Hi folks,

There's some play in the steering wheel that I can't seem to get rid of. I recently replaced/overhauled all of the steering components including the steering box.

I've adjusted the serrated plate on the bottom of the box so as to adjust the eccentric bush to move the sector on top of the drop arm closer to the worm screw. My serrated plate has two bolt holes. If you recall, the serrated plate has 4 "settings." At one particular setting, the movement is nice and easy but results in play in the steering wheel. If I rotate the plate to the next setting, the components start binding and the wheel takes effort to turn.

I guess I could file out the notches in the serrated plate so that I could set the adjustment between the two settings but I thought I'd ask you guys first.

I've also tried turned the eccentric bush in the opposite direction but I run into the same problem.

If you are binding, put it back to the previous position and try adjusting the end screw of the worm gear. You do this by removing the split pin. You'll probably need to make up a tool to do this and it's usually very stiff at first.

If this doesn't give you enough, then you can adjust the height of the pitman arm gear with the adjustment screw on top of the box. This has limited movement, and I recall you need shims to adjust further.

Remember that if you adjust one axis it pays to go back to the other two and adjust to get a good mesh. So after you adjust the worm gear go back to your original pitman arm angle adjustment as this has likely been adjusted to it max position etc.

Also remember that there will always be a few degrees of play in these gears, especially worn ones

cheers, Steve

Thanks for the Steve,

I'll play around with it and see how I go...

Cheers,

I was trying to search the forum for previous threads, and for some reason the new search engine will only display one page of results.

Anyhow, without opening a new thread, I wanted to think ahead since I have some play in my steering wheel. The usual few cm left and right.

I know you can buy gasket sets for the steering box for about 15euro, but I see that they also sell the 2 bearings that go inside.
This is the gasket kit commonly sold:


Steering box for reference



When it comes time to refurbish the steering box, what would you guys recommend I buy along with the usual gasket kit?

Thanks

If you have play after adjusting the box I would think you would be better replacing either the worm gear or the straight cut gear or both.. The problem with these steering boxes is that they leak oil .Apart from the mess they tend to run dry with wear as a consequence. I actually filled mine with a mix of oil and grease making a sort of very thick oil. When it warms up it will go thinner and thicken up when it cools down . I had to replace mine with a steering rack as right hand drive boxes are like hens teeth with a price to match.

Hmm, so I should try adjusting before taking it apart?

It's leaking oil all over my tie rod so I will need to service it at some point.

How do I adjust it, and more importantly what's the best way to adjust the threaded plug (the one the looks like a castle turret )? Is there a tool or a trick for it?

anyone?

You need a manual which explains how to adjust the box correctly and what tools to use. There’s a link in the stickies section

phoenix1 said:

If you have play after adjusting the box I would think you would be better replacing either the worm gear or the straight cut gear or both.. The problem with these steering boxes is that they leak oil .Apart from the mess they tend to run dry with wear as a consequence. I actually filled mine with a mix of oil and grease making a sort of very thick oil. When it warms up it will go thinner and thicken up when it cools down . I had to replace mine with a steering rack as right hand drive boxes are like hens teeth with a price to match.

Click to expand...

I'm curious if you have any advice/writeup/etc... for swapping over to a rack. I'm thinking of doing that within the next year or two when I take Martina apart and can't seem to find much beyond the kits online with the rack & brackets. Parts, yes, write-ups, no.

Thanks!

Hi I did put a post on how to do it on here some time ago . Basically you need a 126 rack and the two mounting brackets and some good nuts and bolts I bought my brackets as they would be very difficut to make in the thickness of steel required.I think I paid about £150 for the brackets and about £50 for the rack.I can't remember whether I needed rack extenders.The hard bit is positioning the brackets. Bryan

I read the manual, but it's still not clear what tool to use for the adjuster ring:


This is what it tells me to do:


So supposing that my issue is a excessive play (again, I don't know if this is the case. When I move the steering wheel, there is play, like a deadzone. Also there is some noise), I should screw the ring further in.


What tool am I supposed to use to screw such a ring? Is there a diy solution?

You could use a small drift punch and hammer and gently tap it round. I made a tool for mine but you need a lathe and mill. I think I saw a picture in a manual of someone using a pair of long nose pliers jammed in two of the castellations and turning it that way. It doesnt take a lot of force and once it is screwed in you cant go any further. You then need to back it off slightly to line the slots up with the split pin hole

can this be adjusted while this box is mounted in the car?

DimitriL said:

can this be adjusted while this box is mounted in the car?

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I've never had to do this, but the Haynes manual says that "adjustment can be done in place but if a lot of other work is to be done, then it is worth removing it."

...also...looking at the adjustments available, the castellated ring most frequently referred to an older postings would not be my "goto" solution.

The eccentric bush appears to the the thing that pushes the sector on the steering column into closer mesh with the worm-gear for the drop-arm; that would remove excessive play at the steering-wheel. The other two adjustment appear to be for taking out any excessive play in the bearings and for centralising the sector's horizontal plane in the worm-gear....the latter should probably be left untouched.

I stress agin...never touched it myself but done this adjustment successfully on a pre-WW2 car.