I'm focusing on getting my 78 Bronco in shape for camping in the near future and running down my safety checklist. I'm addressing the very loose steering first. I got under the Bronco with a camera and had one of my 5 year old girls crank the wheel back and forth and this is what I'm seeing. Any thoughts before I start tearing stuff off? Thanks.

 

I'm assuming the best case scenario is I have a loose nut on the sector shaft that needs tightening. Worst case scenario is splines on both the sector shaft and the pitman arm are fudged and both the pitman and the steering gear need replaced?

 

Looks like the pitman arm nut is loose the shaft is tapered should tighten up the tie rods look tight.

 

At a quick glance everything looks ok, minus that play at the pitman/sector shaft. It drives straight, but requires about 1/3 turn of the wheel before there's enough movement from the tires to start turning. The rag joint is intact and in good shape as well.

 

Tighten that nut and see if it don't fix that play.

 

I agree with Trailer Special's comments.

Try and obtain the correct torque setting for that nut.

Tightening it will be easy if you're built like Mike Tyson !

Is there a thick washer between the box and nut ?
(If memory serves me, there should be one.)

 

I'm built more like this kind of Tyson.




On my next day off I'll crawl under there and clean things up and inspect it a little closer before making the rig inoperable for a while. It was pretty cold and windy that day and I didn't take a lot of time to look at it. I had some pretty whiny kids and took that as an opportunity to get one of them out of the house for a few minutes.

 

Well, I got a new addition to the family yesterday weighing in at 4.7lbs.









My first power tool. I'm an official adult. *tear* It'll be getting a lot of use between my F-100 and the Bronco. I think the next project that'll require it will be removing the crankshaft bolt on my Civic. But I digress.

I hit the nut a couple of times with it and it seems about as tight as it can go. Yes, there is a huge lock washer between the nut and the pitman arm. It appears to have removed a LOT of the play. The rod that connects to the other end of the pitman arm might have a bit of play. It doesn't have horizontal movement, but you can pivot it back and forth from the front to the rear if that makes sense. I'm not sure if that's "ok" movement. Tightening the nut on its own has certainly made things better, no doubt. I actually tightened it with the impact, wasn't satisfied with how much it tightened, so I removed the nut completely and then tried it again. Before I tried tightening it again, the whole pitman arm dropped off the sector shaft on its own, which was odd, pretty loosey goosey. I'm gonna take the nut and pitman arm off again and clean all the splines up and clean the nut up and put it back on and get it torqued properly and hopefully that'll do the job.

I may have to remove the steering wheel to get it lined up properly. It seems to be "off". A little counterclockwise. Maybe someone prior to my ownership took it off and moved it in an attempt to "fix" the play? Who knows!

And for those wondering if an impact is needed. No, it's not. I'd been eyeing this thing online for quite a while and finally found reason to get it. It made it worlds easier though. I tried with a giant Blackhawk adjustable wrench that I acquired from the middle of the road a couple years ago. It's easily a foot and a half long. It had enough leverage, but was very unwieldy working in that location with all the steering linkage in the way.

 

PS. The sector shaft nut is 1 5/16" in case anyone searches and finds this thread. It's not a typical size, so places like HF don't stock it at their stores if you're hoping to go there for a quick socket.

 

380771-S100 .. Pitman Arm Nut to Steering Gear - 7/8" -14

Shown as 380771-S in pic. Column/floor shift makes no difference. This nut was also used on F100/350 & Passenger Cars.

 

I,d say the pitman is shot, and the bottom bearing in the box. I,ve had several 78/79 broncos and f150s and this is a common problem.

 

Considering I have no idea how long its been running with the arm and box like this, that could very well be. I knowingly bought it like this with the thought that I might have to replace the box. Like I said, it really tightened things up when I hit it with the impact. The pitman didn't wobble anymore, but there might be some play in the sector shaft along with the tie rod connected on the other end. That's one thing I'm going to look at when I take it back apart to clean it up. I no longer have to turn the wheel 1/3-1/2 the way when driving to get the wheels to move like they should. It's more like 2-3 inches at this point which, to some people who drive these dents, would be business as usual. lol. After putting a new box and rag joint on my '77 I know it can be tighter and better, but 2-3 inches of play certainly isn't too terrible.