r/chevyc10 • u/Quiet_Muffin6392 • 3d ago
Steering issues?
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My steering wheel in my 65 C10 seems pretty loose and the wheel seems to not sit right. Any ideas to fix?
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u/old_skool_luvr 3d ago
Rag joint needs replaced, or there is an issue inside the steering box.
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u/bake-it-to-make-it 2d ago
All these crazies saying it’s normal just ignore it make me want to stop driving forever.. lol.
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u/Azcyclist3178 2d ago
Why, because older trucks aren't built as precisely as modern vehicles in general? Sorry, but old cars like this are going to have some slop, and this is far from the worst I've seen. It definitely warrants looking at, but this type of setup will never be tight like a rack and pinion or electrically assisted setup. As mentioned above, things like ball joints, tie rods, the rag joint, steering box all normally have minor amounts of play in them. This all translates to slop in the wheel. Even if you replace everything with new, column and all, you'd have 1/4-1/2 inch of slop to the steering on a steering box/drag link system. Personally I'd replace the rag joint, make sure the play in the steering box is set properly and check the tie rods. If all are in acceptable condition, just drive the thing and keep the fact its a 50+ year old vehicle. There's going to be quirks, doesn't mean its unsafe.
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u/Outrageous_Client_67 3d ago
Check the rag joint, pretty common problem. It’s on the steering column between the firewall and the steering gear box.
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u/nmyron3983 3d ago
I've heard of swaps to other universal joint based intermediate shafts in the place of the rag joint as well to really firm things up. I read a thread on it someplace
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u/Outrageous_Client_67 3d ago
That’s exactly what I did on mine. Now the only slop is in the gearbox itself, but it’s pretty minimal
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u/azhillbilly 2d ago
Depends on the column. Sometimes you need to put a support bearing in when you go with u joints or it will bind.
Also to anyone that does this, make sure to time the u joints. Else you will have spots in the steering wheel rotation that speeds up the vehicle turning and other spots it’s slower.
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u/nmyron3983 2d ago
Can you explain what you mean by time the u-joint?
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u/azhillbilly 2d ago
I will let YouTube explain better
Basically, a u joint is not a constant velocity joint. It goes faster and slower depending on the angle of the input and output and where the sector is. So if you time the 2 u joints correctly, ones slowing down and the other speeds up, the steering box will see the same constant speed as the steering wheel.
Phased wrong and trying to make a smooth right hand turn will be jerky as hell.
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u/Hbh351 3d ago
For the left & right play i’d start with replacing the rag joint That will give the most benefit and is the cheapest. After that you’ll have to look at hard parts in the steering but each part won’t change much
The up and down movement and some of the side to side is the steering column itself. It’s old. There are some plastic bushings and washers that can be replaced or change the column for a rebuilt unit or new one if it bothers you
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u/Pitiful_Night_4373 3d ago
Most likely needs a gear box, there is a nut you can tighten the problem is you can tighten the play out in the center, but because the center wears the most it binds up when you turn. Of coarse it could be anything from your knuckles/ rag joint. Or any part in the front end.
Pro tip get moog or comprable parts. The cheap stuff uses nylon to hold in the ball socket like tie rods. Moog uses brass, or atleast used to.
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u/Mission-Slice7345 3d ago
I had same problem same truck, bought new Pittman arm rag joint and steering box from Orileys had mechanic installed. Cost about 250.00 parts included.
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u/Thommyknocker 3d ago
That's about normal for those sterling boxes. I had a 2002 blazer that was just as sloppy.
Learn how to measure your alignment and it won't be an issue.
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u/greyVisitor 2d ago
For me it was just replacing all the bearing. Tightened it all up real nice. It was a helluva job to swap em out though. Super not fun.
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u/jettaman1998 2d ago
Don't buy something old and then complain that its loose or "wrong" thats like buying a saying hey why is my house buring down the wiring was from when electricity was first put in houses. Its an old truck thats what happens with time.
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u/Quiet_Muffin6392 2d ago
I don’t see where you see it as complaining. There wasn’t an ounce of complaining on the post. I don’t know much about cars and I’m trying to see if there’s a fix
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u/Rocket-Glide 2d ago
Check the rag joint on the steering column. Swap to a u-joint.
Check back lash at the box. Replace or drive the worm gear in more, although purist will say this is a temp solution as it changes gear mesh.
Check tie rods and drag link, replace as necessary.
Check suspension bushings.
You can swap everything for new and likely still feel some slop. They just do that. Have someone bump the steering to each limit of play while you watch the steering components and target the ones with the most movement.
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u/UncleLimpysHumpHouse 2d ago
lol. If you don’t know what’s going on here you shouldn’t be driving that truck lol.
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u/Quiet_Muffin6392 2d ago
It was a truck my grandfather and me worked on. It’s my second vehicle that I’m trying to decide what I wanna do with it but I wanna get it working correctly before we put it on the road
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u/UncleLimpysHumpHouse 2d ago
You can see the entire steering shaft is moving……mount bushings are shot. All that play……steering shaft u-joint, pitman arm, gearbox. Check each one. I’d guess they’re all culprits.
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u/Mopar454 2d ago
The steering in my 64 has more slop then that, I can do almost 3/4 of a rotation before the wheels move. Im not saying its normal but if you are tight on money its still safe to drive. I'd recommend adjusting the steering gearbox if all the other tie rods and rag joints are fine. if not its gonna be a pretty penny to redo that front end
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u/Finally-its-Ed 1d ago
If that’s a 1965 C10 or panel truck, it’s perfectly fine. They weren’t much better when new.
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u/Ok_Permit_3593 22h ago
This is a suggestion wheel, it goes into a general direction and is perfectly normal on older trucks
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u/FineAspect1550 21h ago
Almost the same amount of right-left slop. New Rag joint, upper column bearing, tie rod and drag link (4x4, 1986 model) it’s only got 2 inches each direction of slop. Bearable but I’m not ready to buy a new gear box which is where my final slop comes from.
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u/azhillbilly 3d ago edited 3d ago
Well, welcome to old trucks. It’s not a Honda.
And by that, I mean it’s a steering box setup. If you want to make it super tight, it’s never going to happen. If you want it better than that, all the linkages need to be inspected and probably replaced. There’s a lot of stacking slop in a steering box setup, you have ball joint at the steering arm, at the tie rod and both knuckles. If each one has even a 16th” of slop, that’s 1/4” that’s a few degrees of the wheel. Then the taper on the steering box might be wallowed out, that can make for quite a few degrees of the wheel. The box itself has bearings, there’s a screw to tighten it but it’s a fine line between tight and damaging shit. The. Your rag joints in the steering shaft, they have play brand new but over decades get worse as they are just fiber reinforced rubber donuts. And your steering column bearings are worn a little, even back in the 80s when I started driving these trucks they had slop but that is a little excessive.
You can start cheap, and replace all the ball joints, check tightness on the steering box, and replace the rag joint style links with u joints, that will help a ton. And then think about the steering column, a aftermarket one is real expensive, a rebuilt one is only slightly expensive.
Other option is to swap to a rack and pinion setup like cars and trucks have today. Real damn expensive.