Steering gear box

[arunice]

I had a bad leaking problem from my steering gearbox. I eventually got around to removing it. I disassembled the whole thing and put new orings and seals in. After the biggest fight of my life trying to wrestle it back up and in I fired it up.

No leaks! However the steering wheel turned on its own all the way to the left. I bled all air out, fought the wheel turning it to its max radius with no success.

Im certain I reassembled it wrong and misaligned the valve inside somehow. Because of the fight to get it in and out, I did the right thing and pulled the belt off to the pump. Manual steering now.

Any words of advice guys? I'm not confident in rebuilding the gearbox but will if I knew my labor would be worth it the 1st time I attempted with your words of wisdom I'd try again.

[Blobird]

Hi, Aurenice, I think that you need to adjust the valve spool adjuster, it sits in the front of the steering wheel behind a threaded plug. see the chop manual chapter 7. 3. be careful it is very sensitive. It can be done in the car, but is very difficult to access.and you may need some special tools, you might be able to change something I did myself,I used a socket that I welded on a short rod to be able to lock the lock nut while I held the adjusting screw in the right position. Unfortunately I have no picture right now. Naturally, you must have the car idling with the wheels raised from the ground. Be careful and precise.
Good luck.
Lennart Sahlin / Sweden
63 SR
Good luck.
Lennart Sahlin / Sweden
63 SR

[arunice]

Thank you thats reassuring. Youre thinking mine is adjusted way to much one way that its force is whats causing the wheel to turn all on its own?
The threaded plug is a nightmare itself. I used a punch and hammer to slowly tap it off. I'd love to see the tool you used.

[Blobird]

Hi, today I take some pics of my homade tools that I post her.

I also found a document that I saved from the Internet a long time ago that is about this that I attach here. it is likely that you will have to loosen the 3 bolts that hold the steering gear to the frame, and pry it out slightly from the frame to asess the adjustment.

> 1. Jack the front of the car up and place on secure jack stands.
>
> 2. Remove the front drivers side wheel
>
> 3. Remove the three bolts that go through the frame and thread into the
> powersteering box
>
> 4. This is where you have to get under the car on your back and by pushing
> or prying slightly up and away from the frame you can move the steering
box
> out enough to access the acorn type nut on the end of the box that covers
> the adjuster screws.
>
> 5 Remove the acorn nut from the end of the steering box and you will see
two
> nuts, one lock nut and a larger nut behind it. The front one is a lock nut
> and the rear one is the spool adjusting nut.
>
> 6. Have someone hold the steering wheel or secure it by some other means
so
> it cant rotate and with a 7/16 wrench loosen the lock nut.(standard right
> hand thread)
>
> 7. If the car is pulling to the left you will have to turn the adjusting
nut
> clockwise or tighten it, if the car is pulling to the right you will have
to
> turn the nut counter clockwise. I would say you will not have to go more
> than 1/2 a turn, in fact if this car is driveable you will likely only be
> 1/4 turn out of adjustment. The adjusting nut is 9/16 and you will find
that
> it is easy to turn counter clockwise but a little more difficult to turn
> clockwise. I used a 9/16 deep socket and a 3/8 drive ratchet that I had
cut
> the handle short for getting into tight places like this.
>
> 8. Do your adjustment tighten the lock nut, put on the acorn nut, pry the
> box back into position and put in the bolts, replace the tire, drop the
car"







"




I used small sockets that I turned down the outer diameter on, so that the smaller one fit inside the larger one that I drilled up inside. So that I can hold one while I lock the other.
Good luck.

[arunice]

Very cool stuff you got here. I'll give it a shot and make some tools. And thank you for the directions. The clockwise vs counter clockwise I found was in the shop manual but I will reference your advice. You're the best.

[michaelperazzo]

I didn't know there was external adjustments on these boxes! My box when I got the car darted or jogged over to the right when the wheel was turn slightly in that direction, left was ok. I removed and had it rebuilt and re installed. Now it does little jogs back and forth when turning slightly in both directions. Very disappointing because it was a lot of work! I can live with it for now, but is there an external adjustment that might help?

Thanks,

Michael