68 conv, 289 all stock. Ever since I have owned the car I have had probably 1 to 2 inches of slop in my steering. I prefer to try and maintain the stock look of the car and was wondering if rebuilding my steering gear box is doable and will solve my problem or if i need to replace it? What do you guys think? The steering has an intermediate shaft with the cloth connector.

 

look at the steering box, there is a shaft with a slot in it and a nut arround it...lossen up the nut, and wile someone that you trust is rocking the steering wheel back and forth, screw in the shaft until happy, then tighten the nut

 

I had the same thing in my 67 and rebuilt the control valve ball socket....it cleaned it up a bit. Also replaced the power ram and some dry rotted hoses and the rubber boot that covers the socket etc. also replaced the tie rods cuz I had a knocking sounds on turns.

 

That method will work, but if you are by yourself there is another way. Loosen up the retaining nut, then turn the steering wheel all the way to the left. Then screw the adjusting screw clockwise just until it rubs. You have to do this a little bit at a time to get it just right. Once you have the point where it just barely rubs, then tighten down the retaining nut and check it out on the road to see if that fixed most of the slop. Most often that will help, but is really just a stop gap until you can afford to either replace the steering box with a new Flaming River, or convert to Rack and Pinion.

 

just got back from doing a little more investigating. The pitman arm is moving in conjuction with the steering shaft. The slop seems to be where the pitman arm connects to the the ball stud. Is this a difficult repair...is there anything I should look out for before attempting this task?

 

sounds like a power steering car...the socket is worn out, DO NOT USE A PICKLE FORK to remove the arm. It really isnt hard