I loosened the bolt and turned the allen head 1/4 of a turn clockwise on my '68 F250 with power steering. It seemed to have made a difference. My problem is i have a lot of play and no resistance in the steering. After making the above adjustment it seemed to be improved. My question is, how far can i go with that allen head? Can i just keep tighten it till it stops?

 

Steering boxes do not have adjustments for wear. The adjustment is to set bearing and selector shaft preload. This need to be done with special tools to ascertain the torque needed.

By tightening it up it only masks the issue of Its worn out.....

You need a new box or a new rag joint and column bearings rebuild.

Manual Box
AutoZone.com | Shopping | Parts | Product Detail - Steering Gear (Manual Steering)

Power Box
AutoZone.com | Shopping | Parts | Product Detail - Steering Gear (Power Steering)

Garbz

 

The Auto-Zone P/S gearbox that is shown in the illustration is not correct for a 1968 with P/S.

All 1966/68's and 1969's before serial #D96,001 use BENDIX P/S.

1969's after serial number D96,001 and 1970's and later use FORD P/S.

Bendix P/S steering gear parts are almost non-existant. AFAIK, only Green Sales has the Master seal kit.

 

Bill

Please learn to read...

the AZ link clearly sez WITH FORD BOX...

And the box shown will bolt to the frame but requires the later steering column.

I post to see it is out there and encourage persons to actually get rebuilt steering boxes so they don't kill either you or me on the highway when the shaft lets loose from galling from excessive preload.

For all you or i know this peep as you call them has a friggin ford box and don't even know it...The truck is fourty years old and one of the first things done to them in five years is remove the horrible bendix box and swap in a ford box.

Garbz



Garbz

 

What's the deal on the steering columns?
Length?
What? :)

Wow thanks! :)
I feel all warm and fuzzy inside now.

I bought an Auto Zone Ford Power Steering gear and it was crap! :/
It was -almost- as bad as my original.
Heck, but why shouldn't it be? Huh? :/

They had both been "rebuilt" to Ford specs using that sorry steel spacer
and they were both beat out in that small area to just about the same
dimensions that resulted in the same amount of lost torsional motion.

Called and talked the foreman in charge of the shop that rebuilt it for
Auto Zone in Phoenix. He said their hands were tied and couldn't do
anything other than install Ford approved parts for legal and other
reasons. {shrug}

If you really want to help a guy get good steering tell 'im about getting
the Ford Power Steering Gear line bored so it can accept bearings. ;)

And to get new king pins and bearings and new tie rods and re-pack and
adjust the front wheel bearings and to be sure not the have too wide of
tires on too narrow of wheels ... how much time you got for me to list
everything involving safety? ...from not skipping his meds to cleaning his
windshield and/or prescription glasses.

LOL :)
It's easy and cheap enough to just -ask- 'im that. LOL :)
He's sitting right here reading this, same as you and me.

Alvin in AZ
ps- U gits on the road, U take Ur chances!

 

First i would have took the box back to the seller and received a different unit. Poor rebuild quality is no excuse. Possibly your box had a mex rebuild? some emery and new rings...

You can also get them at NAPA Checker or any other place.

The common practice of cranking on the screw to "Tighten it up" is the issue, It will not help if the king pins, rag joint lower column bearing are also bad.

The Ford/Saginaw units is about 1.25" Longer. The Bendix boxes are the same dimension as the manual box. But are horrible for road feel and they constantly blow seals and leak drool all over the place. The ford units are also mushy but worlds better and are of a slip pressure type.

Garbz

 

Are you one of them "stockade lawyers" that I heard about? :)
You got something against Mexicans? :(
Somehow I don't think you understand the problem. :/
-More wear- won't fix the problem. ;)
That won't fix the problem either.
BeenThereTriedThat.
They won't do anymore to them than the outfit in Phoenix (Phoenix isn't
in Mexico BTW;) did to them. An outfit that fixes them up by line boring
them and inserting "real;)bearings" will say so up front, brag on it and
charge you extra money for their extra effort. ;)
Yeah but... :)
...what lower column bearing? ;)

Alvin in AZ

 

Uhh, Alvin, there is a lower column bearing. There should be anyway. The one in my 72 is junk and is on my fix it before spring list. The clunk it makes at times drives me nuts. Yes the cab mounts are fine.


BTW, remind me not to argue with you.

 

LOL :)

Be careful agreeing with me more... I'm not used to "agree-ers" and when I
back up on something (often) I'll prob'ly back right over you without looking. ;)

The Ford Integral steering gears I've messed with use the cast iron case
as the bearing surfaces and it beats-out and wears bad. If it were a good
bearing surface then everything would be made that way? ;)

I wouldn't doubt that for a minute. :)

To check the steering joints for wear, I get someone to rock the steering
wheel back and forth (sometimes easy, sometimes hard) while I feel each
joint for play. King pins are tougher to test, if you hadn't done them lately,
just re-do 'em. ;) ...they are cheap and easy to do and make a big difference.

