VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Steering Wheel Play

My 31 chevy has had a lot of play in the steering wheel. We have followed the manuals instructions for removing the play as well as inspected the gear box to see if there was any excessive wear. All things seem to check out but there is still movement of about 2-3 inches in either direction before the wheels start to turn. Can anyone tell me if that is the normal amount of play or if there is something we are missing?

Sincerely,
Jeremy

The most common problems causing excessive play are the outer pitman shaft bushing and bearings. If the steering box has been run dry for an extended period it probably will be necessary to take it apart and replace those parts. Generally wear in the worm and sector gears can be adjusted to be acceptable.

I agree with Chipper that wear in the bushings and bearings is the main source of free play in the steering gear box.

I assume that you have checked all the other joints in the complete steering system. There are lots of places where wear occurs.

The way I do it takes 2 people. And the vehicle is on the ground. One person simply sits in the driver’s seat and rotates the steering wheel back and forth to the ends of the free play range.

The other person is under the car watching each connection as the steering tries to move. I even feel the different ball joint connections to determine if there so much wear that you can feel movement. You can often see the spindle moving on the kingpin before it rotates. The same can happen at the pitman shaft. You can see it move back and forth before it starts to rotate.

Loose wheel bearings can reduce steering response. Excessive wear in the bearing at the top of the steering column produces free play.

Steering is a system.

Thank you both for the feedback. We have not checked the entire system, which we definitely will. However, I suspect the Steering box because we did check for movement at the pitman arm that the steering gear connects to and the play in the steering wheel is occurring before the steering gear engages and moves the rest of the system. We will definitely take a closer look at the steering column bearings too. Thanks for the tips.

I had the same issue until I understood how the 3 adjustments work.

I took the steering box and column out of the car and opened and cleaned the box. The PO had put axle grease in it.

With the box open, I could see how the adjustments work. I filled the box with JD cornhead grease and adjusted it on the bench for as little slop as possible with only a bare minimum of binding at the extremes. When I put it back in the car (I had already adjusted the tie rods, etc.) the freeplay went from 2 - 3 inches to about an inch, part of which is due to somewhat worn kingpins.

Speaking of JD Cornhead Grease, I read recently that the steering box does not get warm enough for the grease to 'self level' as we would like it to. Makes sense.

Also, I noticed that the steering on my '28 was getting harder to turn (BTW, the steering box is filled with JD Cornhead Grease).

So I squirted a little Mobil 600W oil into the steering box thinking that it would mix with the cornhead grease and flow better. Sure 'nuf, the steering got easier and the oil/grease mixture does not seem to be inclined to leak out of the box, like it did when it was straight 600W oil.

Ever onward, Dean