends and no other slop. I followed the adjustment steps in the shop manual, and with the lash adjuster backed out, it should be 1-1.5lbs to turn the wheel. I'm getting 6 ounces to turn the wheel. It seems like tightening the "worm bearing thrust screw" should help some. If I'm wrong Denny please let me know, If so I'll just pull it and rebuild instead of messing with it.

Make sure you are turning the right way, it may be left hand threads! Try heating one flat of the nut, that should let it expand out and come loose.

Joe

The book doesn't mention it, and I gave it a few taps and it didn't come off. I sure hope its not. It it is, with how many times I hit that thing its never coming off!

I've been avoiding heating it, putting a torch in an engine bay of my freshly painted truck seems so wrong.

No the big nut is a normal right hand thread. Can you move the steering wheel move up and down when you push and pull on it? if it doesn't then the steering gear worm shaft bearings are ok. If there is slop with that test then one of the bearings is probably shot and needs to be replaced, not adjusted. That adjustment is a bearing adjustment, which should only be necessary when assembling the gear. Changing that bearing adjustment at this time can screw the sector adjustment.
The side screw or sector adjustment screw is the one that is usually the reason for a sloppy steering gear. If your sector bushings are shot then you are not going to get a good adjustment on the gears. What you are adjusting is the clearance where the gears mesh.
Don’t worry too much about that scale reading, adjust it with the wheel at the center position until the slop is out of the unit then check it lock to lock several times after you tighten up the lock nut on the screw. As long as you are not feeling any binding when you turn the wheel lock to lock then you should be ok.
Again, NO BINDING LOCK to LOCK, that’s a very important condition to avoid!

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Before I rebuilt my steering box I tried removing the play with the sector adjustment without much improvement. Most of my play was due to worn sector gear bushings. You could see the pitman arm moving slightly up and down as the wheel was turned back and forth. I removed the nut you are struggling with by using a cold chisel on the corners until it was loosened. As Denny has stated, this may not be your main problem.
Chuck

I just adjusted mine on my '53 3600. It was very loose and wandered all over the road. I first filled the gear box with the john Deere Corn Head grease then loosened the lock nut on the sector adjustor and backed out the sector adjustor a couple of turns. The big worm shaft lock nut on the end was very tight as yours is. I sprayed a little Kroil penetrating oil on it and then used a long steel drift struck by a large ball peen hammer from underneath and it came loose. I fabricated a steel flat bar to fit in the slot on the adjustor and brought it up tight. I measured 1 lb pull at the steering wheel. I then adjusted in the sector adjustment until it was tight and tightened the lock nut. The pull on the steering wheel was now 2 lbs pull. It drives like new.
John