i have about 3" of play in my steering wheel before the wheels start to turn. it seems to be in the steering gear box. should i put new gears in or is this normal?

also, what is that bolt with a spot for a hex wrench and a nut on it right on top and in the middle of the box? is it for some sort of an adjustment?

 

That bolt is for making adjustments. But I highly doubt that it can cure 3" of play in your steering. Its time to replace or rebuild your steering box. Its not hard to do replace, and you can get them at just about any auto parts store.

 

i adjusted the bolt and it took like 1/2" our but it still isn't enough like you said. how much play should there be in a stearing wheel with the key on and engine off? i checked on the price of a rebuild kit and its only like $30 so i'l probably get that soon.

when you rebuild it do you just take the top with the 4 bolts off and is everything right there?

 

I cant say I've never rebuilt one myself. I do know that idealy there should be ZERO play in a steering wheel. $30 bucks doesnt sound bad at all. Give it a shot and let us know how it goes.

 

what is the condition of the restof the steering components. the rag joint, drag link, tie rod ends, idler arm, even the adjuster sleeves. i would suspect/inspect those componets first. replacing those parts on my car made a huge difference.

 

it's in the steering box, the other parts need to be replaced too but the bigest problem is in the box. when you turn the wheel back and forth through all of the play the arm coming from underneath the steering box dosn't move.

edit:and there is a little clicking coming from the box too.

 

Have you checked the connection to the Pitman arm?

 

You need a tiny little bit of play so when you do minor corrections, you do minor corrections... I cured about what you said there about 3" with a relatively minor adjustment on the steering box (1/4 turn on the screw) My linkage is tight though.

I have about an inch of play I guess.. maybe a little less.

 

i turned the screw all the way in and it just tightened it up a little. what is the pitman arm? isn't that the thing coming from the bottom of the box? how do i tell if thats bad? it dosn't move al all when i turn the wheel 3" either way.

 

The Pitman arm is the thing that connects to the gearbox. If it isn't turning, you do have gearbox problems, unless for some strange reason the connection between the arm and the box is stripped out, but then you wouldn't be able to steer at all. Bottom line, if the linkage to the gear box doesn't move at all when you turn the steering wheel, the play is upstream from the linkage, most likely the gearbox. Have you made sure your steering shaft is turning the gear box without any play in it? It also wouldn't hurt to also check/replace your tie rod ends, idler arm, and possibly pitman arm anyway, as they can get worn and also cause some slop in the steering.

Good luck

Oh yeah, adjusting that screw on the gearbox will tighten it up a little bit, but if you get it too tight, you can cause more problems than you're solving. There needs to be a little "breathing room" for those gears in there, and if you tighten it up too much, you are creating too much stress on the gears in there.

Eric

 

Not saying that you didn't check, but did you check the fliud in the box? There would still be a problem, but if it is leaking or something, that would create a lot of problems.

 

there is fluid in there. i think the gearbox is just worn out. should i just leave the adjustment at 1 turn out?

 

I'm not sure exactly how far you can adjust the gearboxes on our cars. Like I said, I've never messed with the one on my car, but I did turn the one on my old Blazer a little bit. I don't want to tell you wrong, so maybe somebody else knows for sure.

 

i got the adjustment the way i like it, just a little in from what it was before. i need new front end stuff like bushings but the adjustment helped a lot.