steering slop

[Greg H.]

My 1970 with manual steering has some play in it making it a little challenging to keep straight when there are deep grooves in the road. If I observe the linkage with someone rapidly moving the wheel back and forth I see some play in the relay rod link. Looks like a ball joint but is there an adjustment here?

[John H.]

Re: steering slop

My 1970 with manual steering has some play in it making it a little challenging to keep straight when there are deep grooves in the road. If I observe the linkage with someone rapidly moving the wheel back and forth I see some play in the relay rod link. Looks like a ball joint but is there an adjustment here?

Greg -

There's a spring-loaded ball stud joint in the left end of the relay rod where the pitman arm connects that is probably worn; most of the vendors have rebuild kits for that connection.

[Greg H.]

Re: steering slop

I've got my relay rod ball joint repair kit, and have some questions about how this comes apart. I've removed the cotter pin and nut holding the ball pin to the steering idler arm, and hitting it with a ball joint separating tool. It is not coming apart as easily as I would expect and afraid to hit it too hard.

What is the slot and cotter pin at the end of the relay rod? Am I supposed to dis-assemble this also?

[John H.]

Re: steering slop

What is the slot and cotter pin at the end of the relay rod? Am I supposed to dis-assemble this also?

Yes - photo of that connection disassembled is shown below; remove the cotter pin, use a drag link socket to unscrew the threaded plug, and it will all come apart for rebuild and lube. You'll find the specifics in the "Steering" section of the Chassis Service Manual, under "Relay Rod - Corvette".

[Greg H.]

Re: steering slop

Thanks for the excellent help. I was able to get it apart with some heat and found there really was not much slop in the link. I didn't bother to change it out but replaced the rubber seal which was torn, and tightened up a bit on the springs. I did notice some slop in the steering box. Any recommendations on how much to tighten the adjustment screw? I seem to have gone too far and the wheel is binding a little.

[Gene M.]

Re: steering slop

Greg, tightening the adjustment screw will screw up the self centering of the steering wheel if too much. Also will wear on gears. It sounds as if the adjustment slop is already out, and you should look at a rebuild of steering box. On line there are plenty of good rebuilders or places you can purchase a box out right.

[Greg H.]

Re: steering slop

Gene,

Thanks for the advice. Can you tell me how the adjusting screw works? Could it be I simply overtightened it? The car has only 37k miles so I'm guessing it should not be worn out by wear and tear. If I back it off it gets better. Am I just searching for a good balance between "play" and too tight?

[Gene M.]

Re: steering slop

Greg, you have to set the adjustment when the steering wheel is centered. back it off and adjust into tightening direction. You will start to feel slight resistance that is about the point you are set. it controls backlash of the worm. zero to couple thousands clearance is all you need on a used box. but never tight.

[Jim S.]

Re: steering slop

The correct way to adjust the gear is to remove it from the car and attach an inch-lb torque wrench to the input shaft or have it gone through by Gary.

However, if you are careful, a fairly close adjustment can be made with the gear still in the car. Here is some information from some engineers at Saginaw.

http://jimshea.corvettefaq.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/gearadjustc2c3invehiclerev14no08.doc

Jim

[Greg H.]

Re: steering slop

Thanks Jim. Excellent article.