Manual steering

[Ed K.]

Last summer I noticed my 64 steering wheel was not recovering from a turn. Had to push it back for car to go straight. Got an alignment (I had recently totally restored the entire rear) Its better since the alignment but I still have to turn wheel the last 1/8th turn to go straight. The alignment shop says the 1/8th correction is normal for manual steering, only power steering will fully return. I know this shop and they’re not giving me a hard time. My tires have 30 lbs air, ball joints and front suspension appears OK, original 83,000 miles steering box never touched, and I saw that all needles on zero on alignment machine. Any comments would be appreciated.

[Jim S.]

Re: Manual steering

It could be that after 46 years your steering gear could use a refurbishment, (i.e. new grease, reset the bearing adjustment, etc).

Jim

[Edward J.]

Re: Manual steering

Ed,another thing to look at is the front end , ball joints, idler arm, tie rods, if there is any binding in these parts returning to center could be a problem also. The easy way to check is to un hook the outer tie rods and check the ease of movement from side to side by turing each wheel, then check each tie rod for ease of movement, The idler arm may have to be lastly checked by unhooking from the center link. Remember that a little resistance is good for any front end part, and that sometimes front end parts will appear good but lack of greasing over the years causing binding and if you find any joints that will not acceppt grease there is a reason,worn or harden grease in joint.

[Ed K.]

Re: Manual steering

Thank you for your time! Yes, agreed, its possible. Just seems odd that after 40 years that I've had the car its steering suddenly behaves odd within approx 200 miles. Perhaps I never noticed a gradual change? But that's why I'm questioning whether the alignment shop is correct that its typical to manual and wanted feedback regarding manual steering mid-years.

[Ed K.]

Re: Manual steering

Yes, hardened grease could be the issue. I've not recently greased it since that car only sees about 500 miles per year. Also, although I've not un hooked linkage, front end seems fine. I'll explore the grease route. NOTE: my previous reply did not appear on the NCRS site so I may not have done it correctly???

[Timothy B.]

Re: Manual steering

Ed,

Is it possible the alignment shop tightened the sector gear adjustment on top of the steering box. This adjustment will set the sector gear down into the ball nut gear and make on center feel tighter.

I just finished steering box cleaning and lube on my 67 W/53000 miles and was very careful with this adjustment. If it's too tight the gear will wear on center and feel loose again in time.

There is some good info in archives that describes how to properly adjust the box and how it should feel when properly adjusted.

[Larry M.]

Re: Manual steering

Ed:

Recommend removing the steering box and have rebuilt by someone like Bair's or Gary Ramadei. Check archives for contact info. This is the best way to get it greased and get it right.

However, as a short term fix, you can purchase a special grease box fitting from Paragon and others that will allow you to add grease with the box attached to the car. Joe L has provided the GM # for the best grease many times, and this info should also be in the archives.

If you do the latter, raise the front of the car off the ground and rotate the wheels from lock-to-lock during the re-filling to remove air pockets, etc. I have done this procedure and it has improved the feel of the steering box and steering. But, I do plan a complete overhaul with Gary R. in the future.

Larry