Hello from germany! Sorry for my english, its like the brake cylinders of my Willys. If you don't use it for a while, it gets rusted.
I pulled out my M38A1 last week and tuned it up. It has been standing around for a while but it runs great. I just have two more issues I need to adress. One is the steering:
My steering wheel has approx. a 10° deadzone around the center where it does nothing. I have almost no resistance in that zone and I narrowed it down to the steering gearbox. If I move the wheel around the center it won't move the arm that is connected to the pushrod within those 10°. Now before taking anything apart and then getting stuck on missing parts I want to check back here if anyone can help. Parts are currently hard to get, so it would be great if someone could point me to the right direction of my problem.
There are two tapered posts that run on a worm gear inside the box, those posts wear leaving a gap. A fix is to press out those posts and turn them 90 degrees so they have a fresh surface engaging with the gear. Otherwise you must replace either the posts or the whole sector shaft.
Go to our downloads page and download our copy of the Ross Steering Gear factory manual. That little aftermarket add on tensioner will not solve your problem. You are correct in assuming the adjustment screw simply increases friction on the moving parts of the gearbox.
Taking shortcuts with repairing steering (or brakes) is very dangerous for you and the rest of us who share the road with you.
Worn components should be replaced not jimmy-rigged to last a few more miles.
Many folks will tell you that using Tight-Steer is a jimmy-rig that should be avoided in favor of doing the job right.
There's lots of posts in this forum about what's "normal" and how to inspect and repair steering problems.
Try searching key words "steering slop".
The technical manuals are also a good source of information, and are free for download. There's no excuse for not using the manuals.
You won't know the source of your problem until you take the steering system apart and inspect everything. It could be one bad part or a combination of several bad parts.
Just my 2 cents.
Good luck!
Ron D.
1951 M38 Unknown Serial Number
1951 M100 Dunbar Kapple 01169903 dod 5-51
“The only good sports car that America ever made was the Jeep."
--- Enzo Ferrari
I didn't take any before pictures when I rotated the pins on mine, but you can get an idea of where the wear spots are from the photo Wes' linked above.
Here is the backside of the sector arm shaft where I had to machine off the swadged end on the backside of the pins:
With the pins rotated, the worn areas are now at approximately 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock positions in this photo:
I also drilled cross holes through the press fit diameter of the pins. I was worried that without the swadge on the backside of the pins, the pins might move and either back out or spin. This photo shows where I pressed in roll pins at angles through the sector arm foot:
