play in steering
 

my 66 c10 i feel has excessive play in the steering wheel. when i lowered the truck and put new brakes on it i put all new steering components on. this excessive play is this sign of a bad steering box?

Re: play in steering
 

This sounds like the same thing that was wrong with my truck. There is a bearing in the bottom of the column that supports the steering shaft that the steering wheel connects to. The stock bearing is a piece of **** that doesn't even have grease or seals in it. The replacement bearing has seals that keep the grease in there...it's about 100 times better than the stock bearing. Mine had been in there so long that grooves had been cut into the shaft. I had to weld up the grooves and grind down the excess so the bearing would be tight. Do a search with the words.'replace bearing in bottom of steering column' you will find several threads on this subject. Hope this helps.

Re: play in steering
 

On the manual boxes there is an adjustment that can be made by meshing the gears closer together. I am not sure of exactly how much it can be tightened but it involves loosening the nut, screwing in the slotted bolt and tightening the lock nut. I would think that once the bolt has been screwed down it should be retracted a bit to provide some clearance between the gears. I am not sure whether the P.S. boxes have this feature or not.

The lower bearing on my steering column had also cut into the shaft and got replaced by a bushing. The shaft got replaced by a newer collapsible shaft from a 67 P/U.

Re: play in steering
 

I've never had an older car/truck with a steering box that didn't have some play in the steering box, even after adjusting it. My newer cars with rack and pinion steering are alway tight, even with 160k+ miles.

We built a '68 Chevelle a few years ago and used a CPP 500 series box and it was really nice. No play, good feel/feedback, and quicker ratio than stock.

Re: play in steering
 

mehoff400, did you get your truck fixed?

Re: play in steering
 

My truck had lots of play in the steering. During the course of owning it I've redone the shocks, springs, sway, steering box, steering column etc....now it just has less play lol. Old chevy steering gears tend to "suggest" where your going .

Re: play in steering
 

i havent yet. i found it to be the steering gear. i have been collecting parts to put power steering on it so that might come sooner than expected.

Re: play in steering
 

Cool, I hope you get it all sorted out. You probably already know this, but Captainfab makes some excellent parts to help get all that done. He makes a plate to mount the steering box to the frame and a bracket for the power booster to the firewall if you also want power brakes.

Re: play in steering
 

Yep I have his power steering stuff in the garage for probably over a year and have the booster bracket installed.

Re: play in steering
 

Bringing this thread back to life. In my Workshop manual there appears to be a way to adjust the steering box internal bearings to tighten it up? Anyone have luck with this? I have about 4 to 6" of play in my steering and wanted to know where to start first.

Re: play in steering
 

You need a 3 to 5 year old to pretend s/he's driving while you go out and see where the play is coming from.

Re: play in steering
 

its in the steering box.

Re: play in steering
 

I guess nobody has done the adjustment procedure?

Re: play in steering
 

The so called adjusting screw on the top of the steering box is NOT an adjuster for steering play ... it is to adjust backlash in the gears on initial setup.
Be careful as this type of adjustment has been known to ruin steering boxes quickly.
You may even notice you have less play at full left and full right steering. The center section of the worm gear gets the most use and therefore the most wear.
So if there is play it usually means the box needs a rebuild.

Re: play in steering
 

Got it thanks for the response. Can you recommend a place to get one or what to avoid? I assume i should replace rag joint as well

Re: play in steering
 

I bought a manual box from these guys and it is really sweet. I've never had a zero play manual gearbox before but now, I'd never want anything else. https://redheadsteeringgears.com/abo...SAAEgJmVfD_BwE

Re: play in steering
 

awesome but they don't have one for a 61

Re: play in steering
 

Call them, they can rebuild yours.

Re: play in steering
 

what did you pay? Going rate for one on sother websites is about $250.00 for rebuilt box

Re: play in steering
 

$270 Including tax, shipping etc...the whole deal. Does the competition do the same kind of precision fittment of the components as Redhead?

Re: play in steering
 

Ya, I'd go with Red Head also before I'd save a couple of bucks somewhere else and possibly have to have it redone.