I've been told there's an adjustment on the steering box on my 1951 Mercury. I'm experiencing a considerable amount of play in the steering wheel and I'm not sure how to fix it. If I were to estimate I would say that I can move the steering wheel right to left about 10" without redirecting the car. Does anyone have any suggestions they can share. My biggest concern is driving at high speeds and not having adequate control. The steering system is all original. Any suggestions?
They are adjustable, I've been told you need to jack the car up and put stands under the A-arms so the wheels can spin and turn free but the suspension is still loaded. Then there's apparently a plate you take off and a screw you turn in to take up the slack. I've also been told that you need to do it with someone turning the wheel back and forth as you adjust the screw so it doesn't become overtightened. But that's all I know. Man, if someone out there in HAMB land has a picture of that plate and screw to share, it would mean the world to me, as I have to do this on my '52 Ford and it would be so much easier if I know what I'm looking for. I've been told it's pretty easy to do and maybe I'm dreading it for nothing but what I posted above is all I've ever been able to learn about the process. If someone can elaborate a bit more or correct me if I'm wrong, please do.
its the nut right in the center on top of the box. take that nut off and you can screw thet stud in to put more pressure on the worm gear. do what Squadblow suggested with the car up on stands and center the box. do not over tighten it. The tie rods and the idler arm are what's usually shot, i usually scrap the stock stuff and make a new set with replaceable ends or Fatman has a tie rod kit that works well..
To properly adjust the box, the pitman arm should be removed from the sector shaft. Then the adjustments can be made. See factory shop manual for more detailed explanation. Not hard.
Spam Imboden?? It's always a good idea to change out your wore out crap for sombody elses wore out crap?? I'm glad is you know what the problem cans be resolved. USA or Nigeria FNG?
I managed to find the following after searching through some of my old repair manuals. Hope it helps you some.
I'd check the idler arm also, it's bolted to the frame on the opposite side of the steering box. It is very low, hangs below the frame, and hits the ground. Then once hit, it gets bent then hangs down even lower.
Ford was about the last to go to IFS in 1949. The system was a good one, thats why Shoe boxes became a favorite whiskey car for years. They would handle good for the era. Simply cranking down on the adjustment may not be enough. The steeing gear is just one link in the chain. Check and adjust all the components from the gear to the spindles. All can have a little wear compounding the problem. Check the ball on the pitman arm, check and renew the drag link, check spindles, drag link and tie rods. Check for king pin and bushing wear also. Sometimes these steering boxes leaked. A remedy for that was pumping them full of axle grease. This worked for about a month. It may stop the leak but eventually the worm gear pushes the heavy grease aside and eventually runs dry, causing premature wear. Hopefully you can adjust this out.
Thanks for the info. If anyone has any photos of this assembly I would greatly appreciate it. I couldn't find anything on YouTube.
Wow 10 inches is scary. I bet its more than just the box so you need to put the front end up in the air with weight on the tires and have some one turn the wheels to see where all that slop is coming from. With that much slop i bet its the idler arm assy as it is the weakest link. The box is easy to adj but from experince that most likely will not help much. To check & adj the box remove the pitman arm and turn the steering wheel full lock to full lock and if it turns with no drag slowly turn the slector shaft screw in until you feel a very light drag when turning the steering wheel full lock to lock. If it get tight at the full lock area and lose in the middle the box needs to be rebuilt or replaced. Fatman has a heavy duty tie rod kits and we do also and other steering & suspension parts The Erickson's / Extreme Kustoms 951 678-3520
That looks so right, the steering rods rotate at the same place the a arms rotate. I just can't believe the Mercury engineers missed that one.
An old Merc with that much play probably needs the works. The Gemmer worm gears were known to wear out at well as all the suspension links. A lot of them I've opened up had big chunks galled out of the worm. The sector roller holds up pretty well but it can wear out too eventually. The worm gear is the same as all the other Gemmer II type boxes from 37 to the F1 pickups. Replacing it on the shaft is a b!tch but it can be done with the right tools.
I knew a guy who replaced his steering box with a manual 1970's f100 steering box, matching f100 column and wheel. Used the fatman pwr steering adapter plate to mount the box. He said it turned easier than the old merc box. He didn't want to mess with the pwrpump and hoses. It's one solution after you check out the rest of your front end parts. Did I mention the reason that box is popular is because your stock pitman arm fits the splines of that newer box.
Probably the first thing to do is to get the car up on some ramps so you can slide under it and have a helper slowly rock the wheel back and forth while you watch for play in the steering linkage. Chances are that the box has some wear causing some of the slack but that much slack tells me that there are some pieces in the steering linkage that are worn out too. That only takes a couple of minutes and will tell you what you need to replace in the linkage to get it back in shape.
I did the 70's F100 manual box also. I got one from a place that upgrades them from stock, so it should last a long time. It was the last piece of the puzzle after doing the kingpins, tie rods, and steering column. I feel absolutely no need for power steering, it turns real easy. Otherwise, I guess you'd be looking at replacing the worm gear/steering shaft and rebuilding the box, if possible.
Take it to a couple different alignment shops that do free checks. I bet EVERYTHING has slack in it. If you adjust that box wrong it will damage the worm gears.
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