hl 510 steering box pulling after u turns

[Lozer]

Hi All,

 

So i slapped a 79 510 box in my dime with fresh oil and a good cleaning (gears looked good).

So when i do a u turn or a tight slow turn the car pulls like hell in that direction. ( left u turn car pulls left, right u turn car pulls right)

 

All fresh ball joints and tie rods.  

 

Has anyone seen a box do this before?

 

[flatcat19]

All bolts tight? Alignment performed after doing steering work? Tires in good shape?All other steering components in good shape? 

[INDY510]

I had a 79 HL510 steering box, in my old 510. The PO swapped the entire steering column and rag-joint. It never felt 'right' until I swapped in a PL510 box and U-joint column. The HL510 box broke one day, and spilled fluid all over the road .. then the wheel would spin freely for 3-4 turns before the car would turn

 

I have a good spare PL510 steering box, out of a 71 wagon .. if you want it for $40, I can bring it to Busta's BBQ in 2 weeks (or I could meet you in Marin)

[tr8er]

This sounds like alignment.

[flatcat19]

Was the box at zero when installed?

Do you have equal spins to lock left and right?

[Lozer]

Yup equal spins side to side. it gets tight at the very last  bit on each side. box can only be at zero when installed.  

After starting to search i found out its called steering memory and its caused by binding in either the box bj's or tie rods. So im gonna check the easy stuff and if thats not it ill slap the original box back in.  

 

Indy510 thanks man i might take you up on that. 

[datzenmike]

First do what you can to fix this.

 

Raise both wheels off the ground. Turn side to side, lock to lock. If there is ANY stiffness at the left or right full lock positions... find the steering box pinion adjustment screw. It has a lock nut on it. Loosen the lock nut and turn the screw counter clockwise several turns or until the steering is effortless and without binding. Turn the adjustment screw clockwise in stages while checking constantly for ANY tightness at full lock. This will remove the excess side to side play but must stop before any binding. When satisfied tighten lock nut and test once more.

 

 

Additionally the steering box gears wear most in the middle in the straight ahead position. Some owners adjust the gear lash tighter to compensate for this but it will be too tight out towards the two lock positions where the wear is the least and it will bind.

 

 

Excessive side to side play is mostly a function of all the steering ball joint wear. The box has a ratio of about 15 to 1 so just a 1/8" of total ball joint wear will result in over 2" of steering wheel slop.

 

Other steering slop can be badly adjusted or worn front wheel bearings.

 

 

 

I agree that this could also be an alignment adjustment. I've driven with severe toe in and found on a tight turn the wheel starts to turn in all by itself almost spinning out of your hands. Easy enough to check... Drive straight ahead and stop. Pick one side an line the front wheel sidewalls up with the rear tire sidewalls. Get as close as possible so front and rear wheels are both pointing directly ahead. Now go to the other side and sight down the front wheel sidewalls. Do you see the rear wheel tread? Toe out.... Or do you not see the rear tire at all? toe in. If you can see the front tires are not both pointing ahead then it's bad enough for needing an alignment.

[Busta Nut]

I had a 79 HL510 steering box, in my old 510. The PO swapped the entire steering column and rag-joint. It never felt 'right' until I swapped in a PL510 box and U-joint column. The HL510 box broke one day, and spilled fluid all over the road .. then the wheel would spin freely for 3-4 turns before the car would turn

 

I have a good spare PL510 steering box, out of a 71 wagon .. if you want it for $40, I can bring it to Busta's BBQ in 2 weeks (or I could meet you in Marin)

 

 

I'll take the box if Lozer doesn't want/need it......mine's close to very bad......

 

......you got dibs though Lozer.....

 

 

 

Strange symptoms......could be bad caster....but don't know why a box would cause that if everything lined up....

[Lozer]

Yea Mike im gonna give it a whack again and see how far out ive gotta go to get the tightness out on the lock positions.  I have a feeling this box is gonna have some bad middle slop. 

 

Thanks Busta hopefully i wont need it.

 

as for the alignment its spot on with a slight difference in caster on the driver side.  It pulls whichever way you do a u turn in. so if you turn left it will pull left for miles and if you turn right it will pull right for miles.

[Lozer]

tried adjusting it and its fragged across the board.

[Lozer]

Kk update I pulled the hl box and stuck in my original sloppyish box and the problem persists. So I lubbed all the zircs and started inspection the bjs and struts, and fuck me running if the pass side coil hat isn't binding up. So I'm pulling it to inspect but the think the top hat is shit.

[INDY510]

Do you still need the box then? ... I will hold onto it for a couple weeks, and see if you need it

[Lozer]

thanks bud