Wow! Steering box adjustment works!
#1
Safety Car
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Member Since: Nov 2005
Location: Lompoc, CA. Santa Barbara County
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Wow! Steering box adjustment works!
My wife was riding with me and commented on my constant course corrections and how I was fighting the dartiness of the steering. I told her that it was because the C3 Vette had old fashioned recirculating ball steering and how even her mini-van has rack and pinion steering. I was preparing her for the need to buy a $1300 part that improved steering and safety. But last night I finally tried something I had read about for years. I loosened the jam nut on the steering box, and turned the slotted screw in 1/2 turn, and went to bed. I had forgotten what I had done untill I backed out of the garage and started driving to work. What a big difference it made. I hardly could beleive it. Gone is the overboosted, no direct control feeling, and it feels like I'm actually driving the car instead of controlling the car. Instead of jerking the steering wheel to respond to the car darting, I'm steering the car. I may have saved $1300.
Bee Jay
Bee Jay
#3
Le Mans Master
Member Since: Jul 2006
Location: charlotte north carolina
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rule #1: never overtighten the adjustment screw on the steering box
rule #2: have a loud enough exhaust so you can't hear your wife complain about all the noises and problems these cars have
rule #2: have a loud enough exhaust so you can't hear your wife complain about all the noises and problems these cars have
The following 2 users liked this post by jnb5101:
Jarhead 74 Vette (11-05-2020),
Mrclean67 (02-21-2024)
#4
Tech Contributor
Hopefully you adjusted it on center. Correctly built and adjusted boxes are very good, others may disagree but it's fact.
#6
Burning Brakes
I tried this with mine earlier in the summer and saw no appreciable change to the dartiness. It did tighten up a little but now the car tends to pull on me. I went back to "0" adjustment (where I started) and it didn't really return to the old feel, just stayed the same as if I left the screw tightened. I wonder if my steering box is just shot? Is there a quick check I can perform to determine this? - - maybe I have just described it...
#7
Melting Slicks
my steering wheel has a couple inches of play. is this normal? will this take it out and how do you do this? thanks.
#8
Team Owner
Dantana....
Your problem is not with the steering box {apparently}. Check the rag-joint on the steering shaft for wear/slop. Replace or repair if required. If that's not the problem, check your idler arm and steering linkages....one or more of them have some bad joints.
P.S. If your front wheels are toed OUT, that can cause the same 'darting' problem.
Your problem is not with the steering box {apparently}. Check the rag-joint on the steering shaft for wear/slop. Replace or repair if required. If that's not the problem, check your idler arm and steering linkages....one or more of them have some bad joints.
P.S. If your front wheels are toed OUT, that can cause the same 'darting' problem.
The following users liked this post:
Jarhead 74 Vette (11-05-2020)
#9
Le Mans Master
jack up the front wheels have a friend move the steering wheel back and forth ,look at all the joints for movement .the rag joint you can check with out jacking it up .
#10
Le Mans Master
Mine has had a little more play than I like , so I tightened it down 1/4 turn just now. I also checked the lube in there by removing one of the 3/8 bolts near the adjusting jam nut. The grease in there wasn't hard so i added about 4 oz of gear oil. I'll check it out next time a I go for a spin to see if the free play is reduced enough and the steering wheel still moves freely.
#11
Race Director
No one has mentioned the proper procedure for tightening this nut, I know there is one but I don't know it off hand, anyone ?
#12
Safety Car
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I just drove home and I was amazed again at the difference. I took it up to 95 and the car is steady and doesn't change directions until I give it a good turn. The car is not all over the place anymore. I worked very hard this summer getting the front and rear aligned and was sure that I needed to make major suspension and steering changes to get it to track steady. Thats two major imporvements to my car that cost almost nothing this summer. The x-pipe and tightening this screw 1/2 turn. I've owned the car since new and I've never touched this in 30 years. So, I guess it was time.
Bee Jay
Bee Jay
#13
Drifting
Lets see a picture of this screw and where is the rag joint located? Any guidelines of where it should actually be as far as adjustment as mentioned above would also be helpful.
Thx,
Thx,
#14
Burning Brakes
Here is the link to the steering adjustment papers by Jim Shea.
http://jimshea.corvettefaq.com/?page_id=4
I rebuilt my column, replaced the rag joint, aligned the steering system (wheels, steering gear, rag joint, steering wheel) in the spring. The other thing I did was to lubricate the gear. Remove the lower bolt of the 3 bolts on top and stick a wire down the hole to see how much lube you have and if it's hardened over the years. Only use the GM steering gear lube and NOT chassis lube.
