Trying to get a little bit of the play out of the steering box on my 94 F250 IDI. Wanted to turn adjuster screw in 1/4 turn but the screw is so tight in the jam nut that it will not move. Not much room to work down there. What I want to do is back the screw and jam nut out together so i can put it in a vice and turn the screw 1/4 in and put it back in steering box. My question is can this be done without anything slipping or moving inside the steering box keeping the screw and jam nut from going back in. Thanks for any help on this.

 

Steering Boxes in these trucks are not very reliable. Forget adjusting them, you are wasting your time. Get a replacement box and redo the entire from end at the same time (Ball joints, Tie-rods, and U-Joints if your truck is a 4x4)

If you do the above you will end up with a truck you can be proud off, personnally it took me a while to figure all this out and I did it piecemeal but eventually ended up replacing everything anyways.

Ford Front Ends are expensive, the sooner you realize that the better you will be off in the longrun.....


Sebastian.

 

The steering box does not normally require adjusting and more than likely the play you are feeling is from some where else in the front end. By the time they do work loose, they usually have to be replaced because the do not wear evenly.

Tightening a steering box can cause damage to it, and in some more extreme cases, the internal gear(s) can crack causing a no steer situation.

 

Thanks for the info, I'll be looking for a new steering box.

 

Don't forget to do the tie-rods and U-joints at the same time. Usually the steering box fails because these are worn and jam up the steering box which is why the steering box is worn in the first place.

This is one of those Catch 22 situations were if you want to get out of that viscious circle where you end up replacing steering boxes once every year you really need to replace everything at the same time.

Learned this the hard way and ended up wearing out a new steering box because of my U-joints which had seized up.

As I said above, Ford Front End work is expensive, the cheapest way to fix them is to do everything at once.

 

Okay this is a long winded one but this is how you set the play in a steering box. First mark the shaft and the Pitman arm so they can be aligned correctly later. Then pull the Pitman arm completely off. Turn the box all the way to one side. Make a mark on the shaft with paint and one on the box right above the mark on the shaft. Have a helper turn the box to the other side while you count the turns. That is your true lock to lock distance. Say you got 4 turns have your helper turn it back two turns. You will need a good manual to give you a torque value. I always adjusted the bigger trucks just by feel. Follow the manual for your truck though. After you get the adjuster set have your helper cycle the the box from lock to lock a few times to watch for any binding or sloppiness. If it binds loosen the adjuster slightly till it doesn't bind anymore than back it off just a bit more. Lock the adjuster down with the nut then reassemble the steering. As long as you get all your marks lined up you shouldn't even need a trip to the alignment shop. I usually drive them around the drive way a few times to be safe. You can get the tool to tighten the adjuster from almost every tool truck or the Sears catalog.