I bought a rebuilt steering box for my 64 and had it put on and the results are terrifying. I tightened the follower and it took some of the play out but made driving above 50 mph dangerous. With the follower in as much as it will go the slop is about 10 degrees on either side of neutral and the wheels stay where they were last pointed. If you can imagine going into a curve and you made the gradual turn and the wheel want to stay in that direction it is the worst driving car I have ever driven. What can I do to fix this? If I turn the wheel and watch the steering box, I get no movement from the box at about 8 to 10 degrees of turn in either direction. This is a rebuilt box from ZIP and I do not know if it is a bad box or there is something else wrong. Any ideas? Should I go with a new box and return the rebuilt one to ZIP?

 

I would call Zip!

 

I plan on doing that tomorrow but I thought there might be something that I can do to tell them more of the issue. If I look at the steering shaft and move it back and forth I can see the shaft going into the box moving but there is no movement of the pitman arm or wheels. I have tightened it down to the point that it won't tighten anymore and it is still very sloppy. Isn't that the ultimate test to see when the pitman arm starts to move?

 

If the steering shaft moves going into the box and doesn't move coming out of the box, it's in the box

 

Here is that write up I used for rebuilding and adjusting my box

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1603247663

The document has some great info for adjusting and describing some common mistakes

 

This response is not directed at any person or business. It is general information in respect to your question.

A correctly rebuilt box does not need to be adjusted, that is done during the rebuild. If you play with a box after it has been rebuilt then all bets are off. I don't know what you mean by follower? Sounds like the lash bolt in the cover?

With 50-60 year old boxes the gears are suspect most of the time. Gear life is really not something gaged by mileage. It depends on the grease, it should be grease not oil in the box. Over time the grease breaks down and becomes acidic attacks the metal. This affects preload of the bearings. If this is not understood by a builder it is not addressed. The preload is adjusted by the large adjusting nut held in place by the large lock ring. The cover screw adjusts the depth of gear mesh, which affects the gear lash. It is important to correctly adjust the lash as too much will cause damage to the center tooth of the sector. Another leading cause of bad gears is incorrectly adjusting the lash.

Many kits today do not come with cover bushings, so I guess you leave the old one in place? The kit bushings are about as close as NY and LA for fit.

As an example of what I just said, I just did a 66 box. It came in with no preload and 5 in/lb high lash. It was all over the road. The lash screw had no threads showing above the nut, which is a quick way to see where the gears are. Once I was at the point of installing new bearings I checked the worm and the preload was actually pretty good but the lash was too deep and close to bottoming out. If a common kit and procedure for rebuilding a box was used this box would have failed to improve at all. When it was done there were a couple of threads over the nut, the preload dialed in smooth and steady, the high lash dialed in and marked, the true center is not the reference point. High Lash HAS TO BE the reference and at the 12 o'clock position driving straight. At high lash moving the input moves the output at the same time, there is no lost motion in the worm and sector.

Hope this helps or does it confuse? Regardless you should call your rebuilder and speak with them.

 

I have called ZIP but their tech guy is NEVER available. One of the salespeople asked him a question for me about this box. Even though I told them that the wheel shaft and the input shaft of the box moved in sync they told me to check the rag joint and steering elements. I told the salesperson that the input to the box did not move the Pitman arm until about an inch in either way on or off jack stands. I am still waiting for them to get back to me. This is a negative situation and no company wants to handle it. I hope they man up and call me back.

 

You are going to have a long wait for a call. If it was mine I would package it up, send back for a refund and purchased from another vendor. That's unacceptable to have a rebuilt box where the back lash is not even set correctly, something any tree mechanic could do.

 

I finally reached the tech at ZIP, not through the phone system but through a sympathetic employee who worked in sales. He actually chased the guy down and handed him the phone. He told me that the only way to check for a bad box was to get under the car and watch for a micro-movement of the Pitman arm when the wheel is turned. I did that and sure enough, there was a micro-movement of the arm with the movement of the wheel. Of course, it was not enough to make anything else move so that leaves me kind of cold. I watched the entire steering system while my wife turned the wheel and everything moved in concert but not by very much. I have four brand new ball joints on all corners except the relay rod joint and the idler arm. I guess my next step is to replace those two and then there is nothing else left. He said if I sent the box back he would charge me the shipping if it turned out to be good. I am new at this and need some advice as to what to expect from a perfect steering system. He told me that no one would buy a mid-year Corvette today if it drove like they did new. Is that true? I am an old guy and drove many cars in the '60s and do not ever remember having this kind of issue. I hated the skinny plastic wheels but the driveability was not in question. They sell brand-new steering boxes built with the original GM blueprints. Do you think that would be the way to go? Also, does your C2 tend to return to straight-ahead if the wheel is released? Mine will stay in whatever position it was left in. In tight turns, it has to be sawed into the curve, race car style, and then sawed out for the next turn or it is not controllable. It scared the siht out of me!

