Thanks to Sean (wpnaes) I realized this has been missing from the tech folder. I coulda swore these instructions were there for years.

Oh well, the oversite has been remedied.

Locate the Allen bolt and lock-nut on top of the steering box. The steering box is close to the radiator. The lock-nut should be a 5/8".

Mark the Allen bolt so you’re oriented and know where the starting point is, then loosen the lock-nut. Turn the Allen bolt clockwise a quarter turn to tighten the gear mesh. Tighten the lock-nut and road test your vehicle.

Be careful not to over-tighten the Allen bolt. If you do, the steering may become tight and stiff during a turn with a noticeable lack of a return-to-center feel, possibly causing you to drive off the roadway.

Keep repeating the sequence, turning the Allen bolt a ¼ turn at a time, followed by a test drive, until you're satisfied with the performance. If you over-tighten the Allen bolt, turn the Allen bolt back a quarter turn, counter-clockwise.

There is a risk of over tightening the box and causing it to wear out prematurely, so I suggest you tighten it to the point where the slop is gone, and no further.

Most people will turn the Allen bolt three-quarters of a rotation to one-and-one-half rotations before they’re happy with the results.

Stewart

 

When backing off, should one go past 1/4 turn then reapproach the desired spot? Only reason I ask is I'm not sure if there's slack in the gears/mesh threads that will need to be compensated for when changing direction of the screw turns.

 

It couldn't hurt, and that is how I did it too, but I do that intuitively with stuff like this (not a straight, tighten it down kind of situation) when working on stuff, not just my vehicles.

Stewart

 

What symptoms would I be experiencing that would merit this kind of maintenance? My assumption is sloppy steering w/ some play in the wheel.

 

keep in mind it isnt just the gears that wear but also the bearings the main and sector shaft ride on, so the more you tighten it the more off center those shafts are going to rotate off the center of their access. end result, everyhinh is going to wear quicker and eventually just fail. hopefully the seals leak all the oil out rather then binding the gears.

 

I did this once a couple years ago and was tempted to try and adjust it one more time what do you think?