I don't get it

[TrexMex]

Over the weekend (And pretty much all monday night), I changed my steering gear and put in a new rag joint in the steering shaft. Steering feels much more solid now -btw I also flushed the system and put in ATF type F, as this is the spec- but I still have some looseness in the steering wheel; probably around +/- 10 degrees. The new gear is a reman gear.

Should there be anything else that could be causing this? This wasn't the only problem I had with my old steering gear btw, there was a major leak involved in this swap.

 

[racinranger]

Your upper steering colum bushings/bearings may be no good. Can your rock the wheel up down/left right? also there is a second joint under the dash that can be checked. If all your tie rods/balljoints arent tight or your Beam bushings are no good then there could be slop coming from there. A recirculated ball type system isnt going to be as percise as a rack is. Another option is your reman box isnt set right. You could attempt to adjust the sector shaft. Altho if you dont know what your doing you could lock up the box coming over center

 

[TrexMex]

Thanks,

Your upper steering colum bushings/bearings may be no good. Can your rock the wheel up down/left right?

Meaning looking for worn/loose ball joints? All the balljoints are less than 6 months old, and I re-checked them this past weekend, so I'm ruling that out. I'll check under the dash for any looseness in the steering column.

As far as adjusting the Gear Box, No I wouldn't know how to do that. I've read several posts about it but mostly they advice against messing with the adjusting screw. Still, I do feel the box doesn't go back to center easily after a turn, but was hoping for that to go away with regular use since today is the second day driving the truck with the new one installed.

 

[pillen140]

check tie rods. center link

 

[Ranger44]

Jack it up. Have someone turn the wheel back and forth. You look, and the problem should reveal itself.

Could also be worn or loose wheel bearings.

 

[MAKG]

Anything in the steering linkage or wheel support can cause looseness.

Two things that haven't been mentioned are (1) balljoints, or (2) alignment (specifically, toe-out feels quite a lot like play on center, or poor centering).

All you can do is look for it. If there is play in the steering box, you can find it by turning the wheel up to where you feel resistance (but no further), and then turning it to the other side. Have a buddy watch the gear input for motion and the Pitman arm for lack thereof.