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

Recently purchased a 1940 110 Coupe, steering seems to have a lot of free movement in the various steering joints, are there adjustments you would suggest before I attempt replacing parts?

There are adjustments for the steering gear box but if as you say other parts are showing excessive play (like tie rod ends, king pins, etc.), I'd start with the obvious by replacing them first as, with those conditions, no adjustment of the gear box (even if it needs it) will give satisfactory results.

Steering gear box adjustments should be made with careful preparation of some good reading up on the topic as incorrect adjustment can damage the unit.

If your getting a lot of play then I would suppect the center steering arm is bad and needs attention.

I had some improvement on my 110 sedan after a couple of thorough greasing of all the zerks on the front end (do tem all while your at it). Do it yourself and get the list of lubrication fittings from the owners manual. The reason a say couple of greasings is that it may take that many to get fresh grease into the fittings. Doing this gave me significant improvement in steering. It's much cheaper too.

My original problem was that I couldn't set a constant course from the steering wheel while driving. I had to correct constantly to the left, then back to the right. Four greasings and 500 miles of driving. I can't say that I still don't have to pay attention to where I'm pointing the car at --- after all, it is a 70 plus year old automobile.

"If your getting a lot of play then I would suppect the center steering arm is bad and needs attention"

There is a short arm that seems to attach to the frame and them to links to each front wheel, does seem to be a certain amount of play in this assembly although have not yet had it in a shop to get checked officially.

Having driven the car a few times I guess I gotten sort of used to how it steers, but even considering age there is a difference between the 40 and my 48 which isn't exactly new either.

Thanks for responding. I'm doing the same thing. I just got used to it. Not a problem now --- it keeps me alert. Jere sends

Redoing my front end now, replacing all rubber, King pins good, would like to replace the Dog bone, need 2 with C clip, Also any trick on how to compress the springs with out killing myself.

Here are links to the work I did on my '37. I have a '40 110 sedan as well that I may be rebuilding; they look pretty similar.

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb ... um=1&post_id=218333#forumpost218333

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb ... um=1&post_id=218536#forumpost218536

I did remove one of the springs on mine using jackstands, a floor jack and a spring compressor, along with a healthy respect for avenues of escape if Things Went Badly.

Removing it was not that big of a deal. Installing it was a PITA.

And it turned out that the inner bushings were just fine, so I didn't replace either of them. I did the rest of the suspension without having to remove the other spring.