67 Barracuda Manual Steering Question

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noisydart

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Have been resurrecting this car. The steering is extremely tight. What can happen to a steering gear box to make it binding? If I need to replace, what is the difference between 16:1 and 24:1 with ease of steering ?
 
Have you tried adjusting the worm gear. 1/4 turn at a time. How is the steering wheel slop? 16:1 is harder. Do you know the ratio of yours?
 
Have been resurrecting this car. The steering is extremely tight. What can happen to a steering gear box to make it binding? If I need to replace, what is the difference between 16:1 and 24:1 with ease of steering ?
The grease could look like this...
beerestoration2015-2016 1892.JPG
 
Standard manual is 24:1 (I think it may be 24.5:1, actually). I don't think 16:1 was available as an option in 67, but they are interchangeable. It would be massively harder to turn at a standstill with any kind of fat or sticky tire, though I am sure it would be fine at speed. There are also 20:1 manual boxes available, which would be a compromise. I have standard manual steering on my 67 Barracuda. It is a handful trying to get out of a parallel parking spot, and it is too slow to keep up with the road in the real twisty bits, but it is basically fine overall, so I would agree that yours needs some attention.

If it's too tight, it's likely that the grease has congealed inside your box. Cleaning it out and repacking it may be all that is needed. I do not know how much trouble that is — I''ve never tried it.

When they are worn out they get looser, not tight, so adjusting it is probably not the answer.
 
How are you checking the steering to determine it’s too tight?

If the steering is fully assembled, the stiff feeling could be coming from the idler, pitman, or any of the tie rod ends too.
 
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