I am doing a frame off of a 67 and plan to stay with the original manual steering to save a few bucks. Should the steering box be gone through? I pulled the cover just to look and it is still packed with grease fairly well. Should this be repacked? Gears inspected? What exactly does the adjusting screw do anyway? Worked before, but if something should be done, now is the time.

If it were mine, I'd take it apart, clean it up, inspect for wear and reassemble with new seals and lube. As I recall, lube should be 90 weight gear lube, not grease.
Adjusting screw sets on-center preload. I always set this up on the car. Too tight, wheel won't return to center. Too loose, wheel has lost motion or slop on center. If gear is badly worn, steering will be sloppy on-center and will stick just off-center.

Seldom did the adjustment screw actually get used. If you have excessive play it can be adjusted. If the adjustment screw is already screwed in it's a sure sign for a rebuild.

You can get it rebuilt for about $250. For that price you can get a power box, but if you want to stay original...

If you send it to get rebuilt, be sure to remove the pitman arm first! They WILL lose it. This is what happened to mine. I have a freshly rebuilt box from a 67 that I can't use because they lost the pitman arm. Pitman arms are hard to find.

What is the build date of your car? I may be interested in trading you. You could keep your pitman arm. You give me your old box and some cash, and I'll give you mine. I will only do this if your build date is close to mine (I want the option of going back to manual steering some day).


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Jameel Qazi
#'s 67 SS