Ken, thanks for the pictures.

I jacked up the car again today and pulled the cap nut off the adjusting screw. I lifted the star washer and turned the screw out until the notch feel in the steering was eliminated (about 3/4 turn out). I then drove the car about 30 miles and it felt back to normal. I did not perceive excess play in the steering after loosening up the screw (maybe 1/2” of play at the steering wheel rim).

So, what happened to my steering in the first place? Good question. I don’t know enough about he internals of the steering box to give a good analysis, but my suspicion is that once the lubricant leaked out (before I bought the car, ‘cause it wasn’t dripping during my ownership), the friction in the box increased enough to twist the adjustment screw, or whatever part to which it’s attached, and tightened the adjuster enough to cause binding. The binding caused the notch feeling.

Maybe one of you gurus who know more about the steering box innards than I do can improve on this hypothesis.

Next step is to replace the seal on the pitman arm. Is that available separately?

Ken, thank you or the detailed pictures. That really helps me. I hope I can take the Federal Mogul seal part number off the box to my local NAPA parts store and get it. As an interim fix, I bought a bottle of Lucas power steering fluid with seal sweller to see if that will stop the leaking. However, longer term, I know I need to replace the seal.

Do you, or anyone else, know whether the seal can be replaced in situ, or the roller/shaft can be removed out through the wheel well to get at the seal, or the steering box must be completely removed?

Also, I noted an inconsistency in the first set of pictures you sent, which shows the adjustment screw towards the top of the cover, and the last set of pictures which shows the adjustment screw on the bottom of the cover. In the first set of pictures, did you place the cover upside down? On my Hornet, the adjustment screw is towards the bottom of the cover.

Mr Kurzenhauser, please email me if you want more details on this. I have big issues with this forum and do not want to waste time trying to post a detailed response on it only to have it get lost before I can post it. Just posting the pictures and trying to get them in the same order was a nearly futile exercise in frustration. If you are a club member, you can look up my email in the roster either the printed one of the one on the member's page of this site. I will not post my email or contact info here in this forum. Best Regards, Kenneth Ufheil

Follow up on this item for everyone’s future reference:

With some additional pictures and advice from Ken U, I got the steering box adjusted about as well as I can expect. The steering is smooth and free throughout its range, with just a slight amount of play on center (maybe 1/2” at the rim of the steering wheel). At a later time I might take up one more notch on the star lock washer to see if I can take out slightly more play, but it drives pretty nice right now.

Ken also advised that I can replace the oil seal on the Pitman arm with the steering box in place on the frame and how to do it, so I bought a new seal, which was available at my local NAPA store for less than $10. Cheap. As I mentioned in an earlier message, I put about 4 oz. of Lucas power steering fluid with “Stop leak” into the box ($12 for a 12 oz. bottle), and after several days, it appears to have stopped weeping past the seal. Good!

We’ll see how long that lasts, and I have the replacement seal in case it starts leaking again. But the good news is that it will take me a lot less time next time because I’ve already been in there once, and I cleaned and power-washed all the accumulated crud off the box, inner fender access panel, frame rail, etc. so its nice and clean now!

Thanks for the help guys, especially Ken.