While trying to find where my loose steering is coming from I had my wife move the wheel while I looked underneath. What I found was that the sector shaft is moving around where the pitman arm connects to it. I have already adjusted both adjustments on the box. The sector shaft is adjusted so there is a slight drag going through center.

My guess is that there is a bushing or bearing that is worn in there. Would that be correct? So I need to swap the box out right?

 

Anyone?

 

IMO You should just buy a new box. I watched your video in your last thread, that thing has some major play.

 

There's a bearing up in there; straight rollers, about 1¼" long or so. Real tall. It might be bad, or, the shaft itself may have pitting on it.

Don't forget, that's the absolute lowest place in the system; if water ever gets in there, like if the car sits around without a hood for awhile (think, at a body shop while getting a wreck fixed, for example), that's where it'll settle. Then if the parts rust, .... not much to do besides replace them.

I have no clue where to get the bearing, if that's what it is.

 

Thanks for the responses guys. Going to return this one and get another one. Hope that one works better. If not then I guess I will either get a brand new box which is a lot of $$ or just switch to manual steering...

 

I didn't realize you had already replaced your original box with a re-manufactured unit.

sofa brings up a good point... If you had the exact same play before & after you replaced the box; then that to me seems to indicate the box might not be the problem. The pitman arm/bearing may be the problem. I've heard of re-man boxes being loose, but not that loose right out of the box.

 

i see what you are saying, but just going off of what i saw today it seems like a bad box. i looked over EVERY joint while she was moving the wheel. the only movement i saw was right where the sector shaft comes out of the box. it was making a small circle while she turned it. like the whole shaft was moving around. i should have taken a video of it but she could only help for a couple minutes. it just looked weird to me

 

not my pic but you get the idea. right where the screw driver is is where it was making the circle inside the housing. the splined area was moving inside the housing

[IMG]sector shaft by jonnyc127, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

Manual steering uses the same parts in that area. Only difference is, there's no piston aiding the motion of the system. Everything else about it works EXACTLY the same. So that, in and of itself, is not a solution; a manual box can wear out or be damaged the EXACT same way.

The bearing isn't on the Pitman arm, it's on the shaft. If you take the box apart, including taking the shaft out and removing that double seal arrangement, you'll see it up in there. It's easy to knock out, I've done that before, but I never had to replace one so I don't know about getting another. I HAVE had to replace a Pitman shaft for .... pitting. Wonder if that's how it got its name? If memory serves, I had a box with that issue, so I got a JY box and snarfed the shaft & bearing out of it. Gotta be careful with that though; the Pitman shaft (which has a gear on it) is different depending on the steering ratio.

 

oh ok. well this is my plan right now. get the box swapped out for another one. if it is still loose i will just take it to a shop and have them tell me where the play is coming from.

 

Every rebuild kit I've purchased has come with a replacement bearing, course I've only rebuilt maybe 4 or 5 or 6 boxes so I can't universally say that every kit comes with a bearing.

 

I think your right. After looking at the picture 91camaroracer posted I think I replaced that bearing when I rebuilt my steering box. Let me go look through my desktop files; I'm pretty sure I took some pics before I started rebuilding the box.

Edit to add: Top right corner in the pic below. I'm pretty sure that's the bearing in question. It's part #8522

 

yeah they have it in this kit.... http://www.autozone.com/suspension-s...0_12266_17378/

 

Are you thinking about rebuilding your own box? Its not too hard, It just takes some patience.

If you do buy a rebuild kit, You can get the edelmann 8522 kit for $18 on RockAuto. Its the same kit I used for my rebuild. I've put over 10k miles on the rebuilt box and it still feels great. btw I added a pic of the kit in my previous post.

 

i might rebuild the stock one and just return the parts store one if this next one doesnt work out. how long does it usually take to rebuild them?

 

and i would need part number 8780. this one is w/out soft ride

 

Yup, that kit does indeed have the bearings...

All of the ones I've ever used, have only had the paper & rubber stuff. One I still have sitting around for some car I intended to do it to but never did, doesn't have them. It was from NAPA.

Maybe I should be buying kits someplace else...

I agree obviously, they're not terribly hard to rebuild.

 

Napa has both, a seal kit, and a rebuild kit. Rebuild kit has bearings. I've rebuilt a few, challenging the first time until you get the hang of Installing the little *****.
Check the parts kit for content, one kit I bought was missing the cap seal and clip.

 

It took me about 7 hours, but that was my first steering box rebuild that I've ever done. It was not hard, it was just time consuming.

I followed the sticky: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...build-rag.html

I did not know there were multiple rebuild kits; sorry I gave you the wrong part # earlier.

 

OK cool. No problem Man

 

getting the other box tomorrow and should be able to put it in tomorrow night. really hope this one works

 

Picked up the new box today. I noticed this seal that was not on the first one. I should leave it on and try to put it all the way in right?

[IMG]20150204_143810 by jonnyc127, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]20150204_143815 by jonnyc127, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

Haven't see that before but I think it's just a dust seal they added to keep out road debris.
It looks like it's just a big rubber washer.

 

It does go into the housing some though

 

The pitman seals are held in by a snap ring, so if it's Outside of that is just a dust shield

 

Ok. I will pull it out before I put the box in

 

so should I just leave it in to block the debris or should I pull it out?

 

I think I would leave it, they seem to feel the seals need more protection from road debris. You can always cut it off later if you don't like it.

 

ok sounds good to me

 

just finished putting the 2nd box in. still has about 2 inches of play in the wheel. not sure what else to do. probably going to take it to a shop and have them look at it and tell me exactly where it is coming from. dont want to keep switching boxes every week if i dont need to.

 

Well that sucks, but you've already narrowed it down to the bearing/shaft. An average shop is probably just going to either replace or rebuild your box.

One question: The frame rail behind the steering box isn't cracked right? Always good to check just to make sure.

 

i looked around really good the other day when the box was out. i didnt see any cracks. i also have the wonderbar/steering brace installed

 

I just swapped my box out with another used unit this week

It is a marked improvement over the old one, and my power steering pump quit whining too

but, it still has an inch of play at the wheel.

I upgraded to the astro shaft and bearing. Just replaced my idler arm because it had a smidge of play in it.

the box was free, and the car does drive better..... so at least I have that going for me! LOL

 

finished installing the second box yesterday. still about the same amount of play. probably take it to someone and have them look everything over. maybe a different set of eyes will see something i missed.