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Steering gear question

dan juhasz

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So I took my first significant drive with the 67 Coronet RT that I’m completing. Logged about 150 miles on it round trip. Biggest complaint I have is with the steering gear. It is a remanufactured Cardone product. It has about 50/60 degrees off free play with the engine off. I’ve been told this is normal until the engine is started. Well even once started the same amount of free play still exists and driving the car it feels like a pinball bouncing between the bumpers (free play). So is there any other possibility besides just a lousy steering gear.
Thanks Dan
 
There's also the possibility of worn bushings, steering linkage, ball joints, etc.
 
Everything is new or refurbished, front end is tight
Rules that out then. I put in a Stage II FF box and was amazed how nice my '63 steered, firm, no wandering. Worth the cash IMO. There are other products around that people like. Lots of discussion on this on the forum if you do a search.
 
Contact seller first.
The adjustment procedure should be in your Factory Service Manual and is a simple procedure.
 
I hear from friends who installed borgensen box they are headache better off with firm feel
Yup, mine was an expensive, and time consuming PITA. I put one on my 64 Sport Fury. I put the Firm Feel on my Dart.
Plus, the Borgeson makes a hissing noise that FF doesn't. It is something typical of the Borgeson, since I have one on a Mercury also.
 
Just throwing out options. Not a headache to some of those who have installed it. Results may vary.
 
Firm Feel.
No. The problem the OP has will improve SOME with a Firm Feel rebuild but the actual problem lies with the design of the steering box. The Mopar steering box was essentially unchanged from 1957 to 1989.
Firm feel seconded here
Uhhh, No again. I had a Firm Feel unit in my Charger and with less than 14,000 miles on it, there was no adjustment left to it.....it still had that terrible slop in the center of travel. It didn't leak but the slop was terrible. Look at the photos below to see how much slop was evident with the engine running.

Borg 23.jpg


Borg 24.jpg


Borg 25.jpg


Is this acceptable to you? This is free play before the tires actually start to respond.

I hear from friends who installed borgensen box they are headache better off with firm feel
No for the 3rd time. If the Borgeson unit was so bad, they'd be out of business from bad word of mouth. I installed one in the Charger and all of the center slop is gone. There is no hissing noise. It fit with zero modifications and the quality of the parts in the Bergman Auto Craft kit are top shelf. The car is much better to drive now.
The parts store rebuilds of the factory steering box are usually nothing more than a cleaning and regasket job.
At least Firm Feel replaces worn parts and installs upgrades. I don't blame them for the slop that these boxes have. They do the best that they can with what is a 65 year old design.
 
I had the Steer & Gear stage II, center slop was still there. Yes it steers firmer with more "feel" but still hard to drive in a straight line without correcting it.
The center slop is a standard "issue" with the OEM box or any brand that refurbishes or rebuilds stock style steering boxes, its in the original design.
I am saying "issue" since many do not bother or notice this after so many years of driving Mopars.
For others (like myself) who are of later generations this center slop seems abnormal as modern cars don't have this.

I can tell you from first hand experience that installing a Borgeson box is a breeze, the nastiest part of the job is removing the old one.
The easiest way out (even with headers) is to remove the power steering pump, brackets and battery & tray.
Loosen the driver side motor mount and lift the engine up as far as it will go. (trans belhousing will hit the tunnel first, be carefull with fan and radiator clearance)
Remove the motor mount bracket and you are able to pull the old gearbox out.
Going from bottom you still need to lift the engine to get some decent space, remove torsion bar etc, you are not saving yourself going this way.

For installation follow the instructions, use the recommended oil, get an oil cooler and you have a nice and firm steering car with zero slop.
I installed it with the Borgeson universal joint which includes shortening and drilling the steering column which is a bit off a hassle to install and remove the column several times to measure and finally cut and drill. (measure twice cut & drill once!!)
You can also choose an OEM style coupler if you don't feel comfortable modifying the column.
If the stock steering box had the same size as the Borgeson it would have saved many header fitment issues over the last 50 years. :D
All in all, money well spend, steers like a rack & pinion steering.
 
I replaced my original ps box with a Cardone rebuild from Rock Auto and it has a lot less freeplay than the old, worn unit and it doesn't leak. I've been happy with it, but might just be luck of the draw.

Make sure you got all of the air out of the system. You can also adjust the gear shaft to reduce the free play - might not have been set correctly in the rebuild. FSM has the procedure.
 
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