steering on a 53 super wasp

Majumbo

hello i had play in my steering wheel so i adjusted my steering box but now i still have play and when i turn the wheel it like pops and stops and i have to force it to turn.

i climed under and in the very middle i saw a shaft that the steering rods were connected too. i think the bushings in this were bad because it had play top to bottom when moving the steering arm. what is this called? is this the idler shaft? thankyou

Ol racer

FYI
Randy Maas ( maasfh@ntslink.net ) sells a repair Kit to fix that steering Idler movement.

Lee ODell

Majumbo wrote:

hello i had play in my steering wheel so i adjusted my steering box but now i still have play and when i turn the wheel it like pops and stops and i have to force it to turn.

i climed under and in the very middle i saw a shaft that the steering rods were connected too. i think the bushings in this were bad because it had play top to bottom when moving the steering arm. what is this called? is this the idler shaft? thankyou

It sounds like you may have adjusted the steering gear off center. There is a slight crown on the worm gear. If it is adjusted off the crown then the adjustment will be too tight when you try to turn the wheels. If you pull the horn button, there should be a mark on the end of the steering shaft. WHEN THE STEERING GEAR BOX IS CENTERED that mark will be at 6 o'clock position while adjusting the gear box. With the mark at the 6 o'clock position the steering wheel arms should be at 9 and 3 o'clock position. If not remove the steering wheel and center it.

Gert Kristianson also sells a bushing kit for the stepdown center point idler arm at
HETgtkristi@copper.net. Drop the HET.

Have a good day.

Lee O'Dell

Uncle Josh

I've got a used roller shaft here on the office floor if you can use it. These are unique to the swb stepdowns. (The worm went to Sweden) No charge. Shipping only. It has a small chip out of the center tooth that won't affect operation.

HETcramerlp@roadrunner.com, drop HET

Majumbo

thank you guys so much. im thinking of buying from 21 century.
thanks lee ill deffinatly look into that. all i did was take the cap nut off and turned the screw in and then backed it out a 1/2 a turn then replaced nut. it did help alot with the play and pop of the steering wheel but im pretty sure its the bearings on the center idle shaft.

thank you!!!

Lee ODell

Since you have up and down movement in the center point idler arm, you will have excessive steering wheel movement before the tires respond. And the toe-in of the tires change constantly as the idler arm moves up and down. The idler arm is only suppose to swing sideways not up and down. When you fix the bearing, don't forget to get the wheel alignment checked. The toe-in will most likely be incorrect.

Something else, before mounting the idler arm back on the car, check how easily the arm swings back and forth on the shaft. It should turn freely. If not, and you put it on the car, you will have a horible handling car.

You might want to double check the tie rods for movement after changeing the idler arm. Once the idler arms excessive movement is removed, then excessive movement is sometimes detected in the tie rod ends, even though it was not noticed before.

Good luck. There will be a noticeable improvement of you cars handling when finished.

Have a good day. Lee O'Dell

PS I just realized you did not mention checking the steering gear box worm bearing end play before the roller mess adjustment. That should alway be checked before any roller mess adjustment. Excessive end play will still give you excessive steering wheel movement. Your Mechanical Procedure Manual will show you how to do that. Don't forget to back off the roller mess aduster before end play adjustment.

Lee ODell

Question?

Did it pops and stops before adjusting steering box? Or did it start doing that after adjustment?

Lee O'Dell

Majumbo

before and after but it got better after the adjustment