steering binds

[MacGyver]

I drove my 48 D-24 over to the exhaust shop the other day and it seemed as though all was fine. On the way home I noticed a bit more play in the steering and a binding when turning the wheel to the right. Today its much worse. The play while driving was from 12 o'clock to around 10 to the left and from 12o'clock to around 3-4 when turning to the right. When it finally does start to apply action to the wheels on a right turn it is very difficult and the resistance feels like a binding of sorts. Any thoughts on this? What may cause such a thing, and what is the remedy?

Thanks

Mark

[Jerry Roberts]

One way to find too much slop in the steering is to have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth while you look underneath to see what is moving and what isn't moving . I wonder if something was damaged at the exhaust shop .

[Norm's Coupe]

Did the steering work ok before you took it into the shop for the muffler? If it did, it's possible they drove the car off the side of the rack and bent something in the steering components.

Check your Private Messages.

[MacGyver]

That's an interesting thought Norm as the car was steering fine prior to taking it in. I'll get the front end up in the air to check out the steering 'slop.' While she's up I'll check it out underneath for any "witness" to contact with their rack or any bends/breaks.

[BobT-47P15]

Things like that are the reason I try to stay with the car and watch them

do the work.

[Norm's Coupe]

Things like that are the reason I try to stay with the car and watch them

do the work.

Bob, I do the same. His story brings back memories of when I had the tail pipe made for my coupe years ago. Took it into a Car X shop and waited for it. Even had to wait about an hour before they got to it. Then when they did, I watched the young guy go out and get in the car to move it into the shop. He sat there for several minutes with the drivers door still open and never tried to start the car. I finally went out to see what his problem was. Told me he couldn't get the car started because something must be wrong with the switch as it didn't turn over when he turned the key. I then told him he had to push the button to start the car. Then he looked at the shift lever and said he didn't know where the gears were on the column. I started to explain how to do it, then he finally said: "Maybe it would be better if I drove the car into the shop up on the rack". So.........I drove it in and out of the shop myself. No telling what they would have done had I not been there.

[MacGyver]

So I think I found the culprit and I guess I can't blame the muffler shop. I took the steering housing cover off the bottom and found that, as the manual calls it, the "worm thrust bearing cage and rollers" (#20 in the exploded view) is kaput. The cage is broken, bent and missing a roller.

What size is this bearing assy? Assuming I can get all the junk out of the housing (i know its a long shot), can I just replace this and be done with it?

[Plymouthy Adams]

WOW..how in the name of sam could that appear to be a problem out of nowhere..would think you would have had an indication of problem prior to the muffler shop visit. As the roller bearing is one piece and the worm of the steering is the inner race...I would be suspicious of the race condition with one roller missing. Was there any sign of PO involvement whereas the one bearing missing from the cage was lost during a maintenance routine...the cup should have a part number say like a L&S or Bower number..they will all have the same numeric regardless of the prefix letters...you local bearings and drive ought to be able to match this roller and cup assembly that way...someone on here may have that number as it is not listed on the parts page of this forum..looking in the book will only get the chrysler part number..inspect the cage real well for a stamped number on it also..

[MacGyver]

Thanks for your input, though I am a little unclear as to what you mean by "PO involvement." I did have a bit of indication that something was up about two summers ago... I turned the wheel and met a bit of resistance, almost like a grinding, turned it back to center and then no problems from that point on. I would assume that's when the problem started, how?, I don't know. I had never had the steer box apart so maybe the 60yrs of service just took its toll (?)

The race actually looked pretty nice but wether or not I'll ever get any metal fragments out of the case is yet to be determined.

[Frank Elder]

Previous owner-PO

Frankie

[MacGyver]

Frankie, thank you, I'm still a bit green when it comes to lingo on the ol' interweb . No obvious signs of a PO getting in there, all shims in place, etc... Wait, I take that back, I took a 'needle stick' to the finger from the cover where it looked like an over-tightened bolt/lock washer scarred the metal. I guess that could be a source.

No ID markings whatsoever on the cage, etc. I'll take the old parts with me and see what we can match up. If I come up with a good match I'll be sure to post the part #.

[Merle Coggins]

There are several good bearing houses here in the MIlwaukee area. Let me know if you have difficulty finding one.

Merle

[billwillard]

Take the mopar part # (if you have one) to NAPA or CARQUEST and they can come up with the right bearing.

[MacGyver]

I finally tracked down the bearing I need. The cup is a Timken 6ce, the bearing is 5ba. The problem I ran into was that numerous bearing distributors told me Timken does not make this bearing anymore and "it would take about a month to get one." I was able to track one down online at Applied Industrial Technologies. The gentleman I spoke with said their company had 5 of these bearings in the country; 2 in Cali, and 3 in Oregon. The part was $15.27 and they shipped it here in a week.

Just in time to put it all back together and drive to storage for the winter.