Tri-five Chevy truck steering box help

Alright so my steering box is pretty much ****ed and has a lot of play in it, and I cant find any complete rebuild kits for it. Ive seen lots of re-seal kits, but no full on rebuild kist with hard parts in em. I really dont want to buy a new one, because the ones I have seen are $450+


So anyone got any suggestions? Am I just lookin in the wrong place or what? Thanks!

-CRawford

 

Having redone (reversed) and rebuilt many of them, there's not much there to go wrong. The ball bearings on the steering shaft are often worn or rusty. If they're worn, the preload on the steering shaft loosens up and you experience slop because the shaft works up or down before it starts to rotate the sector (pitman) shaft. Those bearings are available from "Jalopeno" on here. The other slop is a matter of adjusting the backlash between the sector gear and the teeth on the ball nut. (The sector in a Saginaw box does not ride directly on the worm on the steering shaft-it contacts the ball nut which in turn is driven by the worm via the recirculating balls.). That adjustment is easy but must be done by the book. Make sure you have one before starting anything.

 

Whoops! I missed the "truck" part of your subject line. My experience is with the p***enger car box but what I saud should still apply-the general design of all saginaw boxes is about the same. I'm just not sure the bearing are the same. Jalopeno's email is rpo324@sbcglobal.net

 

truck and car boxes are very similar...except that the most common problem on the trucks is that the bushings in the case and adjuster cover wear out, so the pitman shaft moves sideways instead of turning when you turn the steering wheel a little bit. Also as the bushings wear, the adjustment screw has to be turned in to keep the gears in mesh, and after a while there is no adjustment left.

As long as the hard parts are good, then you can just replace the bushings and reseal it and adjust and lube it and you'll be fine. If the hard parts are bad, find another box to rebuild, I've been able to find them for under $20 by buying them at swap meets. Note that the 55-56 column is longer than 57-59, when they went to a dished steering wheel.

Also on the lube...I hear that corn head grease from a farm implement store is the way to go, since you can't buy the lube from GM any more. I've used CV joint grease, it's easy to find here where there aren't any farms. The important thing is that the grease be #0 viscosity, so it flows, but doesn't flow so well that it all leaks out.

 

Okay Ill give that a try! The adjustment screw is as tight as it can go on mine. Thanks for the info!

 

Check Cl***ic Parts of America. http://www.cl***icparts.com/
Here's the steering box kit that they sell. http://www.cl***icparts.com/1955-59-Steering-Box-Rebuild-Kit/productinfo/76-912/

 

It would be nice if they sold that kit without the bearings, but with a bushing for the cover. That would be worth $40.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the advice!

 

If yours is really that bad, I have a box and column out of a 1955 2nd design truck, that I am not very attached to. PM me if interested. Keith

 

Your king pins and steering linkage can be a source for sloppy steering also.

 

as well as the leaf spring bolts, bushings, and shackles.

 

The front end in it is fairly new, all the king pins were new too.

 

Is the cover bushing for a 55 - 59 pickup, the same as one for a 55 - 57, or 58 - 64 p***enger car?

 

I think it is the same one. The bushing was not sold by Chevy, they only sold a replacement cover with a new bushing in it. I usually use a hack saw to cut a full length bushing down to size, then use a cape chisel to remove the old one, and drive the new one in. It's a pain.