Help! Steering box problem...

[Floorguy]

How do you adjust the manual steering box "play"? I see the adjustment bolt on the side, but have never done it before. I've got the Power steering conversion kit, but will not have the needed time to put it on for a couple weeks or so. For now, the original power steering gave out and I'm back to manual. My son drives it to school daily, so I need to get some of the play out for now. Any help/input would be great!!

Thanks!

[Hobcobble]

Without completely removing the box [Sag. 525D], you
can adjust the worm bearing pre-load BUT you couldn't
check pre-load without, at least, removing the column
from the worm shaft. If you want to guess at it, back
off the shaft adjuster screw lock nut and then turn
the adjuster clock-wise to increase pre-load, and
vise-versa. Ideally at minimum, you should remove the
steering arm, according to the FSM. The lock nut is
re-torqued to 85 ft/lb. Pre-load is determined by the
torque required to turn the worm shaft [5-9 in/lb].
If you remove the box, you can adjust & check your
pre-load AND adjust the sector gear mesh. Sector gear
mesh adjustments can be made ONLY after obtaining
proper worm bearing pre-load.
John

[Floorguy]

Without completely removing the box [Sag. 525D], you
can adjust the worm bearing pre-load BUT you couldn't
check pre-load without, at least, removing the column
from the worm shaft. If you want to guess at it, back
off the shaft adjuster screw lock nut and then turn
the adjuster clock-wise to increase pre-load, and
vise-versa. Ideally at minimum, you should remove the
steering arm, according to the FSM. The lock nut is
re-torqued to 85 ft/lb. Pre-load is determined by the
torque required to turn the worm shaft [5-9 in/lb].
If you remove the box, you can adjust & check your
pre-load AND adjust the sector gear mesh. Sector gear
mesh adjustments can be made ONLY after obtaining
proper worm bearing pre-load.
John

Thanks, I'll be doing it with the box in for now. The tip you gave on the adjustment should help. Along the way, I noticed the drag link is very worn where it connects to the pitman arm. Most of the slop appears to be in there. I'll be ordering a new one Monday from Napa, since I need it for the Protech conversion anyway.
Thanks Again for your help!

[wideblock]

there are 2 points of adjustment, you got the screw in the side, then the big nut just under the rag joint at the top of the box. but niether of these will do you any good if your tie rods or steering link are all worn out. id replace the steering parts that are bad before you try your hand at the box. with new tie rods, steering link, and king pins, my truck lost 98% of its wander. also, if the truck has had power steering most of its life, theres gonna be a lot less wear on the box then if it was manual its whole life. id bet your box is in good shape if the rest of the front end was tight.