Can anyone tell me the acceptable amount of steering wheel "play" in a '79 F150 with power steering?


Thanks.

 

I don't think 30 degrees (that's from 12 o'clock to 1 o'clock on the wheel) accumulative is bad. Anything over that you should look for failures in the sector and rod ends. There are many older trucks that have 60 degrees of play with new parts. That’s due mostly from elongated holes in the knuckles and pitman arm, sector mounts, and frame damage/cracking. I would check it all if it got over 30 degrees.

 

Redone -

I recently overhauled my effie's steering and front-end with all new bushings / bearings / seals and it now drives like a new car (no play what-so-ever). I'd say any kind of play is too much.

 

I agree. Mine is all rebuilt too (including the box) and the steering is just as tight as on my Expy. Made a huge difference! There's always something, somewhere causing the play.

Most of mine was coming from the bearings in the bottom of the steering box. They were shot.

 

The "acceptable" amount is different. Of course that depends on the factors I mentioned above. No slack is best, that's true. But, I suppose your asking because you have some play in your steering and you do not have new parts installed, nor want to install them right now.
Play can be caused by many things. One thing that is dangerous is the damper flange connection (where the column attaches to the sector with a round piece of rubber). If that's in good shape, then the 30 degree play is fine for now.

If you install all new parts, and there's no frame or sector damage, then there should be no play at all.

 

Not being an expert in the field, where is the damper flange connection located? I know you said where the column attaches to the sector but what do you mean by "sector"? Picture?

Oh, and there is no frame damage on this vehicle.

Thanks.

 

I should have said "dampner" instead of damper. It is the steering joint coupler also called a "rag joint".
Here is a picture of one:
http://broncograveyard.com/products/cat/20/199/22832

The steering "sector" is the steering gearbox.

 

With or without the engine running?

Without, the play you feel would be the spool-valve, which is normal, but if you have play with the engine running, that's not good.

Like Big Orn said, check the rag-joint. Also, check the lower bearing in the steering column, and after that if you still can't find it, and all u-joint, tie-rod and pitman arm joints are good, you may have a loose steering box.

The right way to adjust the play in the box is to loosen the lock nut on the adjuster, raise the tires off the ground and use a spring-scale (or torque wrench) to figure out how much drag is on the steering wheel. Then, turn the adjuster in until the drag hits what the spec is. What's the spec? Who knows, you'd need to find the steering box manufacturer and maybe we can help.

Adjusting the steering box is a pain - too much preload, and it locks up on you when it gets warm - NOT a good thing. If you're not sure about toque and preloads, let a pro do it. The other thing to consider is that the steering box may have play in it which can be adjusted out, but if it's only worn in the middle of the travel, adjusting the box will make it lock up near the ends of it's travel.

Usually, I've found with vehicles over 100K miles, some adjustment of the steering box will take out as much as half of the play, but you can't go too far because the box will lock up at the limits of it's travel.