Thanks for the advice guys. I agree I have found a good shop and plan to what they recommend, unfortunately they left me a message yeaterday that they cannot fix it and have not been able to source a replacement. I haven't ben able to speak with them so I not sure what they tried to source. Will find out Monday.

Banjo- I do not have the teuck now so I am going from memory, but I do not believe the bracket is welded to the column. I will have to check. There is a lot of looseness in the wheel itself, however, so would the bracket really affect that? The power steering box in the truck is from a late 70s truck, I believe along with the tilt wheel mounted to the original column....

 

I see several areas that could be the problem:
1. The tilt mechanism is broken
2. The internal shaft is not properly installed and loose
3. The column is not solidly mounted to the firewall and the dash
4. The column needs to be rebuilt with new bearings and lock rings

I think it will help to pin down exactly where the column and steering wheel are sloppy.
For example, is the steering wheel itself loose because it isn't bolted down tightly to the upper, inner shaft? Or is the upper, inner shaft instead sloppy, making the wheel look loose?
Or is the entire upper collar messed up, making the wheel appear loose?

All of these have different causes, and different repair needs.
The shop very likely can help pinpoint it for you, also.

Post back when you have the chance.

Best of luck.

 

Thanks Banjo. I have talkd to the shop a couple of times and just got off the phone with them. They estimate about $1100 to put an ididit column in it so I will be picking it up and attempt to look at the things you suggested.

Do you have suggestions for how to check each of these items on your list?

 

What did the shop say about the condition of your current column? That might help a bit to figure out what's wrong.
As for the others, most of it is attempting to discover where the slop is. The outer part of the column should not move or be loose, and the internal shaft shouldn't be either.
Does the tilt lock in place? If not, that is a problem also.
Best of luck.

 

When I get the truck back on Saturday, I can check all of this for certain, but if memory serves the tilt does not work at all. I tried it after ND told me that it was a late 70s tilt wheel but the lever didn't do anything at all. The other thing I remember, which is what led me away from thinking it was the steering box, is that with the hood up and watching rag joint while turning the wheel, the wheel will move a good bit in either direction before the rag joint starts to move. Once it starts to move the steering is fine and tight, and even when driving it on a fairly Kirby back road to the shop couple weeks ago it drives pretty well through the curves the problem is when you're trying to come out of the curve keep it straight it takes a long time for the wheel to reengage the gear. Or at least that's how I would describe it about being an expert in this area.

 

That sounds like the beveled gears in the tilt column are broken.
EDIT - Not gears, but a U-joint.

 

I picked up the truck today and had a good conversation with the owner. As we had discussed before, he reiterated that the suspension is all tight, no issues there, the gearbox appears to be fine, the rag joint is almost new and the play is somewhere in the column. He also said that the reason the truck drives so poorly is less to do with the column than the fact the Ibeams are very badly out of spec. He said they were too far out for him to align and needs a shop with the ability to bend them and gave me a couple of references.

So I will talk to those folks, but as for the column, I checked it out some today and the column appears to be very solidly mounted. i grabbed and pushed ad pulled and didn't detect any movement at all. I looked around and as ND said before, it is a 78-79 Ford column. The tilt does not work at all. The wheel is very loose and moves back and forth a few inches in either directio before the rag joint starts to move.

 

This behavior tells me the column is a broken tilt column.
The tilt column has a 2-piece inner shaft connected by a small U-joint in the upper section of the column, allowing the steering wheel to tilt.
A non-tilt column has a single inner shaft extending from the steering wheel to the rag joint. No possibility of the rag joint acting like yours is currently.
Apparently, the U-joint is broken. Possibly it could have come apart when the column was removed and then re-installed?
If I am wrong, I am sure someone will come along and correct me.

Best of luck.

John

 

This is Number Dummy's link to the parts schematic for your tilt steering column.

http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/at...4&d=1412897184

Notice there is a U-joint-like coupler, not a true U-joint.
It appears to me that this coupler is what is broken.

John

 

Holy thread revival batman...

I've been away for awhile but have done a few things to the truck that I will post about over the long weekend, I hope, but I had a nagging question about this power steering system while I was under the truck the other week.

On the first page of this thread you can see the pics of my PS system.

Question: Why do I have a Saginaw box and a pump running it but also have the power assist ram cylinder underneath? Is that supposed to be there?

My understanding of power steering is limited but I thought there was the full on PS systems with a power steering gearbox and then there was a bolt on "assist" system with the original manual box and a pump driving a cylinder like what I have.

 

Did not see a clear pic of the cylinder down under, on the tie rod. If there are two hoses attached to it, it is a power steer cylinder. If no hoses, it is a steering dampner to prevent wheel shimmy. If the truck had oversize tires by PO, they may have added it, as balancing those tires wasn't always easy or complete.

 

IICAP - thank you, that was exactly what I needed to know. I checked and there are no hoses so it is a steering dampener as you say.