PS Box Moving While Turning Steering Wheel

"the box had broke the mount loose"

Do you mean that the mounting pad seperated from the frame rail or that the ps unit had a broken mount tab?

Thanks for the replies.

If you look at the way the mount is spot welded in

There is a LOT of flex there, noticed it on my challenger, spend just a few minutes running beads of weld on the sides of the mount and stiffened it all up

But I had the K member out with no box on it when it was welded up

I've had my PS box start moving on me on two different occasions, caused by both things being discussed here, so I can tell you what I saw with both issues.

When the welds broke on the steering box bracket:
This happened about 10 years ago as I was leaving home. When that happened, I didn't completely lose my steering, but it was close - the car pretty much went whatever way it wanted to. I was able to get it back into my driveway, popped the hood, and moved the steering wheel through the open window (with the motor off) while I watched what was happening to the steering box. When I moved the steering wheel, the box would move an inch or so in either direction, and it was also moving upwards an inch or so - it was easy to tell something was broken, as the box was moving all over the place. An inspection showed that the welds had broken between the K frame and the steering box bracket, and re-welding the bracket fixed the issue.

When the steering box bolts loosened up:
This happened 2 summers ago. I noticed some slop in the steering, and it was gradually getting worse. Again, I popped the hood and moved the steering wheel while watching what was happening to the steering box. This time, the box moved a much smaller amount - only maybe 1/4 inch each way, and just a little upwards also. I could tell this time that something was still holding the box in place, but it was loose. I found that both bolts had loosened up, so I cleaned them up and installed with a little locktite, and the slop in the steering went away.

One a little extreme solution

Thank you all for the quick responses.

I did notice the box moving side to side & now that it was mentioned, it moved upward a littel bit too. The box is securely in place and I could not move it just by pushing on it. Tonight, I will put a pry bar against the box to see where the movement is coming from and check back in.

Does the ps box bracket attach to the frame rail or the k-frame?
I am trying to think what that area looks like without the ps box attached. Could someone post a picture of this area without the ps unit bolted up?

Thanks again.

Here's the K that's in my 71 E body. I made a couple gussets and rewelded pretty much all the welds after sand blasting before paint. Hope this helps a little. Actually, I sand blasted it clean, started welding and there was grease was coming out of the seams making it real hard to weld. So I steam pressure washed it again and it got kinda rusty.

Of course I added a skid plate while I was at it.

So it appears that the ps box bolts onto the kframe. Do you have another picture showing the side where the mounting holes are for the ps box?

My luck: I moved this past Summer and got rid of two extra k-frames.

Thank you for the pictures.
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What would be the explanation as to why the steering wheel moves easier now after the new ps hose and fluid change?

Thanks

Thank you once again. I hope to find something out tonight.

Ref: I found a picture of the ps mount bracket from one of my old k-frames.

A little bit of movement is really not unusual. That's how they were from the factory - sloppy. Today's better rubber compounds and wider tires don't help matters. A few well placed gussets will do a world of good for it. Even if the mount has broken loose, it's still no big deal.

It would be nice to have a spare K to tweak and then swap out, but it all would have to come out anyway, so just fix what you have.

If I find the bracket welds to be broken, and if I remove the ps box, can I weld up the bracket with the k-member on the car?

Thanks

It is pretty common for the mount area to be fatigued. Reinforcing mine is on my list of to dos and it isn't even really a problem at this point. Also watch for the tubes for the LCAs to be busted out at the weld.

My '65 A cracked a steering box bracket and I about soiled my shorts when the car started to get "speed wobbles" at 40 MPH. Front end shook side to side violently so much that I laid on the brakes pretty good and wrestled it to the side of the road. Limped it home at 10mph and investigated and found the bracket completely broke way from the frame in 2 of 3 spots. I just got a new K for 50 bucks but could have welded the old one with a few gussets if I had to. I have the motor out now and will lay a bead on the bracket after reading this agian. Look at your idler arm too while you are down there, lots of flex on old cars down there.

Before jumping to any conclusions or being paranoid,just check the bolts first.

After thinking about the replies all day I had my game plan together by the time that I got home. I even had a buddy with a portable welder that was going to let me borrow it if needed.
I first took my 2' crowbar the started pushing against the side of the steering box to see where the movement was coming from. It didn't take long to see that today, I was a lucky guy! The movement was coming from the mounting bolts. I got down under the car and found each of the three bolts were 3/4 turn from being tight. After tightening them back down, I used the crowbar again and did not see any more movement. Then I turned the steering wheel (engine was off) both ways and did not see any movement!!
I am still surprised how much movement was there due to some slightly loose bolts. The clearance holes must be huge.
I inspected the welds that I could see and they looked as good as the original weld could look on a 40+ year old k-member.

I just want to thank you all again.

Glad you caught it in time...It's amazing that it can come loose like that and be relatively undetected...

I have had the car for 9 years and never once thought to tighten the ps box bolts. I am thinking of pulling them back out and adding either lock washers or locktite.

Thanks

I was thinking blue but there is no reason for me to be pull the ps box any time soon. I will pick up some red this weekend. It is hard to tell how long this box has been moving around on me and I don't want it to happen again.

Thanks

Glad it was a simple fix.

When the previous owner had my GTX the box broke completely loose and he could only turn left. If he turned left the box wedged up against the frame if he turned right it walked over to the side of the block instead of movign the tires.

The scary part is he drove it like that for abotu 2 months every day.

Good to hear it was just the bolts. You should notice the steering has less slop in it when the bolts are tight.

I'd still suggest throwing on a few gussets at some point down the line. Try turning the wheel with the pump going this time, I bet you see movement.