A little help please

[71dustar]

I tore apart my steering box to replace the worm gear (20:1 now) and also the pitman arm. With everything mounted in the car, I have a considerable amount of dead space in the steering wheel. This is due to the mesh between the pitman arm shaft gear and the worm gear. Is the pitman arm shaft replaceable or is there another solution?

 

[harleydartguy]

you should be able to loosen the adjuster lock nut and tighten the adjuster screw. I think. It's been 30 years since I worked on a steering gear...

 

[SGBARRACUDA]

As mentioned above, adjust the screw down or in to eleiminate the play. Do this with the wheel and ties in the straight position. Don't over tighten the screw or you will have a bind when you turn the steering wheel. I do this step on the bench before I install the box. The teeth usually have a worn spot in the straight ahead position because this is where the car is driven the most. This is why I reface the teeth when I have the box apart when I rebuild them.

 

[goldduster360]

I tore apart my steering box to replace the worm gear (20:1 now) and also the pitman arm. With everything mounted in the car, I have a considerable amount of dead space in the steering wheel. This is due to the mesh between the pitman arm shaft gear and the worm gear. Is the pitman arm shaft replaceable or is there another solution?

You may want to check the adjustment on the input shaft thrust bearing, this controls how much back and forth movement the steering shaft has. You can get a fair amount of lost movement if that bearing is set too loose. All OEM boxes have a little lost motion, you may want to check out the rest of the steering closely, worn idler arms and pitman arms can cause lost motion too. If it's a manual box it is quite possible the gears could be worn out though. I bet if you google that box there is somebody making replacement parts for the.