Power Steering box adjustment etc.

I recently replaced the inner/outer tie rod ends, upper/lower ball joints, idler arm and pitman arm in my truck. I have 18" wheels with low profile tires. I have a 5.0L V8 swap with power steering. The combination of the lower profile/fairly wide grippy tires and the extra weight up front of the V8 means that driving on the highway, I'm always making corrections to the wheel. Replacing the tie rod ends etc. helped a little with tightening up the front end, but there's still some freeplay in the wheel.

I have a little play in the steering (sitting there, engine off, and I can move the wheel about .5-1" back and forth before I get movement from the tires.) I have adjusted the adjustment screw on the power steering box as far as it will go, but still have play.

Anything else that I can do? At this point, there seems to be only 2 options, buy a new/reman steering box (about $300), or find one in a junkyard, hoping it's better than the one I've got, and hope that I can get the pitman arm off of it in the junkyard (it took a pitman arm tool, a 24" breaker bar and a propane torch to get mine off when I replaced it...)

That amount of play in the steering wheel doesn't sound abnormal to me.

There may be more adjustment rg2200.
You need to wiggle the steering shaft while you make your adjustment.
But be careful, if you adjust too much, you'll wear out the box prematurely.

Also, before you tighten it down, make sure the idler doesn't have play in it, and isn't moving up an down.
My replacement idler loosened up and I had to put a tack weld to keep the nut on top tight.

Cusser,

That amount of play isn't too bad for these trucks, if you're running rather stock tires, but with the low profile (224/40R18, and fairly 'sticky' Yokohama Avid H4s tires), any little imperfection in the road grabs the tires, so you're always fighting it when driving on the highway, and with a little bit of play in the steering box, it lets it drift around a bit and takes almost constant correction. With the stock tires, or even my other set of wheels/tires - 16" chevy Silverado wheels (with 215/60R16 tires), it's nowhere near as noticeable.

Sin,

I'll try wiggling the steering shaft while tightening it down. At this point, I'm not too concerned about prematurely wearing out the box, since it seems like it's nearing the end of its life anyway.

I'll check that idler again - it was ok last time I checked, but I know you'd had issues with yours and the nyloc nut, so I'll check mine again to be sure.

Okay, I wasn't sure who I had that conversation with.

I've been doin steering and suspension for a while now nd ill second that .5-1" really not bad. BUT that adjustment bolt has a jamb nut correct? (Not familiar w/gear on the dawg) but with the gears I do know cleani.g the threads with a wire wheel prior to backing the jamb nut so it moves freely, then adjust the screw (watch the sector shaft it will move outward when going the right direction) take it till it bottoms out lightly then hold the screw from moving then tighten jamb nut...there only so much ya can do tho ya know

Sin,
The nyloc is still in good shape and the idler is still tight, but I'll keep an eye on it, I haven't driven it much since I did the steering/suspension bits, so I'll have to wait until I've put some more miles on it. I re-adjusted and wiggled the wheel while I was doing it, and it seems a little tighter, but I'll have to take it out for a drive to see for sure.

rotten,
Yes, there's a jamb nut, and I had a box wrench on the jamb nut when turning the adjustment screw in. I was thinking about taking the adjustment screw (bolt) out and cleaning the threads, but wasn't sure if it was a loose ball bearing or a sealed type, and didn't want to mess anything up. I have a spare manual steering box, but IIRC, the ratios are different between the manual and power steering and I don't know if the internals (sector shaft, rack block etc. were the same, other than the ratio, between the two.)

I'm sure I removed that adjustment screw and the nut on my own PS B2200 (1988) and re-installed it without issues.

rg2200 - yes, I do have the stock white-spoke wheels and just slightly-wider than original tires, so that's all I've experienced.

i know on the shepard brand gears im familliar with the adjuster dont come out, its part of the sector shaft (rack) in the gear... it may be diffrent on these little gears though