Here is a pic of the lube with the correct part number. I used a big siringe buy a grease gun works as well.
Last edited by 08vycpe; 09-02-2009 at 09:36 AM.
#15
Intermediate
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Thanks for the link, i was having similar problems as well. There is definitely a lot of good info from Jim Shea. I have read through a good deal of the papers already and have already learned so much, but which one covers adjusting the worm shaft bearing lash and pitman shaft lash?
#16
Safety Car
I just drove home and I was amazed again at the difference. I took it up to 95 and the car is steady and doesn't change directions until I give it a good turn. The car is not all over the place anymore. I worked very hard this summer getting the front and rear aligned and was sure that I needed to make major suspension and steering changes to get it to track steady. Thats two major imporvements to my car that cost almost nothing this summer. The x-pipe and tightening this screw 1/2 turn. I've owned the car since new and I've never touched this in 30 years. So, I guess it was time.
Bee Jay
Bee Jay
Enjoy the ride
#17
Burning Brakes
Thanks for the link, i was having similar problems as well. There is definitely a lot of good info from Jim Shea. I have read through a good deal of the papers already and have already learned so much, but which one covers adjusting the worm shaft bearing lash and pitman shaft lash?
http://jimshea.corvettefaq.com/wp-co...erev14no08.doc
#19
Team Owner
TIRES, wheels are more important than any other factor except overall condition of the suspension, in how the car handles....
when you get good modern lo profile enough rubber on there, that control valve rears it's fugly head and you will notice the wandering.....my car is only 17x9.5 vette wheels all around, and I noticed it right off, lived with it and all the excuses and alignments and adjustments for some 6+ years....finally figgered out how to put a rack in it....before any kits on the market...
and not only is the silliness of wandering gone, but the turns ratio is much tighter, instead of some bus driver's ratio of 3.7 turns lock to lock at about 16-1 it's now a much superior 12-1 and 2.7 turns lock to lock....much more attuned to a sporting car with decent rubber.....
it's a VETTE, not a bus.....
when you get good modern lo profile enough rubber on there, that control valve rears it's fugly head and you will notice the wandering.....my car is only 17x9.5 vette wheels all around, and I noticed it right off, lived with it and all the excuses and alignments and adjustments for some 6+ years....finally figgered out how to put a rack in it....before any kits on the market...
and not only is the silliness of wandering gone, but the turns ratio is much tighter, instead of some bus driver's ratio of 3.7 turns lock to lock at about 16-1 it's now a much superior 12-1 and 2.7 turns lock to lock....much more attuned to a sporting car with decent rubber.....
it's a VETTE, not a bus.....
#20
Safety Car
Thread Starter
Member Since: Nov 2005
Location: Lompoc, CA. Santa Barbara County
Posts: 3,932
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TIRES, wheels are more important than any other factor except overall condition of the suspension, in how the car handles....
when you get good modern lo profile enough rubber on there, that control valve rears it's fugly head and you will notice the wandering.....my car is only 17x9.5 vette wheels all around, and I noticed it right off, lived with it and all the excuses and alignments and adjustments for some 6+ years....finally figgered out how to put a rack in it....before any kits on the market...
and not only is the silliness of wandering gone, but the turns ratio is much tighter, instead of some bus driver's ratio of 3.7 turns lock to lock at about 16-1 it's now a much superior 12-1 and 2.7 turns lock to lock....much more attuned to a sporting car with decent rubber.....
it's a VETTE, not a bus.....
when you get good modern lo profile enough rubber on there, that control valve rears it's fugly head and you will notice the wandering.....my car is only 17x9.5 vette wheels all around, and I noticed it right off, lived with it and all the excuses and alignments and adjustments for some 6+ years....finally figgered out how to put a rack in it....before any kits on the market...
and not only is the silliness of wandering gone, but the turns ratio is much tighter, instead of some bus driver's ratio of 3.7 turns lock to lock at about 16-1 it's now a much superior 12-1 and 2.7 turns lock to lock....much more attuned to a sporting car with decent rubber.....
it's a VETTE, not a bus.....
Bee Jay