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1980 300SD w116 Steering Box Adjustment

Started by jtwoods4, 17 June 2019, 04:44 PM

jtwoods4

Over the last year I have noticed a lot of slop in my steering wheel. I mean a ridiculous amount. I replaced the steering shaft coupler and it improved a lot. However, there was still some slop in the steering so I adjusted the steering box. I loosend the lock nut and unscrewed the allen screw about 2 to 3 turns. I went to an empty parking lot and did a lot of left and right right circles to make sure the steering box was not binding. Everything is fine. WOW! What a difference! My steering is tight and responsive again!

However, after the adjustment the car now pulls to the right? I will need to get an alignment. Question: Why would adjusting the steering box cause the alignment to change? Is this a stupid question?

-John
1980 300SD

jtwoods4

So the guy at the alignment shop said I may have over adjusted the steering box play and that is why it was pulling to the right. So we adjusted it back as to not cause any damage to box. The slop is now back in my steering. Car still pulls to the right if I take my hands off the wheel. What the heck is going on here. Alignment shop gave me the alignment specs and said it was in alignment. Maybe they didn't have the steering wheel straight when they did the alignmnet. Not sure. Really bothering me. I should be able to adjust the steering box (150,000 miles on car) and get the slop out and have a proper alignment.
1980 300SD

daantjie

I think you need another alignment shop honestly. These 116s are tricky to align properly.
Daniel
1977 450 SEL 6.9 - Astralsilber

Squiggle Dog

Yeah, maybe the steering box wasn't centered (a centering screw/pin is needed) and then the wheels set to point straight ahead. When the steering box is tightened, the pull might become more noticeable as the box would be held just off from center instead of floating between the center and just off from it... if that makes sense.
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1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Heated Seats, 350,000+