'73 Dodge van steering wheel play?

From : Annonymous

Q: hello all! i am working on a 73 dodge tradesman 300 b300 one-ton van that has been converted into a motor home. i have noticed some play in the steering wheel and im wondering if its normal. it has power steering. with the engine shut off it has about 5.5 or about 38 degrees of really loose free play. i have looked at the rag joint rubber disc with upper and lower shafts bolted to it under the hood and it seems to be ok - i can grab the rag joint and twist it and see the same amount of movement in both shafts. with the engine running and the van parked it gets a little better - maybe 4 to 5 inches 28 to 35 degrees of slightly stiffer than with the engine shut off free play before the left front wheel starts to move. i have not driven the van to see how it performs on the road as it has a brake problem i still need to fix. my daily driver is an 01 toyota so i am used to fairly tight steering. is this much slop just a characteristic of the steering system on the van or should i be looking at a rebuilt steering box thanks! matt roberds .

Replies:

From : nomen nescio

from nomen nescio those old steering gears had adjustments to take the play out. sometimes wear makes it impossible to adjust if the center is worn then taking up the slack sometimes causes binding off center. the best bet is to take it to an old mechanic who knows front end work and ask him to do his best and you will no doubt correct this condition. good luck to you. .

From : budd cochran

while you have it over to see the old mechanic have him go thru the whole front suspension ball joints tie rods etc. budd hello all! i am working on a 73 dodge tradesman 300 b300 one-ton van that has been converted into a motor home. i have noticed some play in the steering wheel and im wondering if its normal. it has power steering. with the engine shut off it has about 5.5 or about 38 degrees of really loose free play. i have looked at the rag joint rubber disc with upper and lower shafts bolted to it under the hood and it seems to be ok - i can grab the rag joint and twist it and see the same amount of movement in both shafts. with the engine running and the van parked it gets a little better - maybe 4 to 5 inches 28 to 35 degrees of slightly stiffer than with the engine shut off free play before the left front wheel starts to move. i have not driven the van to see how it performs on the road as it has a brake problem i still need to fix. my daily driver is an 01 toyota so i am used to fairly tight steering. is this much slop just a characteristic of the steering system on the van or should i be looking at a rebuilt steering box thanks! matt roberds .

From : mad dog

the rag-joint should have 0 zero play between the steering shafts. carefully adjust the freeplay in the steering box by loosening the locknut and slowly tighten the adjuster bolt in until the play is minimized retighten the locknut and check for binding in the box. -- mad dog 79 k10 slightly modified http//mad-dog16.tripod.com -- hello all! i am working on a 73 dodge tradesman 300 b300 one-ton van that has been converted into a motor home. i have noticed some play in the steering wheel and im wondering if its normal. it has power steering. with the engine shut off it has about 5.5 or about 38 degrees of really loose free play. i have looked at the rag joint rubber disc with upper and lower shafts bolted to it under the hood and it seems to be ok - i can grab the rag joint and twist it and see the same amount of movement in both shafts. with the engine running and the van parked it gets a little better - maybe 4 to 5 inches 28 to 35 degrees of slightly stiffer than with the engine shut off free play before the left front wheel starts to move. i have not driven the van to see how it performs on the road as it has a brake problem i still need to fix. my daily driver is an 01 toyota so i am used to fairly tight steering. is this much slop just a characteristic of the steering system on the van or should i be looking at a rebuilt steering box thanks! matt roberds .

From : dodgexplorer

roy ive figgered it out...... remember what they said about hell freezing over if the red sox won the world series well they did and look what happened! it did freeze over in beantown!! warm tush in mo mike .

From : henry

second thought .. the power steering pressure sensor switch which bumps up the idle speed when turning at a slow speed .. switch might be faulty and kicking the rpms up when you dont need it to. its located on the output hose of the power steering pump. now this is something my daks done since i got it. at first i thought it was user error. there was a big gap between purchasing my previous truck 1991 and this one 2001 so i wasnt sure if it was a technology thing. over time i just got used to it. but i wonder sometimes... in first and sometimes in second gear when going really slow the truck will lunge forward a bit back to normal forward back. sometimes just a bit sometimes quite a lot. kind of like a dog lunging on a leash. not sure if its even particularly noticible outside the truck but sure is inside. hope i described it well enough. it doesnt do this at any other time just at the very bottom of first gear - if i went much slower itd stall - and sometimes at the very bottom of second as well. any thoughts jmc .

From : bryan swadener

i had the occasion to borrow a friends 64 d100 a couple of times. the first time it had about turn freeplay in the steering. the next time not much later it had turn freeplay. as bad as it normally was i thought it couldnt have gotten that much worse that fast. the 3 bolts holding the steering gear to the engine crossmember were loose. thats not the first time ive seen that problem. also the cross-shaft endplay adjustment is done with the steering gear in the center of its travel at the high spot. bryan the rag-joint should have 0 zero play between the steering shafts. carefully adjust the freeplay in the steering box by loosening the locknut and slowly tighten the adjuster bolt in until the play is minimized retighten the locknut and check for binding in the box. -- mad dog .

From : gunbunny31

at the end of the steering shaft there is a box coupler that connects it to the gear. the play comes from that. the small parts in the coupler have worn and allow the play to occur. this is cheaply fixed. the parts will set you back a whole $10.00. if you do have a rag joint not impossible but unlikely that will have to be replaced. there is no adjustment for that. good luck .