Play in Sector Shaft

[Markymark420]

I was replacing my Drag Link End on Tuesday night when I noticed that my steering box's sector shaft has axial play (in & out). The castellated nut on the draglink is torqued to spec (75 lbs/ft IIRC) and I ensured that the play was not within the joint itself by placing my fingers above the pitman arm, between it and the steering box, when diagnosing. I do not have a dial indicator @ home, but if I were to guess there is probably ~0.060" of axial play and a noticeable clunk associated when applying hand pressure up/down on the pitman arm.

Question: Does this indicate that my steering box is toast? Would I be able to adjust the pre-load to eliminate the play?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[IBeHeWhoIsJoshua]

I'm having similar issues. Can you get a video of it? I'll have to find the YouTube link to mine or the thread I started.

 

[StrizzyChris]

Not sure what you mean by axial play. X2 on the video? Do you have a drop pitman arm by chance? They are often poorly fitting and can have undesirable play at the shaft.

 

[Markymark420]

No dropped pitman arm.
Axial as in the sector shaft moves up and down within the steering box.
Maybe it is normal, but I have never noticed it in the past and the noise it makes when I push and pull on it resembles the rattle I hear on washboard roads.
I will try to get a video later or at least make up a figure on PowerPoint to illustrate.


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[EstianSwanepoel]

I have this too.
Perhaps Synergy sector shaft brace might do the trick?

 

[Rebel JK]

I know that when i replaced mine (twice) the shaft had slight lateral movement in the new rebuilt units, but dont recall any axial in/out play. The manufacturer included in the instructions specifically that the slight lateral play was normal but didnt mention axial. I know this doesnt help much but just putting it out there.

 

[IBeHeWhoIsJoshua]

I have this too.
Perhaps Synergy sector shaft brace might do the trick?

That would help any lateral movement but not actual play/clunking that I have and maybe the OP.

 

[Markymark420]

Just made up a quick figure to illustrate what I have discovered.

** Note - I sourced this photo from Google. I do not have a dropped pitman like the photo shows **

 

[rinkishjk]

The big nut that holds the Pitman arm to the sector shaft requires a lot of torque.. I think somewhere around 200ft lbs.... Did u check this?

 

[Markymark420]

The big nut that holds the Pitman arm to the sector shaft requires a lot of torque.. I think somewhere around 200ft lbs.... Did u check this?

Thanks rinkishjk, I originally thought the same, but the torque stripe indicates that the nut has not lost torque, and by wedging my fingers above the pitman arm, I can feel that it is the sector shaft itself that is moving up into the steering box (not the pitman arm moving up and down on the splines).

 

[ScoobyCarolanNC]

I'm chasing something like this down. Take a look at this pic of my sector shaft where it meets the pitman. Should there be this gap?



I just saw a few posts about checking the boot so I'll do that soon.

 

[RKJK10]

did you have a wobble prior to this? have you found any issue yet?

 

[jk12blk]

Thanks rinkishjk, I originally thought the same, but the torque stripe indicates that the nut has not lost torque, and by wedging my fingers above the pitman arm, I can feel that it is the sector shaft itself that is moving up into the steering box (not the pitman arm moving up and down on the splines).

Although I don't think it will fix your problem, 75 ft lbs seems really low for the pitman arm nut. I think the factory nut is supposed to be 185 ft lbs. I'm actually running the synergy sector shaft brace with synergy's supplied pitman arm nut and it requires 150 ft lbs. Again, I don't think it will solve your problem but you might consider re-verifying your pitman arm nut is at the proper torque.