Steering gear

[sodbuster]

I had a frightliner with a ross steering geare and was able to adjust the slack in the steering wheel. Now have Kenworth with a trw steering box and tried to adjust the slack and all it dose is make it harder to steer. the slack is still there. I had to try a happen medium so it was not to tight and had a little less slack. My question It feels like its harder to steer than it should be. is there a pressure adjustment to increase hyd pressure to the steering box, or maybe this one is just worn out??? it's really a pain in town when you have to wait till the last second to start your turn and really need to move the steering wheel in a hurry. It's so bad I even thought about one of those steerling balls, but I heard there illeagle in some states.

[allan5oh]

Are you sure it's slack in the steering box? The filter/oil might need to be changed. Does it tend to make a whining sound?

[sodbuster]

allan I grab the steering wheel shaft and it has a lot of free play before the draglink starts to move at all. No noise real clean fluid I have not looked for a filter not sure where it is. on my farm tractor it is in the resvoir that is mounted on the pump itself.

[allan5oh]

also, I wouldn't adjust it yourself. There's tons of different models out there, and each is a little different.

[sodbuster]

I wasn't going to mess with the steering box any more, but concenerd about the hard steering, I am at some point going to have to do something about it. Maybe have it rebuilt or replaced.

[allan5oh]

Most likely you adjusted it too tight. Is there play anywhere else in the system, like the slip joint, or tilt steering?

[yoopr]

Might want to also check out your Steering Knuckle

[sodbuster]

I may have wear in other compents of the steering system, but right now I Know there is to much slak in the steering gear. I can rotate the input shaft 20 degrees of roataion and not get any movement in the output shaft that is connected to the draglink.

[Kranky]

I may have wear in other compents of the steering system, but right now I Know there is to much slak in the steering gear. I can rotate the input shaft 20 degrees of roataion and not get any movement in the output shaft that is connected to the draglink.

Check where the steering shaft attaches to the steering box, usually there is a u joint there and the yoke attaches to the spline on the input shaft of the steering box.

There is usually a "pinch bolt" to keep the yoke tight on the spline, and I have seen many of these loosen up, and then you have "free play" in the steering.

If that is the case, the splines on the input shaft and yoke could be damaged if it has been run loose for any length of time.

It's a very unsafe condition, if this is indeed the problem fix it immediately.

[Part Time Dweller]

I can rotate the input shaft 20 degrees of roataion and not get any movement in the output shaft that is connected to the draglink.

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If that is the case, look into a re-man steering box.

Here is a link to the TRW site explaining the proper way to adjust the sector shaft. This is a PDf file.

http://trucksteering.trwauto.com/files/PRC-SCTR.pdf

My take on this is this adjustment is not intended to remove slop, but to set the box initially.

[Part Time Dweller]

Here is the service manual for the gearbox. Look on pages 16-18 for the adjustments.

http://trucksteering.trwauto.com/files/HFB64-Intro.pdf

[sodbuster]

Hey part timer thanks for taking the time to post the links. I copied to my pc will look at them later. but thanks again.

[bob h]

I had a frightliner with a ross steering geare and was able to adjust the slack in the steering wheel. Now have Kenworth with a trw steering box and tried to adjust the slack and all it dose is make it harder to steer. the slack is still there. I had to try a happen medium so it was not to tight and had a little less slack. My question It feels like its harder to steer than it should be. is there a pressure adjustment to increase hyd pressure to the steering box, or maybe this one is just worn out??? it's really a pain in town when you have to wait till the last second to start your turn and really need to move the steering wheel in a hurry. It's so bad I even thought about one of those steerling balls, but I heard there illeagle in some states.

alan mentioned the fluid/whining... that's the obvious first check; fluid level and evident leaks - especially at the reservoir cover

if the steering gear preload is adjusted too tight, the steering will not "return" or center properly, therefore, when driving at road speed you would be always correcting the steering

to eliminate the linkage as a problem, try turning the steering right at the input shaft/u-joint... does the "lash" feel different when the engine is running?

...compare movement between input shaft and pitman arm

[sodbuster]

Thanks bob, and spiltshifter, I finally found the right manual on steering box. it's TAS 65. I going to check the spline and clamp like split said. and I never thought about haveing the engine running while checking the lash. I do think I have it adjusted to tight. Thanks for the comments, suggestions.