tight steering

tight steering

drmango

Jeeper
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Location
brooksville, fl
Vehicle(s)
1960 CJ5 Jeep Willys (all stock for now), Lexus LX470, Toyota Tacoma, 1974 Porsche 911 Targa
I just bought a 1960 CJ5 jeep willys. It has manual steering and is all stock. Is the steering suppose to be very hard to steer? Easier while driving, but can hardly turn while parked. I currently have standard 6" split rim wheels with tube tires. I want to upgrade to 15"X8" offset rims and 30" X9.5" BFG tires. Does anyone forsee an issue? Will this significantly make the steering harder?

Thanks, Dave
 
:ww: Since you most likely do not have power steering, turning while not moving will be significantly more difficult then while moving.
 
Yeh, it is not power steering. Is it common to have tight or fairly hard steering in these older jeeps with manual steering? Are you suppose to add gear oil to the gear box? How do you grease the large ball joints at each wheel?
 
With Manual steering on a 1960 CJ5 , how tight is too tight? A local mechanic said he doesn't think it should be this hard to steer even if it is manual. My thought is that this is normal for this type of vehicle. Any opinions out there?
 
Mine is very difficult also. Seems the more I use it the harder it gets.
 
There should be a port on the side of the box to allow you to add gear oil. Mine had a pipe thread elbow and a plug in it. When I did my rebuild I changed that out for brass and made it a bit taller to increase the amount of oil I could put in.

When I pulled mine out water came pouring out, not a good sign.

The steering on these rigs is stiff and difficult to turn, harder when sitting still. However, they can be rehabbed. There are a couple of REALLY good threads on the forum search them out and follow them. In a nutshell check every link from the tires and wheels to the steering wheel. Check for play in any component, there should not be any play in a new system but one as old as these will have some. Moving the steering wheel should immediately move the tire. I hand about a 1/4 turn in mine.

My 66 was more like steering a cement truck then a Jeep. Until you moved you could not hardly move the wheel. Even while moving it was a wrestling match and would not come back to center. Now that I rebuilt the steering box, replaced tires and wheels, removed the longer shackles, replaced drag link, bell crank, and added axle shims to get the caster back to normal it is 1000 time better.
I am not done yet but it is amazingly better. You can check my build thread to see some of the work.

The best advice would be to read the thread below. Great stuff.

http://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4106
 
There should be a port on the side of the box to allow you to add gear oil. Mine had a pipe thread elbow and a plug in it. When I did my rebuild I changed that out for brass and made it a bit taller to increase the amount of oil I could put in.

When I pulled mine out water came pouring out, not a good sign.

The steering on these rigs is stiff and difficult to turn, harder when sitting still. However, they can be rehabbed. There are a couple of REALLY good threads on the forum search them out and follow them. In a nutshell check every link from the tires and wheels to the steering wheel. Check for play in any component, there should not be any play in a new system but one as old as these will have some. Moving the steering wheel should immediately move the tire. I hand about a 1/4 turn in mine.

My 66 was more like steering a cement truck then a Jeep. Until you moved you could not hardly move the wheel. Even while moving it was a wrestling match and would not come back to center. Now that I rebuilt the steering box, replaced tires and wheels, removed the longer shackles, replaced drag link, bell crank, and added axle shims to get the caster back to normal it is 1000 time better.
I am not done yet but it is amazingly better. You can check my build thread to see some of the work.

The best advice would be to read the thread below. Great stuff.

Troubleshooting & Correcting your Steering - Jeep-CJ Forums


:)Troy

That thread does not deal with the old Ross Buggy Steering like you and the gentleman before you has.
With all due respect that old steering is barely able to manage stock width tires.......on pavement and I'll be nice its not bad , wait till you get off road in dirt or around rocks at Idle..........you'll be soon looking for the Saginaw PS box. I have been through it years ago first changing to Saginaw Manual and now to Power.............Just my Opinion!
:D:D:D:D
 
:)Troy

That thread does not deal with the old Ross Buggy Steering like you and the gentleman before you has.
With all due respect that old steering is barely able to manage stock width tires.......on pavement and I'll be nice its not bad , wait till you get off road in dirt or around rocks at Idle..........you'll be soon looking for the Saginaw PS box. I have been through it years ago first changing to Saginaw Manual and now to Power.............Just my Opinion!
:D:D:D:D


Tarry, true it does not specifically address the Ross issues but I used it as a guide, it helped me to test each component along the way. There is more to it then what is covered there. I also used a lot of help from you guys too but it did help me a lot. I haven't gotten it out in the dirt yet either but seriously I could hardly turn a corner in the CJ before I did all the work but now it is very drivable. I would LOVE to do the power steering swap but the rebuilt manual system was all I could manage at this point.

Your opinions are always welcome and greatly appreciated.



Troy--
Steering rehab- http://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4106
Build thread- http://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/f98/1966-cj-6-build-15075/
 

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