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Vintage Volvo 144 Steering Sloppy, Box Fully Tightened

C

CRatcliff

Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2016
Location
Seattle, Washington
Hey All,

The steering on my 140 feels pretty sloppy - particularly at highway speeds - and I went to tighten the steering box, only to find that it won't tighten any more. Loosened the lock nut, and it will screw out, but no further in than it is. There are still some threads available above the lock nut, but it just won't go any tighter.

Do I need to replace the steering box? Rebuild it? Or is the problem elsewhere?

Thanks!
--Colin
 
Have someone wiggle the steering wheel while you look underneath. See what's moving and what isn't.

You *should* be able to adjust a half decent steering box to have very little slack in the straight-ahead position. By design (?) they're always going to have some slack when turned to the side.

Although that might be something you could try, turn the steering to one side and see if the adjuster will go further in. You can certainly overtighten a box doing that, which is very bad, but just to see if that allows the adjuster further in?

Also, try doing this with the wheels off the ground, so you can easily spend the steering back and forth? You should set the adjuster with them straight ahead, though. I'm just wondering if it's binding up for some reason.
 
CRatcliff said:
Oof. Good to know. Gets a little hairy at 70mph in the mountain passes with high winds.
Click to expand...

Sway bars helps for the car feeling like it wants to tip over in turns. In the wind too.

Be sure alignment is on the money. I like them to have more caster then Volvo calls for but getting there takes changing shims that isn't happening at 90% of alignment shops. Takes real effort. Toe it in 1/16"
 
CRatcliff said:
Hey All,

The steering on my 140 feels pretty sloppy - particularly at highway speeds - and I went to tighten the steering box, only to find that it won't tighten any more. Loosened the lock nut, and it will screw out, but no further in than it is. There are still some threads available above the lock nut, but it just won't go any tighter.

Do I need to replace the steering box? Rebuild it? Or is the problem elsewhere?

Thanks!
--Colin
Click to expand...

You're screwed.
 
Growing up we had a WORN out old farm truck (51 Ford 3/4 ton). Very loose steering. We just tended to let some air out of one of the front tires so it would pull to one side, keeping all the slack in one direction. That way you would be in better control going down a straight road.
 
JohnLane said:
Sway bars helps for the car feeling like it wants to tip over in turns. In the wind too.

Be sure alignment is on the money. I like them to have more caster then Volvo calls for but getting there takes changing shims that isn't happening at 90% of alignment shops. Takes real effort. Toe it in 1/16"
Click to expand...

Good to know, yeah, I've been waiting to do the alignment until I have the rest of the steering dialed in. If the problem isn't in the steering box, and I don't need to replace it, then I'll get the alignment set.
 
JohnMc said:
Have someone wiggle the steering wheel while you look underneath. See what's moving and what isn't.

You *should* be able to adjust a half decent steering box to have very little slack in the straight-ahead position. By design (?) they're always going to have some slack when turned to the side.

Although that might be something you could try, turn the steering to one side and see if the adjuster will go further in. You can certainly overtighten a box doing that, which is very bad, but just to see if that allows the adjuster further in?

Also, try doing this with the wheels off the ground, so you can easily spend the steering back and forth? You should set the adjuster with them straight ahead, though. I'm just wondering if it's binding up for some reason.
Click to expand...

Yeah I was wondering that as well. I'll try it out with the wheels off.
 
CRatcliff said:
Good to know, yeah, I've been waiting to do the alignment until I have the rest of the steering dialed in. If the problem isn't in the steering box, and I don't need to replace it, then I'll get the alignment set.
Click to expand...

Take another look the steering box is independent of the alignment.
 
Too bad your car isn't a '73-'74. I have 3 NOS steering boxes.

If the steering box is in good shape it will do what you described. Adjusting the screw will move the pitman shaft up and down which determines how much free play there is. This adjustment must be done with the wheels pointed straight and with the front wheels off the ground so you can turn the wheel and feel any binding through the center point. If the bushings and bearings are in good shape, the roller on the pitman shaft will bind against the worm gear and prevent the adjusting screw from going all the way in. When the parts are worn, the roller will be able to go past the center on the worm gear and you'll never be able to properly adjust the box.
 
hiperfauto said:
Too bad your car isn't a '73-'74. I have 3 NOS steering boxes.

If the steering box is in good shape it will do what you described. Adjusting the screw will move the pitman shaft up and down which determines how much free play there is. This adjustment must be done with the wheels pointed straight and with the front wheels off the ground so you can turn the wheel and feel any binding through the center point. If the bushings and bearings are in good shape, the roller on the pitman shaft will bind against the worm gear and prevent the adjusting screw from going all the way in. When the parts are worn, the roller will be able to go past the center on the worm gear and you'll never be able to properly adjust the box.
Click to expand...

Okay that makes complete sense. Considering it's stopping with quite a few threads left, it sounds like there's a good chance something is wrong somewhere else. I'll hunt around some more, and also try to adjust it with the wheels off the ground. Thus far I've been doing the adjustment with wheels straight forward on the ground.
 
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