Geez, I wish people would put more descriptive titles on their posts so stuff was easier to find... or... I wish I was not such a dipshtick and could actually do searches that would have results. Take your pick.






Anywho... I have a 74 F350 that only has 50k miles on it. Been treated well and in decent shape. Wanders all over the friggen place on the road. I have done the 'key off wiggle' to check the individual components of the steering like tie rod ends and such. It is all nice and tight. Steering box clunks though. Start the truck and do the same and the steering wheel and tire movement are super precise. The power steering works very well obviously but when I am driving down the road I have about 15 degrees of steering wheel play that really gets me nothing in regards to staying in my lane. If you hold the wheel still the truck drifts easily. Makes staying in the ane a very interactive experience. I had thought of doing some minor tweeking to the sector shaft on the box but am afraid that with so few original miles on the truck that this is just going to end up causing me locking issues... as I know that adjusting the shaft can cause you to not be able to turn full rotation or cause locking during turns. Thought about pressure reducer on the pump to lessen the power assist but this feels like slop, not overzealous spool valve. Any thoughts? Had a 78 that had really decent steering. A little afraid to take the 5th wheel out onto the rutted freeway at 60 as I may not be able to stay in the lane.

 

Click on the search button up on top and then use advanced search from drop down...makes searching way easier and you can narrow it down to just 73-79 trucks etc.

New Redhead steering gear will fix your box up nicely! Although you should try adjusting what you have first.

 

Can you tell me how to adjust the steering box? Mine does the same 15 degrees of steering wheel play. New ball joints, new tie rod ends, new power assist cylinder and pump. The play seems to be in the box itself.

When I loosen the lock nut on the steering box adjustment screw, the screw seems to have about a quarter turn of free play. You can turn it to the right until it hits some tension, then tighten it a it, then there's that same quarter turn freeplay in the screw if you back it off. Same for loosening it - if you go counter clockwise through the quarter turn free play until it hits tension that way, you can turn it out a bunch, then when you go back clockwise there's that same quarter turn of free play.

It's a 76 F250 4x4, with the Bendix power assist system. Any help with how I should be adjusting the box would be appreciated.

 

It's impolite to hijack another members thread. Please type a new thread asking these questions, as your power assist P/S is totally different than the OP's.

Geez Louise, I just noticed you another members thread! The last post prior to you chiming in was typed over 3 months ago.

Thread hijacking confuses some people, as they don't pay attention and think they are responding to the OP. Pretty soon, the thread becomes a confusing mish-mash.

 

Ok. Sorry. I thought a 74 F350 was same power assist, or at least same non-power steering box, system. I also thought you were supposed to tag onto existing threads rather than start new ones when it continues the same discussion -and I thought the play in the steering wheel described in the first post was just like what I've got. But I guess my problem is a different discussion topic. I'll start a new thread. Sorry.

 

What just happened?

 

Welcome to FTE. I don't think you highjacked a thread. I think there is another fella that is having the exact same issues as you and you both posted at 4:36.

 

You don't? The OP has a 1974 F350 with Ford/Saginaw integral P/S. Post 3: The thread hijacker has an 1976 F250 4WD with Bendix Power Assist P/S.

With Power Assist, the manual steering gearbox is used, because it has nothing to do with Power Assist!

Power assist P/S: 1973/75 F100 4WD / 1975 F150 4WD / 1973/76 F250 4WD / 1977 F250 4WD before serial number Y20,001.

 

Thank you Bill. I'm here to learn and from the description of the problem and truck in this thread, I just assumed it was a power assist set up like I have. Apologies.

For others with a power assist set up like mine (NumberDummy lists the years and models in his post above), I started a new thread titled "Help adjusting power assist steering box".