[Doster]

Ok, I Have a 79 351M 4 speed manual with a 9" lift and 38.5x 15.5 boggers. Yesterday I accidentally hit a wall with my drivers side tire at about a 45 degree angle going about 3-6 MPH. When it happend I kinda just bounced back, My steering wheel did gain some slack but I figured that my track bar bracket just came loose again. When I got to a parking lot to inspect the situation I noticed that infact my track bar bracket had came loose so I tightend it back up and that fixed the steering slack. I also noticed that the shaft coming out of the steering box that the pitman arm slide on and connects to had cracks in it as if the shaft had been torqued so much that the integridy of the metal had been torn apart. The shaft didn't break off, but it has noticably been turned a few degrees. Now when I try to turn left, my turning radius has gotten worse but when I turn right the tires seem to be turning more than before. I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of this, and if I can replace the shaft or do I just have to get a new steering box? I will try to post some pics of the steering box shaft soon, so you all can see what I am talking about. Any help would be much appreciated.

[Yardape]

Without the pics its really hard to say. Did you remove the pitman arm to have a look? Sounds like you might have stripped the splines out of the pitman arm or off the shaft.

[Doster]

Yardape, on Aug 29 2008, 07:49 AM, said:

Without the pics its really hard to say. Did you remove the pitman arm to have a look? Sounds like you might have stripped the splines out of the pitman arm or off the shaft.

Well thats the thing, the splines are not stripped, the metal has been twisted so that it has torn apart from its self and created cracks. Kinda like how the ground cracks when it is really dry. Ill try to get some pics up asap.

This post has been edited by Doster: 29 August 2008 - 07:17 AM

[Justshootme84]

I would simply replace the whole steering gear box. I paid $40 for a good used one for my 78.