Driving still feels unsafe.

Have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth and you watch the steering box. Is the pitman arm moving along with the steering shaft? If not, then you may be able to adjust it. There's a stud with a locking nut on top of the box to allow you to 'tighten up' the worm and sector gears. Be careful because all your wear will be in the middle of the range of motion so if you tighten it to specs, then the outer range of motion will bind. Best to read the shop manual on this one.

This all said, you might need a new/rebuilt steering box.

www.stangerssite.com rebuilds your steering box for ~$200. I'd tend to belive that's the problem if the front end is all new, works freely and is properly aligned. Freeplay when it's sitting still can make life interesting when its moving.

PS: You DID have it aligned after all this, right? That's step #1 (excuse me if I'm pointing out the obvious, with the customers I've been dealing with lately, NOTHING is obvious )

thehueypilot said:

Could only help....unless you are running bias ply tires.

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Bias ply tires actually help these things!

HistoricMustang
www.historicmustang.com/tech.html

I found strut rods with a heim joint, roller spring perches and roller idler arm to provide incredible steering feel.
Of course, if your gear box is worn out nothing is going to help. I would definitely try and adjusting it before trying anything else. I adjusted mine years ago and haven't looked back since.

2bav8 said:

I found strut rods with a heim joint, roller spring perches and roller idler arm to provide incredible steering feel.
Of course, if your gear box is worn out nothing is going to help. I would definitely try and adjusting it before trying anything else. I adjusted mine years ago and haven't looked back since.

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Great point and keep in mind that if you have grown up with rack and pinion steering, the early model will never feel comfortable. Center links actually suck!

HistoricMustang
www.historicmustang.com/tech.html

I've replaced everything in the steering and suspension dept. Flaming river box, roller perches, heim joint strut rods, roller idler arm, tie rods, center link, shocks, springs, blah...blah....blah. The 66 drives and handles like a new car!
It's better then I'd hoped for in an old design.

The Flaming River quick-ratio steering box along with new a new drag link and ball studs made a huge difference on my 65 FB.

Thought i would throw my advice in there. I've seen alot of people throw in a new steering box and claim it helped. The things that are worn the most on my cars are the control valve. On my 70 mach, i replaced the steering ram and the control valve and i have very very little slop in the steering and that is with old tie rods and steering box. Something else to check out. I rebuilt the control valve on my 70 fastback and it was still sloppy. Turned out that the actual housing for the ball stud was worn so a brand new control valve fixed it great!

Have you done anything with the P/S control valve? The ball stud there sits in a brass sleeve which will wear. This adds a tremendous amount of slop or play to the steering. This was toast on my car, the main reason while I converted to manual steering. The steering box could as said above also be worn and need adjusting, add these two problems together and it would feel like your driving a boat. Always having to correct, a little to the left, oops too much, back to the right, oops.....

Undo the belt for the P/S pump and that'll tell you if anything P/S is messed up. Deff adjust the box though. I HIGHLY recommend getting a rack&pinion such as Randall's Rack. I rebuild my COMPLETE front steering/suspension and it never felt right. I pulled all the stock crap out and put in a RR power system in it and it was a world of difference.

danza said:

Thanks for all the replies.

I rebuilt my power steering valve about a year ago so i don't think thats the problem. I also took a look at it yesterday and when i turn the wheel in the "free play" zone the pitman arm does not move. I don't know what that means but i'll try and do the adjustments to the steering box that you guys mentioned on the weekend.

Thanks again and i'll keep you posted on the progress.

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If the pitman arm does not move when someone is moving the steering wheel within the "free play" zone, then it is in the steering box. Maybe the pre-69 boxes are more prone to go bad? Just don't hear of many 69-70 boxes going bad, just the control valves. Hope you have luck getting it figured out!!!

after I had my car aligned it still didnt feel right . I looked at my gear box and it was fine. I also replaced the belt on the p/s pump and a few other things. Guess im gonna have to use jbuenings idea.