Steering adjustment question - slop in the steering wheel
 

1986 F-150 5.0L Automatic with Power steering.

I replaced all the ball joints in the front-end and had the truck aligned. There's some steering slop in the wheel. Maybe an inch or 2. I was thinking about adjusting (tightening) the power steering gear sector shaft to take up some of the slack.

According to the Haynes manual I need to:
24. Remove the pitman arm and remove the horn pad to gain access to the steering wheel retining nut.
25. Place the fluid return line in a container.
26. Turn the shaft back 45-degrees from the left stop and attach a torque wrench to the nut.
27. Rotate the steering gear about 1/8 turn and then move it back across the center position several times. Loosen the adjuster locknut and turn the adjuster screw until the specified torque reading is reached when the steering gear is rotated throught the over-center postion.
28. Hold the screw and tighten the nut.
29. Reinstall the pitman arm etc....

Do I really need to go through all of this to tighten up the sector shaft on the steering gear box?

Also any helpful hints would be appreciated. I've always been told to never adjust the steering gear box (I don't know why not).

check your tie rods for any play. Ive always been told the same about the gear box, that there is no adjustment, just replacement

chances are the steering box is worn in the strait ahead spot. normally this spot is the tightest(referd to as over center torque) if you adust untill this spot is tight again it will be to tight in the rest of the travel and you may find the steering wheel no longer wants to return to center on its own after turning. hope this makes sence.

That does make sense. So what I take from that is, if I do tighten it up then I might be damaging other gears. So really all I'm doing is buying some time....since it needs to be replaced anyway. It will work for a while and if it gets bad enough, then replace it then?

not so much damaging other gears just makes it a handfull to drive when you need to manually turn the wheel back to center after making a turn. ive tried it on some Super Dutys and its kinda scary to drive.

Thanks again. So I need to choose between vague steering and correcting steering manually. I do remember this issue on a 1971 F100 I used to own. It had like 5 inches of play in the steering (I never tried to correct it due to my poorness). I got used to it so it wasn't a big deal. I've grown up and now own newer Fords, so it's not an issue. Funny that I'm dealing with it again on my brother's truck.

It can be adjusted, just have to be careful. Loosen the 5/8 nut (located on the top of the steering box) while holding the screw with a flathead screwdriver. Slowly tighten the screw just until it stops. Don't force the screw. Sometimes it is helpful to back off the nut a few turns so it won't give you a false stop. After that, tighten the 5/8 nut and you're done. If you overtighten, the steering will not return to center after making a turn. If you do this, just back off the screw and start over.

Thanks BigBronc!

I had a 1991 with 200k miles. I went through the same questions. Finally after I changed the tie rods, and then I put on a new steering gear, it drove like a NEW truck.

I later bought a 94 same exact pickup but it had 45k miles. You couldn't tell the difference in the way they drove after replacing the steering gear. I was super happy with the results