I have been driving my 51 now for about 6 months and am curious about how much steering slop is normal. My daily drivers are all new vehicles with power steering so it is unfair to compare. The truck steers fine other than there is a apr a 2 inch dead ban in the steering wheel before she starts turning. Is there a way to tighten this up and do I want to? All the running gear appears to be good and tight and truck tracks straight and dosn't wander. It has been quiet a few years since I drove a non power steering vehicle so I don't know if this is normal or not. Thanks in advance for any input. Dave
If you are VERY lucky there will be adjustment left in the adjuster screw. It is the screw sticking out of the box with a slot for a screwdrive and a set nut to lock it in position. Adjust it with the wheels pointing straight ahead and screw the adjuster in till it hits what feels like a stop but don't put extra torque on it. If the top of the adjuster screw is even with or below the surface of the set nut the box is worn out and needs rebuilt. When all is right in the front end these trucks steered easily and drove straight. Wide tires, smaller custom steering wheels, and worn steering/suspension parts gave them an undeserved bad rap.
X2.....My 47's steering box made it a death trap facing oncoming traffic, constantly over and under-correcting. I put in a rebuilt box, and now she is tight and straight and a pleasure to drive. Safe too!
Steering Remember : there are many different places where you can have play , to find the problem : wheels aired up to 40 #, grasp the tires @ 9:00 & 3:00 and try to move back & forth , if you feel play , crawl under the truck and move them again while looking for loose parts , often tie rod ends and the horizontal ' drag link ' off the steering drop arm ~ it has heavy springs in it that often break , I highly recommend using used drag link springs , the new ones from China suck . After these loose points are fixed , then grasp the front tire @ 12:00 and push & pull it , always some play here , look at the gap between the brake drum and the brake backing plate , there shouldn't be play there , if there is , it's time for a routine wheel bearing service where you remove the outer bearing , clean it well with LINT FREE rags , pack with black Moly based grease and re - assemble , snug up the adjusting nut as you rotate the wheel , do not preload the nut , back it off one notch to fit the cotter pin if neccessary & use a new cotter pin every time or be ready to DIE . The stering box has a plug on top of it , often a Zerk fitting but never , EVER use grease ! use gear oil , the thickest you can find , or fill it with STP engine honey . To adjust it , you'll need a 90 degree flat blade screw driver and a BOX END wrench ~ DO NOT use an open end wrench here ! . As mentioned before : when new , these trucks steered *very* easily ~ almost like power steering so if it's stiff , work at greasing it and adjusting things , make sure the tires match size and brand etc. .
steering slop Thanks all for the input. I have not found an adjustment screw on my steering box, I did find the fill nut that Nate was refering too and it looks a little bit low on fluid. Hope to check steering linkage later this week but they checked it when I had it inspected and THEY said it was good. That was the one area I was concerned with when I went to get it inspected, was worried that it might not pass. Truck is put up for the winter so will start catching up on the remaining projects so you will hear from me again. Dave
