Steering "dead zone"

[DirtDonk]

Hey Mark, do we have any up close and personal pics of your front linkage and overall setup?
Maybe even a quick shot of the side of the C-bushings?

Just wondering, in case there is something else we might see that could be helpful.
Not to mention we like seeing other rigs whenever possible. Kind of spruces up the posts with splashes of color!

Paul

 

[pcf_mark]

Ok - if there was an icon for holding my head low I would need to use it now. After a detailed look at all the bits from the steering box bolts out to the wheels I could not find anything. But I did find that the u-joint I used to go from the original manual steering column to the power steering box shaft had become loose. The flats I had ground on the original shaft were not dead parallel and it had worked the set screws loose. I took out the column and ran a weld bead and carefully re-ground one side to make them dead parallel. Tightened up about 50% of the play!

My play now is 100% in the box and is about 1 1/2 - 2" range of the steering wheel travel maybe less. I need to do a longer test drive to confirm. I would like to take it apart and see what we can improve in there.

I did include a few photos of the totally stock front suspension with the exception of poly bushings.

I looked at the bushings in the arms and I can't tell the top from the bottom to see if they are in wrong. Can someone shoot a photo?

 

[broncnaz]

One way to check the bushings is to look at the pinion angle if its pointed more towards the ground then they are in correct. If its pointed up to the engine then the bushing are in wrong. The only other option is to take the front end apart and check them. But since you have positive caster numbers they probably are in correct. Few broncos have good caster.

There is really not to much to adjust on a steering box yes you can adjust the sector shaft a little but if you adjust to much you cant turn the box correctly and may damage it. Its the rollers worm and piston that get wear and oversizes are not readily availible at least I havent found any yet. I was thinking of finding a nice tight gm box and swapping the innards to get my spare box tightened up as it has about as much play as yours.

 

[DirtDonk]

What he said Mark. With your positive numbers already, it's (almost) guaranteed that they're at least in half-right. ;D

Here's one of the videos I was talking about. It's about "Bronco-Lean", but the first couple of minutes Jim is showing what the bushing offset actually looks like.
So if you can detect the thick vs thin sides of the bushings, you can verify that they're in correctly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOytKGu45NM

And you can even, with experience and guesswork, tell what bushings they are. For instance, if you can't readily detect the thick side by looking, it's probably just a 2 degree bushing. You should be able to see a 4 degree pretty well, and for sure see a 7 degree.

Might be easier with the wheel off, for a better view. But try looking from the inside of the passenger side (more room to see) and see if you can tell the difference.

Personally, I'm still hoping one of the manufacturers will finally start to print the value and orientation marks on at least one side of the side flanges. That way they can always be verified visually. But nobody's been listening so far...

Paul

 

[Viperwolf1]

There is really not to much to adjust on a steering box yes you can adjust the sector shaft a little but if you adjust to much you cant turn the box correctly and may damage it. Its the rollers worm and piston that get wear and oversizes are not readily availible at least I havent found any yet. I was thinking of finding a nice tight gm box and swapping the innards to get my spare box tightened up as it has about as much play as yours.

There is also the thrust bearing preload at the input shaft end. You can safely make a minor adjustment there. You'll have to mark the exact position of the adjuster plug, then loosen the locknut. Turn the adjuster plug CW no more than about 1/16 of a turn with a spanner. If you go too far the steering will be too tight (turn hard, not return to center) but it shouldn't damage anything.

Also look at the pin that goes through the splines at the input shaft. Make sure the pin looks tight and doesn't move when you turn the input back and forth. The pin will eventually wear and cause looseness of the torsion bar. No adjustment can makeup for this.