Ford 8N Steering Wheel Wobble (Rotation)

steamguy14

New User
The steering wheel on my 1948 Ford 8N has begun to
wobble a bit. When in 4th gear, the front wheels
can begin to turn to the left and right freely
while the steering wheel sits still. When sitting
still, I can turn the steering wheel about 1/8
turn or so without having the pitman arms budge.
The movement is in the steering box for sure. Is
there an adjustment on the older style steering
box that could make up for this? Thank you!
 
You bet...

Loosen the four bolts on each sector plate (side of the box) and rotate then re-tighten. One direction will increase gear mesh/reduce play. The other direction does just the opposite.

The older boxes have limited adjustment. Once your rotated as far as it goes, that's all you get. All covered in the FO4 manual.

BTW...1/8 turn free play is pretty good on your 70 year old machine
 
Does the steering wheel shaft and wheel move up and down when turning the 1/8 turn? If so the upper bearing in the box has failed. This is not the bearing up near the steering wheel.
 
The steering wheel doesn't move up and down. Just rotation that shouldn't be there.

Between JCinKY and another post on YT, this is what fixed it: "turn the covers [u:1d289eebcf]clockwise[/u:1d289eebcf] until they get snug and can't be turned further then that will help the situation. But if the covers continue to go around and around with no stopping place then the bushings are gone and either you can find the tightest place and put the bolts back in or you can replace the pitman shaft bushings. this will allow you to adjust the gear lash in the pitman gears."
 

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