steering box adjustment
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Cross-Country
Joined: Dec 2001
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From: silver spring usa
steering box adjustment
After reading some of the posts I have seen some references to steering box adjustments. I have a 1995 F-150 5.0 lt w/auto. Can some one describe the procedures to adjust this box? In advance thank you.
Tom
Tom
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Joined: Dec 2001
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From: Southeast FLA
steering box adjustment
From what the alignment guy showed me a few weeks ago, there is a slotted screw that is held in place by a lock-nut. The slot is for a large screwdriver.
Unlock the nut that locks it in place, the turn down the screw a little.
What you're doing is meshing the steering box's gears back together. They develop some distance betweeen one another due to use and wear.
Careful here - making it tight will bind up your steering a little. Just turn it down until you feel pressure, then hold the bolt in place (with the screwdriver) while you re-lock it with the nut.
Unlock the nut that locks it in place, the turn down the screw a little.
What you're doing is meshing the steering box's gears back together. They develop some distance betweeen one another due to use and wear.
Careful here - making it tight will bind up your steering a little. Just turn it down until you feel pressure, then hold the bolt in place (with the screwdriver) while you re-lock it with the nut.
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Joined: Jun 1999
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steering box adjustment
Yeah, take Paul's advise first! I sent my truck for alignment, had all new tie rods put on by my request, I even kinda remembered asking him not to adjust the box because of stories I have heard about having to drive with 2 hands after this was done due to not returning to center on its own. Well sure enough, went by to pickup my truck, they said "its ready to go BUT there is still some slack in the box that we can't seem to take up, even after adjusting it several times, you'll just have to live with it." I expressed my concern for them adjusting the box without checking something else first. None the less, as I drove away I wasn't too happy with the way it drove. I thought I could get used to it over the weekend, but not. The steering wheel did not want to return to center after a turn.Well, I searched for the "slack" they couldn't get out by adjusting the box, it was the intermediate shaft between the column and the box. The upper joint was good, the lower joint was good, the problem was where the shaft telescopes in the middle....all kinda slack. After some trick ball peening, the slack was gone in that area. Test drive...better feel in the wheel...still trouble to return to center. I had to loosen the box several times over the course of several weeks to get things back to normal.
Phil
Phil
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