power steering control valve question
 

I'm replacing the power steering control valve on my '77. The ball stud on top has a castle nut and cotter pin. When I reinstall, is the castle nut tightened to a certain spec, or just snugged down??? I just removed the old control valve, and when I removed the cotter pin, the castle nut was only finger tight. Is that the way it should be?? Thanks.

The AIM specs on page 352 - call for 50 # torque to align cotter pin slot

1/6 turn maximum..

DO NOT BACK OFF NUT FOR COTTER PIN INSERTION!!!

I hope this helps........:flag:

45 ft-lbs. plus additional turn to align cotter pin hole.

in my case while not finger tight it was somewhat loose and the ball stud was rotating on the pitman arm.the ball stud taper took the wear and the replacement ballstud went on tight.i'm not sure if in some cases the pitman arm would catch the wear.good luck.

Bill......

Didn't you have a little wandering when driving straight and a delay in response when turning?

BHRIG there were so many things loose or worn it was hard to tell.i could not go above 50 mph safely back then.

As much as you might not want to hear this; I would purchase a new power steering pitman arm. The power steering arm has the number 3741383 (usually with an "A" or a "B" after the number) cast on the arm.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y38...rmsTopView.jpg
The ball stud is hardened. So if it was loose in the pitman arm socket, it will pound on the tapered hole that is machined into the arm. So even if you seem to retighten the ball stud into the original pitman arm (and it seems tight) the "fit" of the taper is no longer proper between the two parts and I would be very concerned that the connection could loosen with some driving.

I would be safe and purchase a new arm.

Let me qualify the above with one more statement. If the castle nut was loose, but you still had to use a tool to "break" the taper fit between the stud and the pitman arm, then the tapered hole in the pitman arm would still be correct and you could go about just retightening the connection.

Jim

jim you have given me food for thought.i did this job over a year ago and installed the pitman arm on the steering assembly first before mounting the whole assembly.sometimes i get creative and i might have put a washer there figuring i would just be lower on the same tapered stud while maintaining fitment.if i see a washer there did i do bad?thanks for the feedback.