Hey guys, I've been trying to get rid of the substantial "play" in the steering of my '48 Cadillac. After getting it running and stopping, I noticed a good deal of free play in the steering wheel. So far I have replaced the tie rods, replaced the idler arm, and rebuilt the center drag link, all with correct parts from Kanter and set to correct specs. The steering play has improved but is still far from acceptable. The only parts left to address that I know of are the pitman arm (which is unavailable) and the steering gearbox (available for a core swap for about $500). Before re-installing everything I wiggled the pitman arm and it did seem to have some slop to it. Would you guys have a recommendation for my next steps to address the steering play? Is there something I haven't thought of? Thanks to you all as always. -Sean
Adjust the tightness of the sector. Boxes have an adjustment bolt/stud in them that is opposite the sector output. Sometimes (usually) they are screwed in to remove slop. But I have heard of some that are screwed out to tighten slop. You’ll need to check your manual.
Sounds like you have a decent understanding of what to check. I remember when you got the car and I hope this is just a small bump in the road to enjoying it. It's tough when stuff is not available to try out and/or expensive. The only thing I can offer is to get a service manual and I saw an update manual too. It may help with diagnosis on this and any other issues. https://www.ebay.com/itm/402578822066 It doesn't tell you what needs to be done and where to get it, but aside from another pair of eyes and hands, it's the best I can offer.
Seems to me the First thing I would have done is With full weight of the car on the Tires on be underneath watching while having a Person inside turning the Steering Wheel through the free play space and see what is and isn't moving as it should. It's just standard diagnosis for me. I believe in 48 You also have a kingpin system so I'd for sure be looking at those. If you should decide to start messing around with the Steering Gear unit, make sure you fully understand How, When and Where to do your adjustments. Ame I wrong thinking the Caddys had Power Steering in 48?
You said the pitman arm has slop. Is it the joint to the drag link, or is it loose on the splines to the sector? If it’s loose on the splines, maybe the big nut just needs a little tightening.
Have you put the front tires up on blocks so you can look at the front suspension while someone moves the steering wheel back and forth? That's usually the first thing I do so I can try to see where the slop is, and which components move without moving the tires.
have some one rock the steering wheel back and forth and watch the steering components to see if something up stream is moving but the next comp isn't
i've done this where I didn't have a helper... no one likes to work with me.... turn the wheel all the way to the left, cut a 2 x 4 from the pitman to some where on the frame,, now turn to the right... to make sure there's no slop in the pitman to the box, turn all the way hard to the right... make a mark on the pit man and box shaft then to the left.... see if the marks still line up...... with the front on jacks tie the steering wheel. go to the front tire and wiggle it back and forth, look for worn or loose parts.. when you do the first test, you will see how much play is in the wheel when you try to turn right and back to left
one time I chased this and it was the steering wheel , the nut wass loose and it let the splines and key way strat to where out...
I know this is a really basic thing we all do, checking the Tire pressure before we start chasing steering issues, right? At what point do those big Ballone tires start to show low pressure? I've seen them down around 8lb's before it's visually noticeable. Why is this important? A tire at 8 or even 10 Lb's that should be 32 to 35 will give casing twist before it turns the Tread on the ground. Now make that a Big old Heavy Caddy. Can make you think you have slop in the steering when in fact you just have a low tire or tires. Now, let a car sit for a few years while working on it, when was the last time you checked the Tire pressure?
The steering box must be perfectly centered when adjusted for clearance and the front end must be aligned so that the box is centered while driving straight ahead. It is normal for the box to have increasing play as it moves away from center. I'm not saying that this is the cause of your problem, but it might be. It's an under appreciated necessity in the era of rack&pinion steering where it's NA.
Very helpful tips, thank you very much! I did initially check for free play in the linkages with the car on the ground, and it looked like unwanted movement was coming from just about everywhere. I do believe that the Series 62 had a power steering option but my Series 61 does not. I'm actually kind of glad that this car looks the part but does not have power windows, steering, etc. to go wrong.
Thank you for that wisdom about things I'm learning. I would love to have the car professionally aligned but so far every place turns me away saying they don't know how to do alignments on "old" style cars. I've done the best I can with the string method to get it in the ballpark but I need to find someone in NE Oklahoma who can fine tune the alignment. I'll do my best to learn methods to center the steering box when making adjustments.
VERY good advice. So far I've checked the pressure to make sure it's at the 28 pounds as recommended by the shop manual whenever I've been tinkering with the alignment.
That would definitely be a good thing to check while I'm chasing down the short in the horn button. Thank you!
I assume the slop is where it attaches to the sector because I wiggled the pitman before reattaching it to the drag link and it had unwanted movement. Thanks for the tip.
I have DEFINITELY been enjoying the car. Every time I get behind the wheel after hours of work early in the morning before I start my paying job puts a huge smile on my face and makes it all 110% worth the effort. Luckily I do have a reprint of the original '48 manual and it is a huge help. I only wish it had torque settings but so far I haven't seen any in any section. My '54 Chevy pickup manual has a handy chart in the appendices.
If you find someone who’ll do a Jeep Wrangler they’ll have no trouble doing yours. I don’t know how the steering wheel attaches but it’d be worth checking straight ahead on the wheel is actually the centre of the box.
This is Huge! If you're unsure or things have been apart prior to you taking over I'd for sure do this, Remove the center link from the pitman arm. Turn the steering wheel to the lock one direction. Now put a tape with mark on the wheel at 12:00, in other words dead center on top. Now rotate the wheel the other direction to the stop counting the turns. Measure how far past 12:00 is from where you started and make another mark center between the two top center marks. Now reverse rotate half the total amount. That will be dead center of total steering left to right. That is where you do your worm to sector adjustment. Not knowing that box for sure, often times steering gears have a load adjustment for the worm gear bearings to remove any up and down movement. That should be done first.
One of the unexpected benefits of a smart phone. with no helper to watch, place phone lens facing the part(s) in question, start the video, go wiggle the wheel. Review video, repeat for other parts. Extra benefit, you can post the video when asking for opinions. I use mine to read hidden labels on water heater, furnace, pickup data plate, etc etc. Light, magnifier, still photo , video, a world of tech right there in my pocket.
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