Steering Box Adjustment

[rhyary]

Hi,
I had the LX450 aligned today. I asked the shop to see why I have an inch or two play in dead center.

They said the car aligned fine but the steering box has an adjuster that is frozen/rusted and they did not want to attempt to adjust it in fear of breakiing it.

Since my front axle has new components it is not the tie rods ball joints and other parts.

Has anyone use the adjuster to get rid of access play in the steering wheel?
If your adjuster was frozen/rusted, what did you do to free it?

My steering box is NOT leaking.

TIA

 

[RavenTai]

I took some play out of my box but unfortunately I could not remove it all, southern vehicle so no rust problems,

assuming you have another vehicle to drive should this one break I would go ahead and try to break free the adjuster, worst case you will have to buy a new steering box cap and adjuster, the old seal under the adjuster lock nut does not like to be disturbed, it is common for the box to start leaking after adjustment, this can be fixed also.

On mine I removed the drag link and measured play of the pitman arm with a magnet mount dial indicator there was more play in the just left/right of center than there was at the extremes of left/right. when I adjusted it down to no play in the mid ranges than it would bind at the outer ranges, so I could only bring it down to the minimum on the extremes and leave the play in the mid ranges,

be aware there will be no play at the very center as there is a play reduction mechanism that take up play in the very middle

 

[rhyary]

Can someone post a picture of the adjuster? So I can get a visual on what to look for?
TIA

 

[RavenTai]

this is not an 80 steering box or even a Toyota but the adjuster is in a similar spot is all saginaw type boxes

Saginaw Steering Box Adjust Sector Shaft Tension Photo

 

[concretejungle]

just be careful not to overadjust it. I beleive i did and now i have a leaky pump. I realize some of the leak is probably due to old hoses, but still, it started as soon as i adjusted the box. HTH

 

[rhyary]

Thanks, as per pictures I have the same kind of adjusting mechanizm on my 95 M5 so I know what to do.

 

[rhyary]

Picture of the adjuster

Here is the procedure. Howerver it shows it as if the steering box is off the car. For those who attemtped on car ajustment, did you use gauges or feel?
It also says to install a new seal washer!

 

[rhyary]

OK, I found the adjuster on the steering box.
It looks pretty rusty. Especially the ajuster it self (the inner screw)
I applied 3 in 1 penetrating oil on it and will do so for the next week or two.

Now for my question.
If indeed the locking nut and the adjuster are forzen with rust, what will be the procedure, without taking the steering box out of the car, to unfreeze the locking nut and adjuster?
Thanks in advanced

Rami

 

[sandcruiser]

socket on a long extension, crack it loose

 

[sunrk]

I've had a go at adjusting my steering box but not 100 pct sure it's the problem. I know that the wandering/tramtracking is in the 'bottom' end as I checked all the top end above the box, and all joints are tight, plus the flexible coupler isn't torn. However the play still exists. I say not 100 pct convinced as I haven't yet got to checking the front panhard bushes. The tie-rod ends were new 555's a bit over a yr ago, but I'm not sure of their state as I had castor plates which made the back steering rod contact the radius arms sometimes, and I've done a bit of heavy 4wding. Hardest part with the steering box is that getting direct in-line access to the adjustment grub screw is not possible with the aux battery and tray in place, but I'm loath to try taking that out since the aux batt is quite 'busy'. I have a long screw driver to use in the slot of the grub screw, but it won't engage the slot properly.

Craig.

 

[Qball]

Did you check your front wheel bearings and made sure they are tight?


...Misspelled via IH8MUD app

 

[Jpar]

Hey did you ever resolve the rusty adjuster screw issue? I'm in the same situation. Managed to crack the lock nut loose but the adjustment screw is completely rusted to the lock nut and can't be turned independently of it. Does anyone know if that adjustment screw/nut combo can be replaced without a full rebuild?

 

[-Spike-]

After watching my box being rebuilt, I will say that the adjusting screw that is accessible will probably not fix play in the system. The play mostly comes from the input side of the box, and can only be adjusted with the input section out of the box. The good news is that the design does not seem to wear, the force is transferred from the wheel to the piston through 44 balls, so lots of surface area. The problem is that the bearing on the input side loses its preload, allowing a tiny bit of movement, which translates into a lot of dead space in the steering. Before my rebuild, I had probably 30 degrees of no response in my wheel, after rebuild it's probably under 5 and may be zero. I barely move the wheel going down a freeway, and this is on worn 37" tires and a big lift. It's definitely worth doing, and do the pump while you're there. I will say, though, that while I consider myself fairly competent with tools, I chose to have a guy with some experience (Tool-R-Us on the board) do the rebuild, and I'm glad I did. There's some tricks involved. Not rocket science, but knowing what to do, what not to bother with, and having some SST's for checking the preload of the assemblies is somewhat critical.

 

[Kernal]

Good info to know, thanks.

 

[Riley]

Funny that this thread is at the top tonight.
I drove my LC for this time since the fall and I noticed play in my steering.
i would like to fix it but given the above, I'm not sure mine is all that bad.

Maybe I will wait a year or 2 and get a pro to do it.