Attention: TDR Forum Junkies Well after reading others posts about play in the steering wheel with the pitman arm not moving I tore into the steering gear preload adjustment. Out with the hammer and drift finally the lock nut came loose, with the preload nut !!!!! argh!!!. After 30 min of penetrating oil, heat, and large pump pliers I got the two separated, Why oh why do engineers do this, and I use that term lightly. There is no seal at the input shaft, water and ***** can flow down the shaft and work it's way in and rust up every thing as the picture shows, no wonder these things crap out. So I cleaned things packed it with wheel bearing grease and never seized the threads and then set the preload to 5mm (this amount varies from 3-18mm depending where you are reading) and gave the over center 1/8 of a turn. YES it did make a difference the steering is more sensitive , still not like my '83 chev but better. Oh another thing, I checked the steering box mounting bolts as another TDR member suggested and each bolt took a 1/4 turn with med effort. I would recommend others check this also.
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