can't find the steering box adjustment

[NAM VET]

OK, I have and have read the TM"s, and watched assorted video's of (Non M 37) steering box backlash adjustments. I have done this on several of my older cars. But when it is mentioned "from the engine compartment", or "from the box side facing the frame using the screw....".....

But on my unmolested, original '52 M 32 (more correctly an M 42), with careful examination of my steering box from every angle, under the car, inside the engine compartment, and from the wheel well, I can not find any access to the side of the box facing the frame. There is no cut out on the frame or inner fenderwell. In short, I can find no way to access the adjustment screw/bolt. When I first picked up my truck, I asked a surplus army truck dealer in my wife's home town in NE to take out some of the backlash for me, and he said he could find no way to do so. The only plate I can find is the one where the horn wire comes out from the box in the front of the box.

It should be a simple thing to do to adjust the backlash, so any suggestions to how to do it?

I am getting a new knee in a few days, so am taking the truck to my son's place for the next two months, down in Columbia, SC. It has been fun so far, made a pizza run last evening in our new truck. I will post a few pictures in a day or so.

But the steering box????

All the best..

NAM VET

[M60TC]

NAM VET

Take a look at TM 9-8031-2, page 277 fig. 167. The adjusting screw is under a cap bolt on the engine side of the Steering Gear box. Check the Lub level in the box also, use Mobilgear 600 XP 460.

Don

[RMS]

most steering box play comes from the sector shaft bushing. adjusting the mesh on the worm and sector will only cause more wear on the worm and sector gear.

[NAM VET]

I appreciate the above advice and suggestions. Had my AAA tow package pick up my truck and take the 84 miles to my son's place in Columbia, SC, where it just fit on his lift in his work garage. Next to his Lotus Elise. I have shot some pictures, and put them there. I just don't see a way to get to where ever the adjustment bolt is, as the box is bolted to the frame. I can see a small cut out in the inner fender well, but to get to it, i think I would have to take out the generator, and who knows what else. Any suggestions? Anyway, my truck will have to be at his house for the next two months, as I won't be able to drive it when I get my new knee in a few days. I have the TM's, but left them back at my residence up near Charlotte, and I am down at Charleston now, getting my Knee in Columbia. I have reviewed the TM's, and it does show the bolt and cover, with the parts and such, but I just can't see how to get a wrench and screwdriver on it.

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As such, I won't be working on my truck for the next two months. Plenty of time to sort this all out.
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and here she is, reads 6K on the odo, I need to get the turn signals and horn to work, that's about it.
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[just me]

Just remove the inner fender panel. Easy access to everything. (It isn't hard to do. Only about 15 minutes if the bolts aren't rusted. Overnight with a Kroil or 50/50 mix if rusty)

[NAM VET]

ah, just the suggestion I needed. I don't think it will be a difficult to thing to do. In several months. If this doesn't improve the "play", will move on to the other suggestions. Never occurred to me to pull off the inner fender liner.

NAM VET

[nhjohnny1]

Its been a while but I want to say theres a screw adjuster poking through the frame with a sort of star washer deal, also, removing shims from the end cap the horn wire comes out of tightens up the play in the worm gear. the steering shaft basically screws up to a stop or down to the end cap before turning the steering gear. I have pulled a couple boxes apart and they have a varied amount of very thin steel shims under the end cap with the horn wire, I just adjusted by feel, not by the book so keep that in mind but it lessened the amount of play in the wheel before tension was felt when tuning back and forth.

[ashyers]

While you're rooting around the steering box check the front leaf's bushing and the relay rod's bushing. Both will lead to a ton of play and are relatively easy to repair.

Andy

[just me]

All the play in my truck is in the idler arm. I was able to get a new one from ABLinn for $25. He puts one up for sale every couple weeks.

[NAM VET]

all good suggestions, there are a lot of places and connections where tolerances can add up to "play" in the steering. I have not had any chance to see where most of my truck's steering looseness is. I know some "play" is necessary for off-roading. By now, I have gotten pretty used to just letting the truck "roll" and not to make many corrections as I cruise down the road. With just getting the truck delivered from NE, and all the arrangements necessary for me to be "re-habing" my knee all I have been able to do is change the oil and filter (Baldwin, thanks to this forum), and checking the brake fluid, (all the other's were topped off by my seller), I haven't really inspected the undercarriage at all. The truck came with big boxes of spares, many in their original '50's and '60's packaging, and I stopped by VPW on the way back to SC, and bought just about all the other parts I am apt to need. Since the prior owner had the truck for over 20 years, keeping it is his pole barn, and driving it at least monthly, it is in really good shape. Even the old spare tire on the bed is still at 40 psi. Three of the other tires are new, one being a recap on a good carcass. I think I will just take off the series 600 turn signal, and put on one of the 900 variants, and re-wire it myself. I bought from VPW what I need to to repair the horn, too. Then on to cosmetics, having three gallons of GCI paint. I did have an hour, so removed the driver's Trico wiper, and cleaned, lubed, and then painted it, and it works and looks great. A small start.

I am on a sort of chemotherapy, so want to get done what I can, and enjoy the truck. Like many others on this forum, I will do some sort of photographic blog. Starts instantly when cold, and I am learning how to do a hot re-start more quickly.

Thanks to all of you, and I will be around. Now to get ready to get a new knee. My son is a DePuy orthopedic rep, so his company has made up some sort of special custom knee for me. Always goof to have a "friend in the business." By the way, when he came up to Charlotte this weekend to see and drive the truck, he immediately mastered double-clutching down to second, with nary a graunch from the gears. He is an accomplished race track driver in our other cars, and can heel and toe anything. Me, even having had to double clutch downshifts since the early '60's in my dad's '59 Anglia, and I have not quite got the downshifts to second down pat.

here is a pic of his two year old son, holding his own truck.
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and a pic of dad by a blown up jeep in Vietnam .
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