My steering box (that I paid 110 for a rebuild on less than a month ago) has free play to the right, but not the left. I've already checked and its not tie rods, centerlink or the idler arm. I've actually turned the steering shaft with my hand (wheels on and off the ground) and seen zero movement from the pitman arm. I called the rebuilder about this and they say they've never heard of such a thing (play right of center, but not left).

Could this be caused by the threaded adjuster for the worm shaft being too loose or too tight?

My car is otherwise aligned properly (straight down the road, etc) I just have to turn the wheel right 30 degrees before the car reacts where as the left its immediate.

It's not my rag joint as I've put in the astro van shaft.

I've also verified that the flat portion of the stub shaft faces up at 12 o'clock when the steering wheel is centered.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

You have an alignment issue, or a worn steering/suspension component...I can't see anything in the box that would cause this.

Was this the issue you were trying to correct by having the box rebuilt?

Edit:

Raise the car, and set the tires down on some pieces of railroad ties...something that allows you to be under the car (and safe) with the wheels solidly planted.

Watch all the components while you have some one roll the wheel back and forth..thinking maybe a bad ball joint flopping around, etc...but you;ll have to eyeball it from different angles to get a good picture of what's going on.

 

I will double check the front end components for movement using a helper. What's weird is I don't see the pitman arm move at all where the play is at. I got the box from an 88 WS6, figured I may as well have a quick ratio box rebuilt (it was leaking) I don't think I had this problem with the box I was using prior to this one. I might put it back in.

 

One thing I do know about older boxes (might still pertain to these as well) is if the top bolt is adjusted with out the (forget the name of the part) thing being centered, you can get some binding, and "flop over" when turning...but my experience is with older manual boxes...could be...maybe...not sure, that who ever rebuilt the box, didn't have it centered corrected, and possibly with the aid of powersteering, you'd have not felt the "bind" and have something worn...odd it could wear so quickly, i/e assuming it happened just after installing it.

Okay...babble over

 

There's a few things that could make the box asymmetric, but I think most likely the sector shaft (pitman arm connects to the bottom of it) is worn on one side more than the other. The sector shaft is usually reused in a rebuild, but supposed to be replaced if worn. I would pull the box and evaluate it on a bench, testing torque values. Then you can show the rebuilders conclusively that they didn't do it right.
You seemed to have narrowed it down correctly to a problem in the box. You can't really fix anything properly on the box with it still in place.

 

Makes sense, a component usually not replaced is assumed good and therefore not checked. The rebuilder wants me to drive the car over so they can see the problem themselves.

Would incorrect worm end play also cause asymmetry? I tried pulling the input shaft in/out and didn't feel end play, but I realized that the slip coupling of the steering shaft might mask it.

 

The boxes I have rebuilt had plenty of play side to side, but it was always pretty symmetrical. Even when they were pretty sloppy, never felt any noticeable play in and out. If it was a car I was working on without a history, I wouldn't know any other way to proceed without pulling it, bench test with torque meter, then start taking it apart.
My only guess at this point would be that they didn't have it centered when they set up the end cap or centering tension. I can see how they might have made this mistake as different boxes have different numbers of turns lock to lock so they may have assumed it was a certain ratio they are used to without actually checking how many turns.