Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

I have posted a couple of forum entries on the removal of the steering box on my '39 Packard Six. The sector shaft or cross shaft was the obvious problem as the side thrust bearings had disintegrated and the roller wheel was rotating on the pin! The 'play' was ridiculous. I had an excellent local machinist rebuild it and it now rotates like silk with no play. My question is: I have gone from about 14" of play in the steering wheel to about 2" and I presume the 'last 2%' can be tweaked by adjusting the shim count. Can anybody give me some guidance on what to do here? I presume I will have to have the shims machined and need to know what kind of procedure to follow to know how much to add. And that is if I am correct that you ADD shims and don't take some out!! Thanks to any who can help and for your time to respond.

Max Merritt has the shims, not cheap but cheaper then having some made. I found it was trial and error. Sounds like you need to add one thin shim and see what your play is.

One removes shims one at a time to decrease the play. This moves the cross shaft closer to the worm gear. If too many shims are removed, the play will be zero at the center "high spot", but the cross shaft will have end play at the extremes which can make the steering gear "chuckle" as you turn and cross a bump, and might also make it bind at the center position.

You DON'T want to eliminate ALL free play with the steering wheel at the center position. 1-2" would be a good place to finalize on.

If you look in the service manual you will find a detailed procedure for the steering box adjustment. It involves setting the pinion preload followed by the sector.

Beware, however, that the procedure does not account for wear at the high spot of the steering gear over center and, thus, some qualitative concessions are required and an acceptable compromise achieved.

Those steering boxes are not as robust as the later Saginaw recirculating ball design and so they wear out faster.

I have a '41 Packard 120. Can this be adjusted without removing the steering box? The car has 47K on it and steering play is about 6".
All help appreciated.

Mike, you really should try to get a copy or reprint of the owner's manual, lots of good service information. The image below is from that manual and should answer your question.

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Owen,
Thank you. I have an owner's manual, but did not think about looking in it! I will check it out.

With that much play (1941 120) the first thing I would check are the rubber bushings at the end of the pitman arm.....

OK, I'll check that when I get it on the lift.
Thank you!