anyone have advice for adjusting my manual steering box to try and take the play out of the steering. My steering is very touchy and loose. Thinking of looking for a power steering box, pump and lines.

 

You probably have another issue. Get under the truck and shake all the steering linkage, then jack up each side and shake the tires to see if the kingpins are loose. Chances are it's your tie rod ends or kingpins, another possibility is the rubber coupler between the steering shaft and box.
Unless you have checked all these and ruled them out entirely, adjusting the box can cause severe damage to it.

 

I have had it off the ground and checked everything, it all seems tight. I did put a steering dampener on it, this improved things but now the steering wheel seems to be changing angle to drive straight.. as in instead of the wheel being straight it;s at a 30 degree angle to go straight.

 

That would not be corrected by adjusting the box. There has to be an issue somewhere.

 

If everything in the steering linkage is OK, the steering coupler (rag joint) isn't defective, the problem lies inside the steering gearbox itself.

This is an old old story, because this manual steering gearbox is notorious for developing play...which can be as bad as SIX inches.

The usual causes: The two bearings that are pressed into the housing that the sector shaft rides on are badly worn, as are the steering shaft & worm bearings.

The adjustment nut sets the preload on the sector shaft. By now, turning that nut prolly won't solve anything, could cause the sector shaft to lock up.

You have two choices: Buy a rebuilt gearbox, or rebuild your original.

1965/72 F100/250 2WD's & 1967/72 F350's use the same manual steering gearbox: C5TZ3504D.

The two sector shaft bushings (C1AZ3576B), the two bearings (C2AZ3571A) and two races (C2AZ3552A) on the shaft and worm....

The seal (C7OZ3591A) & gasket (C3AZ3581A) are the same as some 1950/70's passenger cars, and can be found NOS.

 

Converting my 67 to power steering was one of the best upgrades I did. Putting any time or effort in fixing manual steering just seems wrong.

 

Salty, get back under and have your favorite lady wobble the wheel back and forth to catch the ends of the play. Look around for slop: tie rods, idler arm, drag link, whatever else you see. If you don't see anything amiss, do what the first guy said. Jack up, shake a wheel, look for slop in the pin.
The cheapest piece is the idler arm, a common wear-out part. Things get progressively more expensive from there.

 

No idler arm on this system. The worst wear I have seen on these is the tie rod ends.

 

I have gone through this before and nothing is lose. The drag link is new so I could move out to the tie rod ends just because they are old and probably need replaced anyway. the kingpins are tight.

I am going to check a spare steering box I have in the shed and perhaps replace them just to see. I drive her everyday just about in the winter.

fun things to figure out.

thanks again everyone it's all helpful