I have steering gear box column off of my car. When i turn the steering wheel lock to lock i can turn it back toward center which takes about 2 and 1/4 turns from both limits The steering is nice and loose and smooth for the 2 and 1/4 turns from both locks but for a 1/2 to 3/4 of turning in the center the steering becomes very tight and not smooth as if the steering gears are binding. Is this normal with the column off the car? Is the steering tension adjustable?
I drove the car one summer two decades ago and don't recall a steering binding problem but i was new to the car and could have not realized it was a problem. I do remember it was a real mental exercise to change gears, operate the gas pedal, brake pedal and clutch pedal and use both arms to steer the car due to the manual steering. I was also on a gravel road and bumpy grass road on a farm so may have not noticed steering binding.
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Steering box gears are designed to have a close tolerance in the center. That's were its held going down the highway. When it is adjusted, it should be to zero clearance on center. Most gearboxes has an adjustment screw with a lock nut for this.
The steering adjustment it set too tight. ....what year is your car? Loosen the lock nut on the side of the steering gear and back out the slotted adjustment screw 1/4 turn. If the adjusment is too tight this should free it up.
I could feel and count about 12 teeth of a gear that was binding, kind of a start stop feeling in your hand while holding the steering wheel and turning it. Outside of the binding section the weight of the steering wheel was enough to act as a flywheel and keep the motion of steering going.
I had to loosen the screw a full turn plus a quarter turn more before the binding stopped.
i then tightened the screw an eighth turn until very slight resistance was felt while turning the steering wheel through the binding section by hand, which was actually binding through a quarter turn of the steering wheel in the center of the left and right steering limits, not a 1/2 to 3/4 turn as i originally wrote.
From a left or right lock the steering wheel, if given a good spin, acts like a flywheel and rotates through the quarter of a turn section that was binding before. However, turning the steering wheel slowly by hand i feel a bit of resistance in the quarter of a turn section that was previously binding.
Does this sound like an acceptable adjustment? Or should the one-quarter turn in the middle have a bit more of a resistance?
i have now. looks like i have an adjustment to make prior to adjusting the lock nut and slotted screw on the side and need to find a new tool to measure resistance at the steering wheel. that's ok, new tools are always fun.
Here is what you need to set the resistance in your steering box.
It is a genuine, one-of-a-kind 0 to 300 ounce inch beam torque wrench. I made this over 30 years ago when I needed to adjust the steering gear on my '72 Corvette.
The head is a short piece of 1" wooden dowel that I cut a 3/8" square drive into. The "beam" is 1/4" dowel. The pointer is a coat hanger.
I calibrated it using 4 ounce fishing weights.
Works great for setting steering drag.
I measure the distance from the center of the steering wheel to the point where the shop manual shows the spring scale attached. I multiply that distance by the force the spring scale should read and the multiply by 16 to get ounce inches.
Yes, it would. The trick with any scale is keeping the line of pull perpendicular to the lever arm from the center of rotation.
The use of a scale also requires the steering wheel or some type of lever arm be installed. With this torque wrench you can set a steering gear using the nut on the shaft.