A worn steering gear's "bearings;)" will show themselves as...
...the sector shaft will -first- move to the side -before- it twists.

I found a machine shop that would line bore the housing and press in new
bearings but they were out of bearings and Ford no longer sold them (they
were for some other steering gear anyway) and so were out of business on
that job. I found bearings over the "new" internet, even the local bearing
shops couldn't find them for sale anywhere back then. :)

Anyway that's the real "fix" for the things, anything less is a waste of time.

Ford's answer was to use some of the lower seal's space by making thinner
seals and adding a steel ring to take-up the slop. It's not too bad for oh,
say... 10,000 miles! :( The steel ring beats out the gear and you're back to
the sector shaft resting on the cast iron again.

IMO if you really want to fix up your old pickup and make it cool to drive,
fix its sloppy-*** steering. ;)

Mine went from ~2+1/2" of play to less than 3/8".
The "rebuilt" unit left me with ~1+3/4" of play.

It was soooo cool to go around a long sweeping curve on the freeway when
the steering gear was sloppy. See it? :) All the play was taken up the whole
time and so the steering was quick and sensitive and it felt great. :)

Alvin (your favorite?) stupid ugly old contrary Gringo in AZ
ps- I'm a tinkerer and like modifying things "for the better". ;)
The power steering gear bearing -fix- has been a favorite of mine. :)

 

Alvin, we're not on the same page. You said lower column bearing not steering box bearing. I've had a few Ford boxes apart too. The clunk in mine is coming from the box end of the column. I have to have it in a twist or under be making a turn under acceleration to hear it.

I did the disc brake swap last spring. It has maybe 1000 miles since then. At the time I did the swap the front end got new king pins, all new bushings and new tie rod ends. The box was replaced by the original owner and maybe has 2500 miles on it.

I'll get back to you at some point about align boring a box. It sounds like a great update.

Clay, a stupid, ugly, old, contrary " yinzer" in Pennsylvania.

 

Oh heck, well in that case...
I've got a whole nuther topic to "go off" on then. ;)

The Ford lower column "bearing" "nylon cap" I bought from a dealership 20
years ago for my dent-side had been changed to something that had a 1"
hole in it from the 3/4" hole the original had. But. :) It sure as heck was
a better part since it was now made of -heavy duty- nylon. :)

I bushed up my 3/4" steering shaft with a solid plastic grind-stone bushing
and an oil-lite bronze bearing to take up the slop and held that stuff in
place with a hose clamp. :)

I had also changed out the upper ball bearing etc while I was at it.

All that started with a clunk in the my steering column too, but it was
mostly the play in upper bearing doing the clunking.

Back then there were many "rag joint" discs for sale that were flimsy junk. :/

I don't know what the situation is now but I went to several places before
I found one that I wanted, it was like a hunk of conveyor belt and hard and
tough as anything. :) Still using it. :)

Of course even the flimsy ones were hyped to be "heavy duty" over the
phone. ;)

With a -real good- "rag joint"...
the "lower column bearing" turns into a simple "lower column dust cap"

Alvin in AZ

 

Later this month i will take her in and have the front end worked on. I plan on having new king pins, and all other parts replaced. i would like a new gear box if it needs it. My serial number C64421 so based on that do i have a bendix?

 

Have you seen any of the rag joints that were made from nylon? I don't know who made them but but most plastic type materials that have to flex don't mix well with Pennsylvania winters. The idea of hitting one of the ever present potholes in single digit weather and having the rag joint break doesn't sit too well with me.

 

Dave the easiest way to tell which box you have is to look at the top cover. If the cover has 2 bolts it's a Ford ( Saginaw) box. If the cover has 4 bolts it's a Bendix box.

 

Out with the old (Manual Steering) and in with the new Power Steering, Steering Wheel to Pump. My Problem; Not play in the wheel, but it's almost like everything is to tight and I oversteer. I did tighten up the adjustment on the box which took out the little play It had, did I Over-Adjust the Box?? The more RPM's I put into it, the tighter it gets..?? I've Adjusted the Belt, not to loose, Not to tight, Minute help there.. The Set-up I'm using came from a 1972 Ford F100 Custom Sport. I have a 1970 F100 Custom. Would Horsepower have anything to do with it?? I'm Running a 1969 Mach1 Boss 302 motor.. (De-Tuned) ie. stock 302 intake and 2bbl and exhaust Manifold in place of the Headers. Gas Milage ya know.. I really don't want to just start turning the adjustment on the box without a tip or 2 from someone that know's the ins and outs of the box adjustments. Thanx Muchly... I Mean, HELP!!!!