Have a slight looseness/play in the steering. Steering wheel will move left-right about two inches or so before the steering gets responsive. So, question is, can I tighten the steering box bolt ever so much til the steering wheel does not have the play in it. Do I experiment or can I slightly turn the adjustment screw until I feel it contact the screws inside. Understand that overtightening can be disasterous, but is a slight adjustment OK, and can it be done by finger tightening the bolt until I feel it contact the gears inside. Hope this make sense.

 

If your over tighten the lash screw, you can eat gears pretty quick I would pull it out and send it to Gary. Too many people set them up wrong.
You HAVE to use a dial type inch pound torque wrench. I have one. Worth every nickel.

 

While a rebuild COULD be in order, there is noting wrong with doing some slight adjustment on your own to try and take out a little play. If you go too tight, that is correct that you can cause premature wear on the gears. Give it a try - hold the center with a hex wrench, break the jam nut loose, and give the center a portion of a turn clockwise. Adjust a little at a time (1/8 or 1/16 of a turn?) and sneak up on it. Drive it a bit between each adjustment. You will know if you're too tight if you feel some friction at the wheel or it feels tight or wants to stay turned and won't return to center on its own. If you reach that point, readjust and back it off.

If you still have play, look to other things such as tie rod ends and idler arm.

 

Figure a way to mechanically lock the output shaft of the steering box so that it CAN NOT move. Now see how much play is in the wheel. If you still have play, check the condition of the 'ragjoint' (flex coupling between steering shaft and steering box). Repair or replace it if there is lots of movement in that ragjoint coupling.

 

All good points above. I had a jeep I rebuilt decades ago and it had A LOT of play in a saginaw style steering box like ours. I had someone turn the wheel back and forth where we could feel the slop in the wheel stop and the steering components would actually start to make the wheels turn. That eliminated the tie rods and ball joints. That system didnt have a rag joint so I felt safe it was all in the box and I just loosened up the nut and turned the screw until all the slop had gone out of the steering and then turned the wheel to feel any binding. I backed it off a hair until any roughness went away. I went from 1/4 turn of the wheel of slop to under an inch of wheel travel. A huge change. That stayed like that for years with no degradation of the box, 4 wheeling and all. Its a simple worm gear and not as fragile as some would like you to believe. Its pretty tough as it has to take some good hits from pot holes and bump steer. The rag joint takes up some vibration so you dont feel the road vibrations.

I would check everything else then go for it and just go easy on tightening it, use hand tools and no powered tools and you'll be fine. The second video suggests 1/8 turns and checking play which will probably be good for you since you dont have a lot of play.

While your there check the fluid in it

heres some really basic info but good to know . the second talks about adjusting

https://www.howacarworks.com/steerin...e-steering-box

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...5&&FORM=VRDGAR

 

I took about 1/8 of a turn on mine and it actually took out a little slop. There really wasn't much to begin with, though. Then I sent it to Gary.
Now there's absolutely no slop or wander and very tight, I'm sure better than when it came from the factory.

 

Mine is a daily driver for work, so can't take it out and send off for rebuilding. Will do the slight adjustment until play is reduced, but not causing friction such that the steering wheel does not want to return to center. Thanks all.

 

Chances are good that the shafts, gears, and bushings are not worn to the point of needing replacement. You can easily take the box out, clean it out, replace the grease and and properly adjust it in a weekend. Have replacement bearings (they're cheap and a drop in replacement), grease, seals, and the proper torque wrench on hand. The proper adjustment procedure can be found found on-line and from folks on this forum. Plan on cleaning and painting it.

 

All that is true....IF you know the procedures for doing that work. None of it is difficult; but there is a significant learning curve. Having NEVER done that and expecting to remove it, refurb it, and reinstall it in one weekend is really pushing the limits, IMO.

 

Well, I loosened the lock nut and gently tightened the adjusting screw by hand (fingers actually, ) until I could feel it make contact with the srew gears inside. Then backed off about 1/16 to 1/8 turn and re-tightened. Will see how things worked tomorrow.

 

Update: Finally able to take car out and drive it. Results are just what I wanted. No longer any great play in steering wheel. No longer continually moving steering wheel back and forth to keep on straight line.

To restate, loosened jam nut, finger tightened center screw until I could feel it contact the worm gears, backed off about 1/16+ turn, tightened jam nut. Worm gears not under pressure.

Works great.

 

 

As long as the steering wheel comes back to center after a turn all on its own, you should be good to go. If it won't, the sector gear is binding because it is too tight--NOT in the center of travel, because it is worn there. You need to loosen it up just enough so that the wheel centers on its own. Any residual looseness you have in the center position you will just have to live with...or get the steering box repaired properly.

I'm hoping that it centers just fine and "all is good".

 

A 40 year old box that needed adjusting is dry as a bone.
Maybe tighter mesh is better for dry gears, I don't know.
We wouldn't think of driving without coolant,oil,rear gear oil, brake fluid,
but as long as that GEAR BOX points us correctly, it's fine.
Brake fluid is necessary to stop, but to operate the thing that points us down the road dry boggles my mind.
I now climb down from that soap box.

 

No soap box there! If the box is dry or if the original lube has turned to wax, it needs to be re-lubed if you want it to last. I try to clean out all the old stuff and re-fill with full-synthetic grease. Synthetic will not 'melt' like regular lube when engine/exhaust pipe heat gets to it. And it won't EVER dry out.

P.S. It is possible to remove the top cover, re-lube, and reassemble without losing internal adjustments....if it is done correctly.