 

That will happen when the lash is not adjusted correctly. It sticks on the high point because you have it adjusted off center at an lower point. When you release the wheel, it tightens against the higher point when trying to move back to center.

 

If I needed a box rebuilt I would not buy a box built to spec, I would send mine to Gary and have him rebuild it and never worry about it again.

 

Tried 2 rebuild boxes and one new box and no help. Had Gary blue print my original box and that took care of my steering problem.

 

That sounds like the way to go. ZIP told me that no adjustments to the lash was necessary but the drive home from the mech's shop was terrifying. Gary, if you are seeing this can you please send the info that I need to get this box to you? I do not want to send it back to ZIP. They rebuild them by the hundreds and I suspect some are not quite right.

 

I see that we didn't say we adjusted the lash in the box at the mechanics shop. I said that if the box comes back here and it is good and in spec I would charge you the shipping because you all didn't test everything else that I explained to you that could be wrong. We also talked about how much play you had on the steering wheel which was 1 inch in either direction. The comment about me saying about Midyear today vs then was it should be expected to have about 3/4 to an inch of play in the wheel going down the road. Compared to today's car that have none it is a bit different to get used to and if they supplied cars like that today nobody would buy one, totally different story before rack and pinions. So if anyone reading this go back and read GTR reply to this. This is exactly how we do it as well and you should touch nothing when it comes to you. I also explained that all bets are off on this box because the customer adjusted the lash on it. I also explained that we did not rebuild this box, it was built by Lonestar, right now we are only building customers steering boxes that they send in, not what is on the shelf to send out.

 

Have you checked how your caster is set? incorrect caster can cause problems with steering return and vehicle tracking.

 

I performed the test that Justin from ZIP told me to do and there is a micro amount of movement after about a small amount of wheel turning. This is what he told me to expect and it is there. But as I watched the Pitman arm and the relay rod move, there was so little movement before it did any good but it was proportional to the box output. There was no appreciable amount of slop in the other parts but just not enough movement to move the tires. All I have left to replace is the relay rod joint and the idler arm to have all-new steering except the upper and lower A-arm bushings. That being said, the mech that put the ZIP box in my car did not touch it and it was a terrible drive home. I did try a small amount of lash in both directions to see if that would help the issue but it did nothing. Now I have the problem of not knowing where the box is set and any further changes to the entire steering system will be pointless. Would a new box be any better than a rebuilt one? I've had Austin-Healeys and Triumphs along with several Porsches all from the '60s and never had one drive as poorly as this car. I am sure it is more than just the box but I do not want to get an alignment until I get the box issue settled. The way it drove before was exactly like Gary explained it when the lash is off. In a turn, the car would stay in a turn with not only no tendency to return to straight-ahead but required an effort to unturn it. The people at ZIP have been friendly, although Justin is not readily available, and I do not mean to disparage them. I am going to reach out to Gary and get his opinion on my next move. Thanks to all of you who have offered advice. This is my bucket list car and it is very frustrating to not be able to enjoy it.

 

What GTR said is solid gold. Zip's reply is totally reasonable, as well. As a 40+ year professional, I have seen more gearboxes ruined by well-intentioned tinkerers who snug down the lash adjustment too tight to 'take up play'. 95 times out of 100, it causes exactly the types of issues the OP is experiencing, along with accelerated wear on the box. If I personally sold reman gearboxes, I would tamper seal that adjustment screw and lock nut and void the warranty if I got the box back and it was broken. Good luck to all involved.....old cars can be frustrating.

 

I understand about the gearbox lash but if you could have driven my car on its first trip you would have done something too. It was driving so poorly that I thought a piece had broken or fallen off. My experience with lash on worm gears is from many tractors that use the same system and I do understand the mechanics of it. Of course, tractors do not go 60 mph either. I will see what Gary offers for advice and go from there.

 

You've already muddled the issue by adjusting the box, but if you get that part straightened out take a look at your tires. You may have a broken belt. Also if you're running bias ply tires maybe that's the issue. If you had minimum movement at the steering box and pitman arm when you started, you probably have something else worn or loose.

 

I have brand new wheels and tires so that's not an issue. All of the ball joints are new except the relay rod joint. If it drove so badly when it wasn't adjusted then how can it be worse after I made small adjustments? In fact, I can discern no difference in the way it drives now and the way it drove when the box was untouched. I talked to Gary about it and he went through all of the possible causes. He and I believe it is the "Rebuilt" gearbox. He indicated to me that the term "Rebuilt" in today's marketplace is just a word used to sell newly painted parts. I am not sure how a spec box on a workbench is the same as a box in a car. It may check out with a torque wrench but not with the tire load on it.