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[Chance]

Steering play: How much can be reduced?

Ford E-Series chassis (most Class Cs and Axis/Vegas) come with power-assisted recirculating ball steering. Compared to most newer cars which come with rack-and-pinion steering, there is going to be more play in the steering no matter what else is going on. It's just part of driving an E-Series, and many other large truck-based vehicles.

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

The recirculating ball mechanism has the advantage of a much greater mechanical advantage, so that it was found on larger, heavier vehicles while the rack and pinion was originally limited to smaller and lighter ones; due to the almost universal adoption of power steering, however, this is no longer an important advantage, leading to the increasing use of rack and pinion on newer cars. The recirculating ball design also has a perceptible lash, or "dead spot" on center, where a minute turn of the steering wheel in either direction does not move the steering apparatus; this is easily adjustable via a screw on the end of the steering box to account for wear, but it cannot be entirely eliminated because it will create excessive internal forces at other positions and the mechanism will wear very rapidly. This design is still in use in trucks and other large vehicles, where rapidity of steering and direct feel are less important than robustness, maintainability, and mechanical advantage.

Just food for thought.


For what it's worth, old trucks with manual steering were really bad. First trucks I drove when I was a teenager did not have power steering. The steering was also extremely slow due to provided mechanical advantage so mere mortals could steer them at parking speeds. Steering play was horrendous by modern standards.