My 62 seems to have a lot of slop in the steering wheel and I have tried tightening it and the steering box with no luck.

What I want to know is that can I remove this steering box without removing the entire steering shaft or is it an integrated shaft?

The struck originally had a 262 straight 6 in it but now has a 390 in its place.

 

My 62 had the long one piece shaft...

 

The steering shaft (3524) goes directly into the steering gearbox, so the whole enchilada has to be removed as a unit.

Do NOT mess with that nut, it only sets the preload for the sector shaft (3575). Overtighten it, the box may lock up! Backing the nut off when this occurs may not solve anything.

 

Ok my next question is where can I buy a new steering box? I called LMC and they couldn't help me and no auto part store around here carries one.

Can I buy the box or does the box come with a steering shaft also?

 

WA resident: How far do you live from Seattle? Red Head Steering Gears (redheadsteeringgears.com) can rebuild your gearbox.

See truck parts catalog pic in post #3 for usual parts replaced in steering gearbox:

Steering shaft and worm (3524), upper/lower bearings (3571) and cups (3552/3553), sector shaft (3575), seal (3591), gasket (3581) and bushing (3576).

 

Speaking from recent experience;

DO NOT BUY a replacement gear from LMC or NPD. There is a very good chance they won't be correct. I went through that.

I can second Red Head Steering Gears. I sent them mine and had it back in a week. Works perfect.

In terms of slop, you might also check your drag link. The ball joints in mine were trashed as well.

In terms of removal; I had to remove the clutch Z-bar as well as the oil filter to make room. Not too bad, just a bit of fiddling..

I'm getting ready to do it again so I can swap the cab. Should be a bit easier this time since the front clip is off..

 

Okay, I am the owner and appreciate my old truck (1962 F100 Unibody), outside of that I am not mechanical. My steering is super loose - I am taking it into the shop tomorrow likely for a full rebuild of the column and gear box. My question is, I had a friend of my dads stop by tonight (retired diesel mechanic from way back) - he wanted to help and I didn't have the heart to tell him no. He climbed under the truck and began tightening something on the steering gear box…I don't know what it was and now fear it may have been the dreaded No.3575. We took the Uni for a drive after and it seemed to help, but only slightly. Now that my helpful friend has left I am wondering if I should climb under their and loosen it back up before a 20 mile drive to the service station tomorrow - would not want it to lock up on the way…Any words of wisdom?

Thank You!

 

As long as you can turn the steering wheel without it binding, your friend did not over tighten the sector shaft nut.

But, what you should worry about is where the shop will find the parts to rebuild the steering gear. All are obsolete and are not available from auto parts stores.

All the steering column parts are obsolete except the upper/lower steering column bearings and their nylon sleeves that are available from Ford.

The only places that may have the obsolete parts NOS (New Old Stock) will be some obsolete parts vendors and possibly Ford dealers.

See 3517 bearings & 3518 sleeves in parts catalog pic. There is one each of these parts above and below the 3511 flange.

 

Thank you once again for taking the time to answer. I will feel much safer driving her in today!

On a side note, (and remember, I am not very mechanically inclined) you have indicated that most all of the parts are obsolete and will be difficult at best to locate. Are the parts that LMC offers not adequate (I do see that they don't have every little bit of the assembly available) I guess I'm hoping that what is not available is still re-usable on my truck… Additionally I'm thinking that if it's going to end up costing upwards of $400 to *fix* the Armstrong steering it may make sense to throw a little more money at it and upgrade to a power steering setup - do you have any thoughts as to whether or not that's a good idea or even feasible for my three on the tree?

Additionally - I have been a voyeur to this forum for about a year and I'm sure that I can speak for most everyone that your immense wealth of knowledge is greatly appreciated - many times I have sought your advice here on this site and you didn't even know it - Thank You

 

I don't have an LMC catalog, and wouldn't buy from them if I did, because most of what they sell is made in China CRAP!

 

I second everything he said. If you are going to keep the truck, pull the box and send it to Redhead Steering in Seattle. They had my 64 box on the shelf shipped and I returned the core. Get shipping both ways it much cheaper on their account.

My truck was frightening when i got. It would dart when crossing bridge so bad it was scary. Tie rod end and drag link fix 50% of the darting ($100). Kingpins looked fairly tight but the tightened up another 25% ($200 parts and labor), I started not to do the box ($500 all said done). I am glad I did because the last 25% was the best. I drive through tight construction zones as MPH with confidence.

Loosen the box and pull it out from under neath and take the column out from the cab. Replace it the opposite. Have someone hold the column in the cab thread the shaft in to it. If you have 4spd you take the column through the floor also.

 

Point taken - fortunately I'm just starting and haven't purchased any parts yet . I'll toss that catalog.

 

Thank you for your input, just dropped her off at service station today (friend owned). He's going to start the tear down Monday, I will definitely let him know about redhead :-)

 

List parts you need, I'll post the part numbers and the sources/phone numbers that have them.

Example: C1TT-3304-M .. Draglink / Obsolete

1961/64 F100/250 2WD/4WD

HAVEN FORD in Haven KS has 1 = 620-465-2551.

NOS PARTS LTD in Waxahachie TX has 1 = 972-937-2201.

GREEN SALES CO. in Cincinnati OH has 28 = 800-543-4959.

Green Sales will most likely have all the parts you need, has the largest stock of FoMoCo obsolete parts on the planet.

 

Thanks Bill - once we figure out our needs, I'll provide a list of anything we can't source and will exhaust the list of sources you supplied before bugging you again :-)