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PostPosted: Wed Jan 22, 2003 4:07 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jan 17, 2003 12:05 am
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Location: Corvallis, OR/San Diego, CA
...Does anyone know how to adjust it?

Thanks!

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Kuranosuke
Grampa's Driving:

1990 Luv 4X4 "Family Cab"
with the big 4 banger on 31" Dueller A/Ts

1989 Dodge Raider with some junk...

"Urban Fighter F.P.C" coming soon to a road near you...:snipersmile:
got BOOBIES? 8O 8)


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 22, 2003 7:33 pm 
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Location: Sand Bernardino, CA
The steering box has a backlast adjustment screw. That should help some but can make the truck difficult to drive if you make it too tight.

If your front end is worn out it will cause play in the steering wheel also.

Also, make sure your rubber steering shaft coupler on the steering box isn't all wasted. I haven't seen any go bad on the LUV's but there's always that chance.


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2003 12:28 am 
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I'm going to chime in on what others have said here and say: "Ben, you're the man"! You've managed to have useful info on everything I've asked. I'll check that stuff out.

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The steering box has a backlast adjustment screw. That should help some but can make the truck difficult to drive if you make it too tight.


Make it difficult to drive? In what way? It may be too tight already (steering is pretty jumpy during bumps and such). This is compounded by the "free play". It's quite possible the front end is just worn out. What is involved in rebuilding the front end? I'm not assuming any of my statements are true. I'm just posing hypothetical situations. Thanks!

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Kuranosuke
Grampa's Driving:

1990 Luv 4X4 "Family Cab"
with the big 4 banger on 31" Dueller A/Ts

1989 Dodge Raider with some junk...

"Urban Fighter F.P.C" coming soon to a road near you...:snipersmile:
got BOOBIES? 8O 8)


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2003 1:15 am 
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Joined: Sat May 11, 2002 3:47 pm
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Location: Sand Bernardino, CA
If you tighten the backlash screw too much, the steering wheel won't center itself as you drive and it will be very touchy. Basically, it'll be all over the road as you try to find center. Trust me, it's not fun.

Try the adjustment screw first. It'll be a trial and error thing and it may take you a few trips around the block.

After you've tried the adjustment screw, if it's still too loose, then you'll have to start replacing parts. The good news is that you can rebuild the entire front end for fairly cheap. There have been a few topics about it here on the boards. You can get almost everything from NAPA Auto Parts or an auto parts distributor that sells Beck-Arnley parts. I think there's a couple places online too.

One or two things you might have to get from somewhere else. When I did mine, I couldn't get the the lower control arm bushings and the idler arm bushing. Since then, someone here on the message board has found both of those items. There's a post about it. I would try a search.

Typically in a front end rebuild you want to replace:
  • Upper control arm bushings
  • Lower control arm bushings
  • Upper ball joints
  • Lower ball joints
  • Outer tie rod ends
  • Inner tie rod ends
  • Center link ends
  • Any and all rubber bushings and seals

You may also want to replace the idler arm bushing and possibly rebuild the steering box, depending upon how much wear your components have.

When I did mine I took the opportunity to replace the front wheel bearings too.

And, of course, once you get it all back together you'll have to have it aligned.


Last edited by Ben on Thu Jan 23, 2003 1:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2003 1:27 am 
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Thank you!

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Kuranosuke
Grampa's Driving:

1990 Luv 4X4 "Family Cab"
with the big 4 banger on 31" Dueller A/Ts

1989 Dodge Raider with some junk...

"Urban Fighter F.P.C" coming soon to a road near you...:snipersmile:
got BOOBIES? 8O 8)


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2003 3:08 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2003 11:20 pm
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Location: McMinnville, OR
My experience has been that the Idler Arm bushing is one of the most common places where slop in the steering comes from. It is a pain to get grease all the way through it so it tends to get skipped/under greased and wears out. Sure everything else including the steering box wears out, but that idler arm bushing has been bad on every truck I've gotten. Some of them to the point of the shaft and bracket being pretty much useless as well.

The best way to troubleshoot this stuff is to have someone in the truck turn the wheel back and forth about a quarter turn while you look underneath and see what has play in it. You can kind of do this on your own by reaching up and turning the steering collumn, but it is a lot easier with help. If anything sticks out as having a lot of play in it, start replacing parts there.

If the slop is in the gearbox, Ben's adjustment advice is dead on.


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 26, 2003 8:29 am 
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Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2002 10:15 pm
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Location: Colorado Springs
my steering throws me everywhere.when i first got mine,i slid on some ice and hit a curb at a 45 degree angle and my pitman arms are all jacked up

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1980 luv sport 4x4 Just a memory now :(
Frame rusted from the inside. Truck stripped and now looking for a new donor in southern ohio


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 28, 2003 6:14 pm 
the dude i got my truck from redid all the steering right before i bought it.

sssswwwwwweeeeeeeetttttttt. :wink:

g


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 28, 2003 11:09 pm 
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Location: Colorado Springs
i paid 200 bucks for mine and about 2 months before i bought it the guy dropped 4 grand into the sus. and drive.

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1980 luv sport 4x4 Just a memory now :(
Frame rusted from the inside. Truck stripped and now looking for a new donor in southern ohio


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 29, 2003 1:41 am 
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Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2003 11:20 pm
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Location: McMinnville, OR
When I got mine the prior owner had fixed a whole lot of stuff on it. It took me a couple of months to tear all of it apart and redo it correctly. The steering and suspension were the worst. The front wheel bearings were so tight it took almost two people to turn one of the tires with it jacked up. The "new" ball joints had dirt/water in them instead of grease, and the brand new clutch was wearing rivet grooves into the flywheel and pressure plate. Sometimes all the money someone dumped into it before just means you have more things to fix.


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