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I want to adjust the steering gear on my 1951 Ford F1 and the shop manual says to "use a scale to measure the pull required at the rim of the wheel which is required to start the wheel to rotate." Does anyone know what kind of scale is the manual referring to? Thank you. Billy B.
That would likely be a spring scale, similar to what people used to weigh their fish with after catching a walleye or something. They come in different sizes, ounces, pounds, etc. 0-15, something like that would be what you want, if yer elbow isn't in calibration. They even used spring scales to adjust contact breaker points during a tune-up.
Be very careful making any adjustments like that on a steering box. Is it new/rebuilt? Many people advise against this.
No, you leave the drag link off. The spring-scale test is to measure the pre-load on the worm gear bearings. You don't want any other loads on the steering box.
Tedster, I think what you are hearing about is adjusting the sector shaft, with the star-wheel and nut on the side of the box. A lot of people believe cranking down on that will magically restore their box to like-new. Making it too tight will just cause more wear.
The shop manual says to turn the adjusting screw counter clockwise to remove the load, but it doesn't say how much to turn it. The screw was roughly half way in for starters, and I turned it counter clockwise until it stopped. Too much, thus no effort to move the steering wheel? My problem is a really bad front end wobble when I hit about 45 MPH. I am a junior user and by no means a very accomplished mechanic, but thought I'd start with a steering gear adjustment, test drive it. If not corrected, then I'll replace the tie rod ends. Then the king pins. Hope this is a proper plan of attack, and I am relying to you more advanced mechanics here on this forum to help. Thanks so much.
If you're talking about the adjustment screw on the side of the steering box, with the star washer under it, that is not the reason for no-load on the steering wheel. The worm gear effort is due to pre-load (or lack thereof) on the shaft bearings. The pre-load is set by adding or removing shims under the cap on the bottom of the box (4 bolts). For more pre-load, remove some existing shims (likely paper gaskets, handle with care). Of course, removing the cap will dump all the oil out of the box, be ready!
I doubt the steering box is the cause of your "death wobble". Have you had the front end aligned? Tires balanced?
There is only one shim. Should I leave it there and move on to other possibilities that may be coaxing the death wobble like you suggested? Thought I'd send you a pic of my '51 Ford. (The '56 Chevy is a NAPCO and my current project.)
