Ollie's 2 cents,I have never seen a mopar steering sector bad internally....manual or power steering....o rings will rot in a power steering sector causing oil leaks. If that is the case only replace the outer O rings. Just did mine and all is great.
Ollie----- Original Message ----- From: <62pluckedchicken@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <1962to1965mopars@xxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 8:20 AM Subject: RE: Need a new steering box?
Herb, this is great... I can follow shop manual directions pretty good.. but how to diagnose problems is a mystery to me.. this has helped more than you know :) This should be a sticky somewhere.. I copies the whole thread for my own reference this thread has saved me a ton of money.. I had a '76 Eldo at one time and if somthing broke I'd start replacing parts until the problem went a way... not a good use of money I owe you all beers... when you see a powder blue Newport with a white top and Nebraka plates.. come and get me.. I owe you :) Herb wrote:First you need a second person! Having one person moving the wheel back and forth, the second should look under car looking for movement. First make sure the pitman arm is moving back and forth and not up & down. Next look at the idler arm it should do the same back and forth only! That up & down play alone can give you a lot of slack in your steering & follow cracks in the road. Next check each tie rod end for play, you should have none! Look at each ball joint no play. Now using a scissor or floorjack jack up your right front about two or three inches off the ground lifting from the lower control arm. Using a long board or pipe lift up & down under the tire looking at the ball joints, on a MoPar you will have a very small amount of play. If you have a lot replace the ball joints. Next leaving it jacked up grab the front & back of the tire and wiggle it back & forth you should have no slack. At this point in time you probably wont need to but if all is OK so far, do the same procedure to the left side looking for the same symptoms. If every thing is tight so far (Bet not) look at the gearbox steering coupler for slack again you should find none. If everything is tight but the manual steering gearbox, it can be adjusted by loosening the locknut on the threaded rod with a screwdriver or an alanhead slot in it. Having someone wiggle the wheel back & forth turn the screw clockwise till you have very little slack. This is a street adjustment and should be done when all else fails. The proper procedure entails using a torque wrench and following the procedure outlined in the appropriate manual for your year car Also this is for manual steering not power. Before you adjust the gearbox repair the items that are loose such as bushings, tie rod ends, ball joints, steering coupler and idlerarms. Your car is 40+ sumtin years old and a little slack here and a little more their all adds up and shows at the wheel and it probably is not all in the steering box! Next question rubber or polly, rubber = soft + cushiony polly = stiff + responsive. Every thing else you replace are slack reducers! Hope this helps & not confuses! I just went through my front end and replaced all the bushings, tie rod ends idler arm, ball joints and it drives like a new car none of the parts were bad but they were all loose & sloppy. Worth the time and effort! Herb St. Louis, MO. -------Original Message------- From: 62pluckedchicken@xxxxxxxxx Date: 2/14/2009 9:19:37 AM To: 1962to1965mopars@xxxxxxxxxx Subject: Need a new steering box? There is a lot of play in my steering wheel, when parked the wheel can move a few inches each way without moving the tires. Do I need a new steering box or just an ajustment? BTW the aligment is off as well, if that makes a difference. ---- Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person -- directly to that person. I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar topic. Thanks! '62 to '65 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines: http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]----Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person -- directly to that person. I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar topic. Thanks!'62 to '65 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines: http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html.
---- Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person -- directly to that person. I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar topic. Thanks! '62 to '65 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines:http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html.