Steering Slack

[jor]

67 F-100 Manual Steering

SYMPTOM: I have a few inches of slack in my steering. At rest, I can turn the wheel about 2 1/2" in to the left and 1 1/2" to the right. When moving the truck tracks fine but the slack is noticable.

PARTS: The rag joint appears to be in great shape and all of the other stuff (king pins, tie rod ends and so on) appear solid and are greased.

MAYBE: I'm thinking I could cure this problem with an adjustment in the steering box itself. Is it possible to do so? Does it requre any special tools? Thanks.
jor

[crazy larry]

ON THE TOP OF THE BOX, THERE IS A SCREW, WITH A NUT AROUND it, loosen the nut with an 11/16'' wrench, tighten the screw down, NOT SUPER tight, just snug, and hold it in place with your screwdriver and tighten the locknut down. ought to tighten it up well, if it doesn't get tight, it's most likely time for a new one.

[willowbilly3]

In my experience, tightening the slack seldom fixes the problem. It is the pitman shaft bushings usually. If you can grab the rag joint and rotate the shaft back and forth, you will see the pitman shaft move side to side before it starts to turn. Unfortunately there is no replacable bushing. It is machined into the housing. You could probably take it to a machinist and have them bore it out and make a new bushing to fit your worn piman shaft.

[jor]

I can grab the rag joint and turn it. It shows the the same slack as the wheel and does not affect the pitman arm. i.e. the pitman doesn't move so I'm thinking the slack can be adjusted. I'm leery of just jumping in and turning that set screw though as I recall reading someplace that it required a little torque wrench or something. Anyhow, I'll look into it further and post what I find. Thanks to you both.
jor

[willowbilly3]

Don't be afraid of the screw. If you tighten it too much you will know as soon as you drive it. Sometimes it helps, but as mentioned before, most of the time there is wear in other places. Have someone else fock the steering wheel while you lay under the truck and inspect everything. King pins can be tough to detect sometimes.