Your help needed ASAP!! Lost my steering!!

[Blazer79]

Help!

It's a power steering box. We replaced the seal on the input shaft. We only removed the cap, some sort of rubber cover for the seal, the seal and the bearing. We installed it all in the reverse order the way it was.

Now when the engine is off, the steering wheel spins freely. I checked all the linkages and everything moves until it gets out of sight into the box. There is no slippage of any kind. When the engine is on, the tires move in small hops, very sensitive to steering wheel movement, but sometimes they don't move at all. We tried adjusting that adjusting screw on the top (the one to tighten the feel of the steering wheel), but no help.

What should I do? We're gonna disassemble the input again and see what we can find.

Your help is greatly appreciated because I want to take my Blazer on a long trip this easter week.

Thanks

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[bablazer73]

this may be a stupid ? but. did you remember to tighten the bolt on the column where it splines onto the input shaft? I did that once, similar problem. never seen a input shaft break!

your right. I don't understand the jeep thing!

 

[HispanicPanic]

ok i figure since you tried to rebuild it in a since you do not want to spen the 150.00 on a new one at auto zone but this is your safety man you cant go around messing with if i were you id just buy a new one with life time warr. i know cuz ive been there with my steering box and let me tell you it doesnt feel good when you lose TOTAL control of your steering at 45 mph in trafic

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[Blazer_Boy]

WHOW!!!! There's a screw to adjust the feel. Mine is very loose feeling. If I turn the wheel the tires the tires move right away, no freeplay, so i know the box is good. Would a turn of that help to firm things up? Whats it look like and which way do you turn it to tighten it up.

 

[Blazer79]

Yeah, I tried that. It's that allen screw with a 5/8 nut around it. No use

. We tried clockwise to tighten. We also tried "bleeding" it by disconnecting the line that comes from the pump, but no use. We only got a big ATF mess with that.

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<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Blazer79 on 04/06/01 10:58 PM (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Blazer79]

Yeah, I checked everything. Everything is turning with the steering wheel, I can even see the steering box shaft (the one that comes out about 2" from the box) turning. The problem has to be inside the box. With the engine on, the tires shake a bit when the steering wheel is turned and move only when they want to.

I feel frustrated, I wanted to show my Blazer to everyone this next week. Seems I'll have to borrow my mother's Caravan instead

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[Truckfan2]

got a quick question... did you put PS fluid in there or ATF? just wondering because you said you got an ATF mess when you tried to bleed it.

Have been stuck (once) as of 8/12/00

 

[Blazer79]

Actually ATF. In my country there is no PS fluid, only ATF, so I put Dexron III Quaker State ATF in there. Could that be a problem? That's what I've been using (and my father before me) on my Blazer since 1983.

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[bablazer73]

the fluid is not the problem. you can run either in a gm. something must have broke in the box. If you can, I would take the pitman arm off and pull the 4 bolts on the top of the box and pull the entire secter shaft out. You should be able to do this without the box falling apart. Check the teeth on the shaft. I think there are only 3-4 teeth.

your right. I don't understand the jeep thing!

 

[Triaged]

I posted something on this earler. DO NOT JUST TIGHTEN DOWN THE LASH ADJUSTER! There is a proper way to do it if it does need to be done (usually it doesen't). If your box has slop than first adjust the bearings (the adj under the rag joint) w/ an in*lb torque wrench wrench to the spec in the manual. Than you adjust the lash. If you just tighten down on the lash adjuster the steering may lock up!

'71 Blazer CST with alot of rust

 

[Blazer79]

Not exactly broken, but disassembled. We removed the box with a friend and took it to a specialized shop. Apparently, due to the lack of oil, some kind of check balls came out of their position, making the steering inoperable.

The old man in the shop told me that the worm shaft wouldn't have lasted more than 6 months, so I had it replaced right away. They only charged $55 for the wormshaft replacement.

Imagine, if these little balls wouldn't have come out of their places, I would have probably found out about the wormshaft in an accident. God works in strange ways

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