Steering Occassionally "Catching"

[soonercruiser]

I've noted in the past an occassional "catching" of the steering when I'm in the driveway ay slow speeds turninh.
Today it caught a little worse than normal.

NEVER felt this on the highway at speed.

Steering Box????

 

[abodyjoe]

what do you mean "catching?"

 

[69FBCuda]

Pitman arm hitting header

 

[toolmanmike]

I've noted in the past an occassional "catching" of the steering when I'm in the driveway ay slow speeds turninh.
Today it caught a little worse than normal.

NEVER felt this on the highway at speed.

Steering Box????

We can guess but it will be just guesses. You will need to diagnose it instead of asking us. Just sayin'

 

[Professor Fate]

Power or manual?
Depending what you mean by "catching", there's lots of stuff to check before you blame the steering box.
Have someone else sit in the car, turning the wheel while you observe the operation of the steering- under the car, look for interference or rubbing/binding of any of the steering linkage against the exhaust/headers, torsion bars, or oil pan; watch the column and coupler under the hood as it rotates and see if it's contacting anything like the exhaust manifold or observable slop in the coupler.
It could be something as simple as worn out motor mounts allowing the engine to sit improperly and contact things it shouldn't... or a myriad of other things.

 

[Super-Cuda]

I've noted in the past an occassional "catching" of the steering when I'm in the driveway ay slow speeds turninh.
Today it caught a little worse than normal.

NEVER felt this on the highway at speed.

Steering Box????

I've noted in the past an occassional "catching" of the steering when I'm in the driveway ay slow speeds turninh.
Today it caught a little worse than normal.

NEVER felt this on the highway at speed.

Steering Box????

What size tires on the front?

Is it possible they are hooking the front fender when you are turning hard left or right while backing up?

 

[Oldmanmopar]

Usually I have seen the pitman arm hit the header on the drivers side.

 

[remytherat]

Check the steering box bolts. They can loosen up causing play and a binding steering column. That would be my bet.

 

[Demonx2]

Zerk fittings on the pitman or idler arms can hit headers. Ask me how I know....!

 

[RustyRatRod]

I would check also for loose or broken motor mounts. Also the pittman and idler arms most certainly can hit headers. The ends of the studs can hit. I've seen that first hand a good bit.

 

[soonercruiser]

Power or manual?
Depending what you mean by "catching", there's lots of stuff to check before you blame the steering box.
Have someone else sit in the car, turning the wheel while you observe the operation of the steering- under the car, look for interference or rubbing/binding of any of the steering linkage against the exhaust/headers, torsion bars, or oil pan; watch the column and coupler under the hood as it rotates and see if it's contacting anything like the exhaust manifold or observable slop in the coupler.
It could be something as simple as worn out motor mounts allowing the engine to sit improperly and contact things it shouldn't... or a myriad of other things.

Most helpful!
I obviously jumped ahead of a broader inspection, just to see what the common causes might be.
("Catching" = wheel not turning.)
Now I know some things to look for.

On another thread I dealt with tires sizes. And these 215/60 R14s don't rub.

 

[Scamp Rhonda]

I put a "cage" on my steering coupler and it would bump the header at certain times causing what seemed like it was "catching". I put a quarter inch shim under the driver's side motor mount and that took care of it. The cage isn't on the coupler in this picture but you can see how close it is to the bottom header pipe.

 

[YY1]

Be careful.

My 1980 D-100 had an issue with the gearbox and would sometimes "catch" going around a slow corner.
A little extra effort, and it would push through.

One day, turning onto my street, it caught and wouldn't move about halfway through the turn.
I put all my muscle into it as I headed into someone's yard and it literally broke something inside the gearbox.
After that the steering wheel turned but the front wheels did not.
I had to pull the pittman arm in order to turn the wheels to get it home.

 

[jimjimjimmy]

Be careful.

My 1980 D-100 had an issue with the gearbox and would sometimes "catch" going around a slow corner.
A little extra effort, and it would push through.

One day, turning onto my street, it caught and wouldn't move about halfway through the turn.
I put all my muscle into it as I headed into someone's yard and it literally broke something inside the gearbox.
After that the steering wheel turned but the front wheels did not.
I had to pull the pittman arm in order to turn the wheels to get it home.

scary , makes you think ''what coulda happened''

 

[Super-Cuda]

Most helpful!
I obviously jumped ahead of a broader inspection, just to see what the common causes might be.
("Catching" = wheel not turning.)
Now I know some things to look for.

On another thread I dealt with tires sizes. And these 215/60 R14s don't rub.

Easy to check for tire rub as you mentioned that this only happens when you are in the driveway.

Turn the steering wheel full lock and back out of the driveway.

Then do the same thing with the steering turned full lock the other way.

If tire rub is an issue, this will identify it.

Could be caused by worn lca pivots or cracked pivot points in the K-Frame

Also , worn strut rod bushings.

In both instances, when you look at the tire when the vehicle is parked, the tire looks like it fits in the wheel well perfectly.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Be careful.

My 1980 D-100 had an issue with the gearbox and would sometimes "catch" going around a slow corner.
A little extra effort, and it would push through.

One day, turning onto my street, it caught and wouldn't move about halfway through the turn.
I put all my muscle into it as I headed into someone's yard and it literally broke something inside the gearbox.
After that the steering wheel turned but the front wheels did not.
I had to pull the pittman arm in order to turn the wheels to get it home.

That had to be a pain in the *** day.

 

[YY1]

That had to be a pain in the *** day.

Would have been a completely different scenario if I was heading out of my street and accelerating onto a 50 MPH 2 lane, blind curve instead of turning in.

That's the 440, 833 OD truck.

 

[pauly]

Be careful.

My 1980 D-100 had an issue with the gearbox and would sometimes "catch" going around a slow corner.
A little extra effort, and it would push through.

One day, turning onto my street, it caught and wouldn't move about halfway through the turn.
I put all my muscle into it as I headed into someone's yard and it literally broke something inside the gearbox.
After that the steering wheel turned but the front wheels did not.
I had to pull the pittman arm in order to turn the wheels to get it home.

I rebuilt a steering box out of a mid 80’s W150 that would catch in the middle when the wheels were straight. Scared me enough that I got another box and swapped it out. Several years later I had my brother go back through it and he couldn’t find anything out of whack. I think that one eventually got turned in for a core.

 

[Dave999]

catching
worm screw runs on ball bearings case top and bottom, the bearings are in a cone shaped retainer, they look like the crank bearings on a schwinn or raleigh bike, and they run between a concave cup in the case top and bottom and a a concave profile on the bottom and top sections of the fat bit of the worm screw.

if the box has been used in a scenario with serious shear forces applied to the worm screw spline end, use of a sold UV joint on a bendy street car etc . Or the case top and big hex lock nut has come loose. the bearing holders get stretched and break up...usually the top one and usually just in 1 place

bits of metal between the balls and their bearing cup cause them to skate and flat spot. this ruins the surface on the worm screw making it look like the surface of the moon. Can be reclaimed with polishing but PITA to do

the result is randomly notchy catchy steering.
similar bearing set up in both manual and power boxes. and all other saginaw derived boxes