two men and a small child to steer this truck

RH62 · Post by **RH62** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 11:38 am

Ok... i have hard steering on my 62 d100. I was thinking of trying to convert to some kind of power steering setup, but i was reading some of your posts on factory steering. It sounds like it should be easyer.. I think trey said he could manuver around a parking lot while palming the wheel. If my truck was like this i would have no problem with manuel setup. My steering is tight while driving on the freeway doesnt wander at all. I had the front end checked some years back and all was lubed and checked out ok. The kingpins are original and so is the gearbox. I havent checked the lube on the gearbox recently but i noticed it has a zurk added where the top bolt is so i assume it was lubed when the front end was. I dont have the factory steering wheel on but i believe the one that is on is only 1" smaller then the original. I have 225/70/r15 tires on... i thought the smaller tires up front would help out but it didnt make much of a diference, oringally i had 255/60/r15 up front. If im in dirt or on my smooth garage floor it steers halfway decently, but on pavement or my driveway it takes Conan the barbarian to steer at slow speeds.
I would prefer to keep factory setup so i dont have to deal with custom fabrication and all the hoses cluttering the engine compartment, but if i cant get it any easyer to steer i will have to go that route.
Any sugestions on where to start or what to try to make steering easyer would be greatly appreciated.
If your thinking just start working out.... well it aint going to happen.

Jones · Post by **Jones** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 3:26 pm

RH62,

One thing to keep in mind is that these trucks came stock with 15X6.70 tires and rims. A whole lot narrower than the radials. With the narrower tires you'll have less friction when turning the wheel. And with a slightly smaller wheel, you'll need an increased force to do the same amout of work.

I just put a set of biased ply tires back on my 64 and right away I could tell the difference in the ease of steering. It almost felt like power assist.

As for the grease zerk on the oil filler cap... I was told 90 weight in the steeing box. There is some discussion on this also in the forum. Grease or 90 weight... either way it's better than nothing.

Have you opened the box up to see what's inside. Old grease may be in there and you may need to give it a good cleaning. I would suggest lifting the front up off the ground and feel how the steering wheel turns. If there is any tight spots or places it hangs up while you turn the wheel. If water has gotten in there the ball bearings in the worm gear may have some rust spots or just chunky grease holding it up.

Keep us informed on what you find.

Keith

dwc43 · Post by **dwc43** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:48 pm

If everything checks out in the steering box that was mentioned in the post above, you can add some caster shims between the springs and axle to change the caster. Any align up shop can do it for you and that will help it steer easier.

slick · Post by **slick** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:06 pm

I think it's time to hit the gym

Website · Post by **wideblock** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 10:24 pm

the problem with caster shims is when you go the right way to make steering easier, you also make it looser feeling on the road. dodge didnt use shims on a manual truck. shims were added to firm up the steering on power assisted rigs. so you may check to see if you have shims in there. if so, try removing them. you may get a bit looser feel on the road, but less effort to turn the beast. also check your toe in alignment. according to the book, 0 to 1/8" of toe in is spec. some guys will run 1/4" to get a firmer road feel, but this too aids in a firmer feel trying to turn it. also, somthing to look at would be the column bearings. on my 66, it was a royal biotch. new pins, tie rods, steering arm,,,,,stilll a mofo. lubed the column bearings and cleaned out 35 years of grime, and it steered great. and that was with 31x10.5x15 tires up front.

theres a lot you can do to make it better. just take it one step at a time. with everything set up right, my woman drove my 66 without issue.

what i would most recommend is the bearing style king pins. instead of a spacer at the top for clearence, its a roller bearing assembly. makes a HUGE difference in the way the truck turns and how smooth it is. if you go to the parts house to order king pins, they will ask "bushing or bearing" choose bearing. the truck i drove with the bearing king pins had 245x75x16 radials up front. i swear i thought the old boy had power steering.

RH62 · Post by **RH62** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 12:25 am

Excuse my ignorance

Could you please explain to me what a column bearing is and where i might find it?

