Steering Problem Help!

Hi all,
I have a early CJ5 with the 225 V6. I'm having a problem with excessive play in my steering. The steering box was rebuilt using a new sector shaft, bushing, bearings, seals and adjusted using the specifications in the service manual. The box, steering shaft with worm gear, and pitman arm are original.

This morning I tightend the adjustment screw some more and the wheel is now tighter at center and gets loose when you turn left or right, as it's supposed to. The front end is off the ground and I checked for play at the wheels. Everything is tight at the wheels, king pins, tie rods, bell crank, and drag link. What I did notice was a very (very) minimal side to side movement of the sector shaft of about an 1/8 inch. Also, I see play in the splines of the pitman arm in relation to the sector shaft. I see that the play in the splines really translates to alot out at the wheels.

So my question is do I need a new pitman arm, or am I missing something completely different? The side to side movement only happens when I use the steering wheel. I see the pitman arm play when I move the front wheels left to right.

Thanks
Steve

 

I would say you definitely need a new pitman arm, even if you don't it is a good idea to replace it anyway. You should also try to tighten the sector shaft some more, I don't think there is supposed to be any side-to-side movement.

 

Where did you find a new sector shaft for the V6 jeep?

or was this originally a 4 cyl then later swapped to the 6? I couldn't find a new one when I was looking recently, the v6 ross box is made differently than the original jeep ross boxes, and all the jeep parts vendors said the same thing, the v6 sector shaft was no longer available.

And yes, sounds like the pitman arm is the problem, but you have already figured this out.

 

I got the sector shaft from either The Jeepsterman or Army Jeep Parts, pretty sure it was Jeepsterman. This was a couple years ago and they still have alot of old parts.

Everything is original to the jeep, so unless a PO swapped it out, I have to assume everything to be correct.

So now to find a pitman arm...

 

This might be of interest to you
http://walcks4wd.com/tightsteer

 

I may have to try the tightsteer. Now after looking into it further, it seems that my vehicle may have started out as a 1969 CJ5 with the F-Head because my current pitman arm part number is for a 4 cylinder. The number on my box doesn't match up to a CJ5, and I do not have the contact at the bottom for the horn button.

The engine ID code comes back to a 1966...so I really have a basket case here. I figure if I can find the correct pitman arm for my sector shaft, then that would be an easy fix. I'd rather not have to pull out my column, but if i do I would want to find one with the horn contact. Mine had the button on the side of the column.

My steering box has a number that says T13086DL Which doesn't match up to a CJ5. Anyone have some insight or a correct CJ5 4 or 6cyl column out there? For what is worth, my heater box was originally on the drivers side.

 

http://www.willysjeepparts.com/Steering_Gears.htm

I've never used this vendor, but he does have a good list of the jeep steering part numbers, if this helps

 

Might check the numbers against Flatfender steering box #'s. could be someone did some serious swapping.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Is there a database or an online source?

 

from what I see on other forums, the t13086 is from an MB.

http://www.opie.com/jeep/steeringgear.htm

The best source for correct part numbers are the vendors such as kaiser-willys.com, vintage jeep parts, etc.

see this thread for a thorough list of vendors.

http://www.earlycj5.net/forums/showthread.php?25203-Where-to-Find-Parts

 

homersdog, thanks for the info. The location of the numbers in the pictures on the first link are not where my numbers are. Mine are stamped in thre housingwhere the sector shaft is. I'll have to wait till tomorrow to get a better look and report back with whatever else I find. I am confused as to why my early CJ5 doesn't have the horn contact at the bottom of the tube, yet models before and after have it...

 

OK everbody, here's what I found out. Apparently the pitman arm nut must have come loose and the arm worked it's way loose on the shaft, therefore showing play when I examined it. I had the pitman arm off to examined the sector shaft, so I put it back on. So nows there's another minor issue...

When I put the pitman arm back on the shaft I mistakenly did not exactly line it up as the service manual says. I'm about 90 degrees off according to the steering wheel. From true center I have 2 turns to the right and 1 turn to the left. If I go by the wheels being straight as my starting point, I have 1 and 1/4 turn left and right which gives me the roughly 2.58 turns according the the service manual. Given the extreme hassle of removing the steering column, I was thinking of driving to see how it does with turning radius before doing anything extreme. I'm not concerned with the steering wheel being centered as much as I am concerned with bottoming out early when turning left.

Thoughts?

 

The pitman arm needs to be centered. Remember the ross box sector shaft cam is ground so the steering wheel tends to stay in the center position. If your pitman arm is off by 90, then the sector shaft is not centered in the straight ahead position. You are right the steering wheel spokes don't have to be straight ahead, but the sector shaft cam has a straight ahead position.

You'll be better off fixing it now while you know whats wrong. it won't take as long as you think.

 

It's not the pitman arm thats off, only the steering wheel. The pitman arm is off by a spline or two. The hassle is that there is no room to get a puller on the shaft and I have the V6 so theres almost no wiggle room to remove the column. As it is right now, If I put the steering shaft in the center position the vehicle will track slightly to the right.

 

You need to fix it- the cam needs to be centered to feel right. You can loosen the column support from the dash, remove the three mtg bolts, drop it down enough to get the puller on? I removed my pit man arm with a tie rod fork, worked pretty easy, won't need as much room.

 

Right now I have the dash mount off and the bolts from the frame. It looks like I may be able to slide it down enough to get a puller on it if I remove the brake lines and block that are in front of it, which is no big deal since they need serviced anyway. I tried the tie rod fork but couldn't get it. I pulled the steering wheel to see if I could raise and rotate the box so that the sector shaft was facing down, but that didn't work.

I do agree with fixing it so it feels (and is) right, I'm trying to make it easy though. I'll have to wait until tonight or tomorrow to get back to it, i'll try sliding it down.