I have a 1950 F-1 been working on for 3yr. Having problems with the steering box, all the roller bearing and worm gears are good. The problem i have is that the steering wheel goes almost half way b-4 it starts to turn the wheels. to much play, so how do i get this out.

then i can start to drive my new (old) toy thanks rich

 

I the slop just in the box or is it in the entire front end. There are many components to the steering system and anyone of them can be causing your problem. I had a lot of slop in the steering of my F-2. I finally got around to replacing the steering with one I took out of a parts truck. The steering in the parts truck was tight with no slop. I still have some slop in the truck and I suspect either the ball on the pitman arm or the idler arm. Those two parts are original to the truck. I did check the tie rods and center link and they seem tight. The truck is going back up on the lift tonight and I'll be checking everything again.

 

every thing in the ront end is new, i just can't figure out how to get all the slop out of the wheel. trying to figure out witch adjustment screw? or the spacers, i dont know witch one will take most of the slop out. thanks again

 

With a half turn of slop with new parts there has to be something missing the in the gear box. There is an adjuster screw on the box, it's got a star washer, but you will never be able to get that much slop out the adjusting screw. It only takes up a little before the steering binds. It sounds like there is a spacer or something missing from the box. I haven't had a box apart in years so I don't remember everything that's in one.

 

Any end play in the worm shaft? Can you pull the steering wheel up and push down and feel any play? Start there. Get the sector centered and adjust per shop manual. If all bearings are good, the roller and shaft is good your box should be tight.

 

i'll try that, every thing i did was to shop manual specs, i just took it apart to clean it, got the rebuild kit, new bearings upper and lower, something is just not right looked at manual 3 times to make sure everthing was right. so what if the wheel does go up & down?? what would that be?

 

Here's the pages out of the shop manual and the drawing for the steering box if you don't already have one:

 

Are you certain the upper and lower worm shaft bearings are seated? I don't have time to look at the shop manual at this minute but I believe they suggest loosening the column from the dash and mounts so as to eliminate any binding. The end movement adjustment is by shims and again, is the place to start. The roller shaft against the worm is by the adjustment on the inboard side of the box. Important to have the worm centered prior to making the roller adjustment. If I remember right, the shop manual is pretty straight forward in the adjustments. Luck, you'll get it.

 

I'm sorry did you say you replaced the worm and sector gears when you were working on your steering box ? When I rebuilt mine the difference was huge .

 

no i did not replace the worm or sector gears they looked in really good condition, im going to take the whole thing apart again and take my time read my manual really close then see where im at,hopfully i did something stupid, i rebuild it over a year ago. (thought i went by the book). but this is the only thing holding me from driving it right now, its been a total frame off resto.