I could use a little help on a steering issue. I have a 74 Bronco, C4, 302. It was a barn find a few years back with 56k original miles. I had drum front brakes, that I swapped out for 77 front disc set up. I replaced all wear parts, ball joints, drag link, tie rod ends, steering stabilizer ect. The rag joint looks to be in good shape. The truck had a broken ring when I purchased it, so I did not drive it before tearing into it. It has the original steering box and original power steering pump. It is stock height, uncut, with new front springs and rear springs and with a tire that is close to what came from the factory on a stock rim.
So to the issue
It is all over the road and seems to take a lot to keep it going straight. Before I go and start replacing things that I have already replaced, how do I determine if the steering box might be the problem. It has the stock steering wheel on it, and seem like I can move this a significant amount before the wheels turn. When I had the front end aligned, the old school mechanic known in this area as being the best for alignments, said, well that's the way they were right from the factory. I am not sure I can accept that. Does anyone have some suggestions.

 

Best strategy is to find where the slop is. Get someone else to saw the wheel back and forth while you look over everything in the steering and front suspension. You ought to see the steering shaft turning exactly as they turn the wheel, but likely won't see the wheels turn so crisply. Just eyeball the entire system until you find the place (or places) where the input moves more than the output.

 

Possibly the track bar bushings or loose mounting bolts or both, how much play is in the steering wheel with the engine running?? It shouldn't be more than about 10 degrees. There is an adjustment screw on the gear box that tightens up the play in the box, but it is just to be snug against the worm gear. I would check these to start with
Good luck
Jim

 

Yes, start LOOKING at those first. If the track bar mounts move when the wheel is turned back and forth you'll see that. Don't start turning adjustment screws or throwing money at it until you know what's wrong.

By the way, if the steering box is worn you can usually "fix" it for a month or two by tightening the adjustment screw. Once it's worn out it's worn out and it'll keep getting worse fast. If it does turn out to be the steering box you should try to adjust it, but if (more likely when) it comes right back adjust it again and get a new steering box on order.

 

I have a 70 Model Bronco. As you it had that hunt the road deal. As you I replaced most everything under the front end and I still had the problem. My problem ended up being in the sway bar or at least that is what I call it. I installed new bushings but what I failed to do was get that puppy tight. You really got to stand on that thing to get it tight and it has to be tight. Never had any good results when it come to adjusting the nut on the end of the gear box. Normally you just need to replace the gear box which I did. Believe it or not this thing drives like a dream but it took a lot of work to get it that way. Then you always have the death wobble. I had that also but finally fixed it. Good luck.

 

They did not come from the factory like that. Problem is everything has to be right for them to drive right. As I posted make sure everything is tight. Make sure the alignment is correct. You may want to get that checked again. If it is out of alignment any at all it will give you a problem. If the steering box has play then chunk it and get a new one or rebuilt one. A lot of little problems on these things can add up to a huge problem.

 

Sounds like a solid plan, I will look for the slop in the system to see if I can identify where the issue is. I agree with the thought that it might be a combination of several things. I will let you know how I make out-
PS if I need to get a rebuilt steering box, I would prefer to have my own rebuilt, does anyone know who does this, I heard someone mention BC Broncos?


Thanks

 

I am almost sure I got my steering from BC Bronco. Either there or Toms Bronco parts. I added power steering so I purchased the power steering gear box.
But the one main thing that gave me the most problem was that sway bar. I thought I had it tight but I carried it to two old guys like you did and right off of the bat they saw that it was not tight. They got a huge pull handle and they stood up on that thing. Since then this Bronco has driven like a new one. Make sure you check those bushings.

 

Aft end of the radius arm bushings, steering box (f150 box swap time) , trac bar bushings, are the tires worn or cupped real bad?

West Coast Broncos

 

ok I finally got back to the bronco after being distracted by another old ford of mine. So I had someone turn the wheel while the truck was running. From underneath I do not see any abnormal play or loose connections and like I said, everything is new. The steering wheel turns 1/4 of a turn, turning the shaft into the box without any turning of the pitman arm off the bottom. Is this normal? I would think this would be too much which would explain the feeling of having to over steer. But I seem to recall having a similar issue with a 79 150 and buying a remanufactured box and it being the same. Will a new box eliminate this? The box is original with only 60k, the truck is stock height, with everything replaced and close to original size new tires.

 

1/4 turn, your steering box is shot. It should have less than 10 degrees of play, rebuild or replace the box and should solve the problem

 

No, that isn't normal. You should see movement of the output that directly corresponds to the input movement. Anything else is sloppy.

You can try to tighten the adjusting screw (loosen the lock nut, turn the screw in and retighten the lock nut). If that fixes the problem you've verified the steering box is the cause. But based on my experience I wouldn't expect that "fix" to last long. Usually a box that's that sloppy has a lot of wear and tightening it up will make it wear faster. So you're probably looking at a replacement pretty soon.

And if you had a reman box that was like this it must not have been a very good reman.

 

Yes you box sounds worn out.

For the steering - Start by adjusting the slack adjuster - it will be a locknut over what appears to be a bolt with a screwdriver slot. Put a screwdriver into the slot to hold it and back off the locknut. Slowly turn the screwdriver clockwise while rotating the steering shaft back and forth until there's very little to no play. Hold adjustment bolt and tighten the locknut. With power steering this is done with the engine running. Once the slack is adjusted out of the steering box, look at the top of the steering column (still under the hood) under the master cylinder. There's a heavy fiber washer (sometimes referred to as a rag joint) (1/2 ton only) that makes a coupling in the column, usually this is worn out and the cause for excessive steering play.

Steering adj #2 all you have to do is on the steering box you will see a threaded screw with a jamb nut keeping it locked down. put a screw driver on the screw and loosen the jamb nut, then with the jamb nut loose , tighten the screw till it stops, then back off counter clockwise for one full turn, then holding the screw, lock down the jamb nut. take the truck for a ride and see how it feels, if it is still too sloppy, loosen the jamb nut and turn clockwise a quarter of a turn and retighten the jamb nut. If the steering is too hard or feels like its binding, hold the jamb nut and loosen the set screw a quarter of a turn from your initial setting.

Ck out these folks: Red-Head Steering Gears - Custom Rebuilt Steering Gear Boxes in USA

 

Hi, new here and saw this thread. One thing I didn't see mentioned was your alignment toe in. It should be 1/8" to 1/4" for taller tires. Toe in helps you track better.

 

I understood if you tightened the nut incorrectly you could damage the function of the box.