My power steering gear box was shot so I replaced it with a really nice rebuilt gear box from a local shop called Red Head stearing gears. Now my steering is seriuosly loose. I mean when I am driving down the road the truck drifts all over the place and you are constantly turning the steering wheel back and forth to correct your direction of travel. I mean seriously turning, not just small one or two inch adjustments, I mean 4 to 6 inch or more turns. I am in the process of putting my engine back into the truck from a different thread and when I turned my steering wheel towardes the left to get some room in the wheel well to work, I noticed that looking from the front of the truck the tire on the drivers side is turned substantially more to the left than the tire on the passenger side of the truck.

I mean the difference is about half the angle, the drivers side is about 45 degrees to the truck and the passenger side is only about 25 to 30 degrees. Any suggestions for what I need to adjust in the steering linkage to correct this? I mean besides taking it to a tire shop to have them do an alignment. What can I do to at least tighten it up?

 

This rebuilt steering gear, did it have any slop in the input or output shaft when you installed it? Most rebuilt gear boxes from Atsco or Cardone are usually adjusted pretty well. Their is a stud sticking out the top with a nut around it. You can use this to adjust your preload. It essentially loosesns or tightens the worm gear up. Most rebuilders will void your warranty if you adjust that so check with your rebuilder for tips and or suggestions.

 

One wheel will always turn a bit more than the other due to the radius it's turning when going around a corner. Can't say how much, but if you don't have all the weight on the nose yet, it will throw things out til the suspension is down at ride height.

As for looseness. Like wantaford mentioned, I'd check with rebuilder before you go messing with preload. It's a simple thing to adjust, but I'd ask before starting. Hate to void the warranty.

If you grab inputshaft(ragjoint) and pitman arm, it should just barely wiggle. If you get more than that then you need to call rebuilder.

 

Thanks guys! I'll call em. They have a life time warranty on their steering gears and I probably should of thought about calling them right away!

 

Alright I called them and they said that I should go ahead and once the engine is back in and running, loosen the nut on that stud and then turn the stud thingy only a 1/4 turn at a time and check the steering pressure at the steering wheel. I should feel a little pressure when the wheel turns just an inch or so either way. At this point I can tell you that there is no pressure at all! It just turns big time! So I will let you know when I am done!

 

The steering wheel is one hell of a large lever as the center preload is only 11-14 inch pounds torque on the input shaft without anything (pitman arm) bolted to the output.
Rebuilders in general preload them on the tight side allowing for breakin wear which is too much for my vehicles, I back them off then go to the 11-14 in/lb spec with a torque wrench.
Sounds like you may have a mess on your hands, quality of rebuilder?
If this is what they send out I question the rebuild quality overall.

Meridian in southern California, a high quality rebuilder, hell I took one of their fresh rebuilds apart checking inside and it was as new or better inside.
I have used thir rebuilt boxes many times with great results every time.

 

What do you mean mess on my hands? If they rebuilt it poorly they will replace it. They make no qualms about it. They are one of the best Steering Gear places in the Northwest. Even the best can have a problem once in a while. BUt, like I said, my truck drifts, or almost "Jumps" from one side of the road or lane to the other. It could be some other part of my front end that is screwed up, which is why I was asking anyone if they had suggestions for where I should look. THIS might not be a problem with my steering gear box at all. I don't know.

Maybe if I just jack the whole front end up off the ground and see if I can pull turn the tires from one direction to the other. Maybe I have a rediculously, or dangerously adjusted control arm? I don't know.

 

when I got my 67 f100 shorty it had an issue similar to yours. I finally got it on a lift with the front end no load. I found that the tie rod nut was loose by 5 turns where it attached to the Pitman arm. My guess is that someone had been there and reinstalled the tie rod to the Pitman arm but did not acertain that the taper that is on the fitment of the two parts was fully seated. I wiggled the tie rod and watched the movement of the jointed and it took a really close look to see where there was extra movement. I pulled the cotter pin, wound the nut tighter and the test ride proved me right.

 

I didn't mean to sound harsh against your rebuilder but I have gone thru 3 different rebuilders before locating a good rebuilder. Those 3 mentioned used old worn parts resulting in boxes that could not even be used as a good rebuildable core. Better cores have been found in Pick-N-Pulls that are cheap as well rebuild kits. This is what I have found with over 35 years owning and working on bumpsides be it my own and friends.
Did you install a new rag joint, a Ford issue not the "El Cheapo" and tightened doen the pinch bolt?
Check every link/joint for play including king pins, wheel bearings, "I" beam pivot point, radius rod bushing toe in and camber.
When everything is in order you should have a truck that is a pleasure to drive and steer.
Keep looking it's something simple and obvious, good luck.

 

Thanks for the check list Beemer Nut, I'll run down that one and see if I can find where the issue is. The thing is it was fairly tight before I replaced my radius swing arm bushings, shock and wheel bearings, rotors, and steering gear box. Most likely there is something that I screwed up and missed checking when I was doing that work. Oh and don't worry, I didn't think you were being harsh I was just not sure what you meant by mess on my hands! It sounded kind of doomsday! LOL! Anyway, I wish I had taken the time to check this all out while I had the engine out of the truck, I would have had more room for messing around with this stuff! Sigh.

You know, I didn't replace the rag joint but it seemed okay. Maybe under real load it's not. Hmmm. Plenty of things to check I guess!

 

I had that problem on my 72 non-power steering but it turned out my steering box had come loose from the frame. Whomever owned the truck before me put in 2 out three aftermarker bolts and both shoock loose. I was literally driving with one bolt holding the box on. It drove pretty good but floated all over the road at times. Nothing a little lock-tite and torque seal couldn't fix. Haven't had a problem since.

 

Check the grade number of those replaced bolts, something as critical as steering should be grade 8.
Should you have a accident from these replaced bolts failing and if they are of a lower grade you could be in big trouble. An attorney can taste your wallet. These bolts shouldn't be hard to locate off a wrecking yard or Pick-N-Pull truck.

 

384737-S2 .. Bolt, Steering Gear Box to Frame.

7/16" -14 X 3 15/16" GRADE 8