Jeffc · Post by **Jeffc** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 12:44 am

column bearing is under the stearing wheel at the
top of the columm.
Most has been covered here.
But let me add one thing that will cause "tight"
stearing..... sagged front cab mounts> put the
weight of the cab on the columm and binds it with
the stearing box.
If you got bad floors your cab mounts are allowing
the cab to sag.....

RH62 · Post by **RH62** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 12:50 am

when i was under the truck on the forward part of the cab floor i did notice some rust holes that were repaired by welding a plate of sheetmetal over them.... I have not pulled up the carpet to see how bad the rust was. I believer it was just on the forward part of floorboards. where are the cab mounts located?

Jeffc · Post by **Jeffc** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 1:50 am

around six inchs off the kickpanels on ether
side of cab floor just in front of the
slope that comes off the firewall.
Should see a round depression with a bolt
head in the center.
These mount to the two extentions
that come off the frame.

RH62 · Post by **RH62** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 1:52 am

Ill pull it out of the garage tomarow and see how it looks! thanks for the info!

RH62 · Post by **RH62** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 12:00 am

well.....

I think you may have hit the nail on the head jeff. i see quite a bit of rust in the floor boards mostly on the driver side all around the area where the cab is mounted. some of the holes have a patch welded over them and all the rust lookslike its been painted with some kind of rust inhibing paint but im afraid the damage is done. Any sugestions on freeing up the steering with out replacing the floorboards... im afraid i cant afford to that much work at this time... im sure having new floorboards put in will be EXPENSIVE!

Jeffc · Post by **Jeffc** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 10:21 am

How I would do a temp fix is loosen the
cab mount bolt, pull it out, cut a piece of
metal that will cover the area that is rusted
(hopefully to areas that have good metal),
jack the cab up on that side and slide the
metal under that section of the cab,
then run self tapping screws or pop rivets
to hold in place, lower cab, drill hole
and put the mounting bolt back in place.
You may need to place some large washers
between the cab and frame mount to get the
right height (note; should be a rubber
washer with the washers under the cab floor
with the mouning bolt, this keeps
the floor from "sweeking" from rubbing
on the mount> ie. metal to metal).
This should hold you till
your ready to do a floor replacement since
it looks like the rest is treated.
You could also do this from the top side,
but I belive that the bottem side makes
a stronger bond, best would be to do it
from top and bottem and sandwich the old floor,
just depends on how much good metal you have
left. You may also wish to run a piece part
way up the kickpanel to add support> again
it depends on how much metal is gone.

I do not recommend fiber glassing floors
because it just holds the water and will never
dry out, also helps the rust along. On top of
that it makes it very nasty to cut out when
you do do your floor boards the right way.

Website · Post by **wideblock** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 7:21 pm

on my buddies chevy, we measured the space between the back cab mount and the frame. plained a treated 4x4 down, about 1ft long and the thickness we measured. then we jacked the cab up, slid the plained 4x4 in place as close to the front mount as possible, between the cab and the top of the frame, and bolted it all back toagther. this red neck remedy lasted for 4 years till the rest of the rust in the cab caught up and dropped the whole floor in on itself. just an idea

digdoug · Post by **digdoug** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 7:46 pm

I thought I might add this.A 6"x8" piece of metal fits tight under the cab mount.Also whether or not you need to fix the cab mount,you most likely need to adjust the bottom steering coulmn mount so the steering shaft is centered in the column.On pre 69 trucks you get under the truck and loosen the two 1/2 inch nuts at the base of the column.The holes they go through in the floorboad are close to 1" dia.so there is room for adjustment.They have large fender washers that cover the hole.You can also adjust the upper mount under the dash to take it out of a bind.It has an elongated slot in the column.

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 7:19 pm

Great post

, I know my floorboards are rusted, ok, gone on the drivers side, and I have some steering issues, After I recoup from neck surgery I'll have to check it all out.
Thanks.