Well, the slop in my steering is stemming from a worn ball stud on my power steering valve. It almost looks like I could simply disconnect the valve from the sleeve that has the ball stud on it but it's never that simple---or is it? Anyway, what's the best way to remove the ball stud from the pitman arm? My stud is built into the sleeve. Thanks-------
info http://www.ssbrakes.com/pdf/A0725-A0725-1.pdf The diagrams and instructions will help you inderstand the power steering set up. I've seen kits to make it non power by replacing the stud and bushing as an assembly. Do a search on this site. "Give a man a car and he'll just drive it". "Give a man a tool and he'll be fixin' his Maverick or Comet for life".
Thanks 75 Vomet-----It's a whole lot clearer now. Searched the forum as well and stumbled across a thread that said the play in the ball stud should go away when the car is running. I had the slop pointed out to me today by the mechanic that was preparing to align it to get ready for some new Goodrich Radial TA's. I'm going to put it back up on the stands tomorrow and crank it up and hope the thread I stumbled across is correct. Sure would save me some knuckle busting.
Was the car running or not when the mechanic checked it? It will have 1/4 to 3/8 inch of play without the engine running. With, probably 1/8 by design. It is a hydraulic valve, it has to move to control the power cylinder.
It was not running. I put it up on stands last night, started it up and the slop disappeared. Just got back from having it aligned this AM and explained the situation to the mechanic. Having never worked on anything set up like this he was completely surprised by my suggestion. Needless to say, he came around and when he came out of the bay after aligning it was shaking his head--------said he'd never seen anything like that before in his life! She's driving straight and true so I'm going to get the Radial TA's next week.
Old Mustangs, Mavericks, Comets, Falcons, Fairlanes, I think the Torinos, all used the same basic front end design with the same style power control valve. You're mechanic might be good, but he's green. edit: btw, I did away with my power steering by using a modified power steering valve with the valve and springs removed. Steers much nicer, *much* tighter. If yours is working well, enjoy!
