Steering wheel play

[pb24]

Can anybody Tell me how much play you should have in the steering. I think I have too much play, do you check it with the engine running or not. I can see the adjustment screw in the steering box, I all most forgot its power steering

[8WHEELER]

It is very common to have some play in your steering on these cars, more so on a car that has
never had the front end rebuilt. If the front end is tight and good, then you should see how much
play is in your box. But don't try and adjust your box unless you really know what you are doing.
You can over tighten the box very easily and destroy the box.

Dan

[hemihead]

Yeah, the cars aren't like the newer cars with rack and pinion steering.And Mopar had more play in the box than anyone.

[blackcrowe]

how much in a manual box---my wheel goes 1" both directions(2" overall)

[John_Kunkel]

Using the adjuster on the steering box to remove freeplay can be risky.

Most of the wear on the worm gear/sector shaft occurs within a few degrees on either side of center,  if the freelpay is tightened at the center it might be too tight and bind up when making a turn.

[hemihead]

1 in. doesn't sound to me overly extreme.

[Chryco Psycho]

make sure the play is not in the coupler , the box can be adjusted but make sure you are centered before adjusting so it will NOT jam near center

[chargerbr549]

I looked in the factory manual and they have a complicated way of adjusting the "slack" out of the steering box, I have adjusted alot of gearboxes over the years and I have had no problems with a simple method my Dad told me to do, he was a Chrylser mechanic for over 35 years so I tend to listen to his advice, count the steering wheel turns lock to lock and then turn back half way to put the gearbox dead center, then loosen locknut and turn screw clockwise until it gently bottoms out and then back out a half a turn and tighten the locknut, that should be pretty close to optimum and check to make sure that the gearbox isn't binding when done. It worked great for me, I hope this helps.

Kevin

[Steve P.]

So what is the best rule of thumb to follow when making adjustments to the steering box?

I have allways adjusted the screw by about an 8th of a turn at a time and test driven the car. If it feels good I leave it there.   I did go too far one time and at the 12:O'Clock position the steering was stiff as hell. Had to back it off..