The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Steering box play question

I have a follow-up question about the play in my steering box. A year ago I asked about adjusting the play and was sent the following links which were very helpful:
Link 1
Link 2

I can take my steering wheel and push and pull without any movement (which tells me the worm bearings are good and tight), but when turning the wheel there is about 3" of play before engagement.

Can I just tighten up the lash screw on the side of the box or do I really need to mess with the worm bearing adjuster screw? The first link says you "must" adjust the box in order.

what year and series is your truck?

Duh, 1955.2 Chevy 3100.

The only time I've ever adjusted the worm gear bearing preload is during a rebuild. Count the turns of the steering gear lock-to-lock, then turn back exactly halfway from one end of the travel. This should put you at the area of zero clearance. Any steering wheel movement at this point should result in movement of the Pitman arm. If not, tighten the sector adjusting screw gently until you eliminate the slack. Don't overdo it. That's the preliminary adjustment. Now for the fine-tuning- - - -the most accurate way to adjust a steering gear is to disconnect the drag link, where nothing but the gear is moving. If that's not possible for some reason, at least jack up the front end where the wheels aren't touching the ground. Turn the steering wheel about 1/2 turn off the center point, and put an inch-pound torque wrench on the steering wheel nut. Turn the gear across the center point. The turning torque should increase 10 in./lb. as the gear rolls over center. For instance, if it takes 15 in/lb to turn the gear when it's off the center point, the turning torque should rise to 25 as it goes over center, then return to 15 once it's past the center point. Adjust the sector bearing preload screw until the readings are correct. After you've adjusted a couple of hundred steering gears, you should be able to "feel" the right sector gear adjustment. If the torque rises, drops at the center, rises again, then drops, the gears are worn out and must be replaced.
Jerry

Jerry, That is really good instructive info. I hope it ends up in the Tech Tips section.

The problem with the old stovebolts is that they have a non-adjustable drag link. The center point of the steering gear might not be exactly at the straight-ahead position of the front wheels due to wear, slightly bent parts, etc. On later-model vehicles, it's possible to lock the steering gear in the dead-center position and adjust the tie rods so the vehicle tracks straight at that spot. With a little tinkering, it's possible to fabricate a drag link with a couple of tie rod ends and a turnbuckle to allow a precise adjustment of the steering gear while the wheels are in the straight-ahead position. It's a good thing to do if you're not interested in having a completely original-appearing vehicle.
Jerry

Jerry, I did what you suggest and made a drag link for my restored '36 Chevy pickup from a solid steel bar and threaded one end with right hand threads and the other end with left hand threads. Then Moog ES29R and ES29L tie rod ends were used. Their taper exactly matches the taper of the worn out spherical studs and were a perfect fit in the pitman arm and steering arm. I used the same tie rod ends on the tie rod and that, along with new gears, bushings and bearings in the steering box and a seal in the pitman housing to allow use of gear oil as a lubricant, totally removed the slop and high steering effort from the steering.

At the 1976 VCCA national meet in Colorado Springs the judges did not recognize that change, nor any of the others, and I drove home to Southern California with the 1st place trophy in Class T-2 (1929-36 commercial vehicles).

Even at the national level, the judges are not very observant. They are looking for little flaws like exposed teflon tape at pipe threads and totally miss the big stuff. For example, I made all my gasoline and distributor vacuum hard lines from stainless steel, welded all of the frame joints that were only riveted at the factory and flame sprayed the exhaust pipe with aluminum and they missed all of that too.

That flame sprayed exhaust pipe is still rust free, 35+ years later.

Hmmmmm- - - - -sort of sounds like the tech inspectors I used to encounter on the dirt tracks of Central California, and again at the Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee. I had several methods of fudging stock-appearing parts to dramatically increase performance in the "claimer" classes. By angle-milling 76CC low-compression cylinder heads I could make them smaller-volume than the sought-after (and illegal) 64CC camel-hump heads. Ditto on some HEI distributor modifications that raised the max RPM by about 1500. Most tech inspectors have certain obvious cheater tricks they look for, and ignore some really effective ones.
Jerry

Thanks for the advice Jerry, I'll give it a try and report back. I have all new tie rod ends and drag link so this is the last step.