Anybody ever adjust their factory steering box?

I looked through the FSM and it looks possible, but does it help with sloppiness? My steering feels really loose and I'm looking to tighten it up a bit if possible. Anybody done this?

I have, things tightened up more after it got hot and I almost took a drive through a wall. Haven't been able to drum up the enthusiasm to try it again. rebuilds aren't that expensive. I actually tried twice, the first one was a lost cause, I couldn't get the parts to fix it.
No mater what anybody tries to tell you, the top adjuster, is the center over adjuster and will only mostly stiffen the steering, not tighten up the play in any meaningful way.
The input shaft adjustment will tighten things up, but who knows how the parts are worn in without disassembly and inspection. Tightening may work fine in the center position and not well anyplace else.
One of those jobs I leave (mostly) to the guys that do it every day.
I've had good luck clamping my pitman to the drag link with a sutable block of wood as a spacer and isolating the majority play to either above or below the pitman arm. The U-joint in the steering column is also a likely place to look. As is everything from the trac bar to the LCA and UCA bushings along with the nromal steering parts. It is often a combination of things, a little here and there adds up to a lot.

I adjusted mine per the FSM procedure and it helped quite a bit. You do have to remove the box to do the FSM adjustment.

If you crawl underneath and have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth, you can tell where the play is coming from. No point in messing with the steering box unless you can see the play there.

winterbeater said:

If you crawl underneath and have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth, you can tell where the play is coming from. No point in messing with the steering box unless you can see the play there.

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Yeah, its definitely in the steering box. I've had the balljoints/links checked twice in the last two months, and I've checked it myself.

I've been contemplating the adjustment for a while now on my '99. I was planning on doing it as per the FSM (removal, preload adjustment, and over-center adjustment). I even bought a dial indicating inch-lb torque wrench on Ebay to measure the over-center drag. I also bought a junk-yard box to practice on.
I hit my first roadblock just trying to get the adjuster lock nut removed (that would be step ONE in the FSM). The JY unit was pretty rusty... the FSM shows a punch and hammer being used but I had no luck (I did manage to mangle the luck nut pretty nicely). This is still a work in progress... I was really hoping to do the adjustments from the FSM and post up my results on .

However, the more I think about it, the more I'm leaning towards ordering a reman unit (A1-Cardone, etc - $125 RockAuto) and then just CHECKING the adjustments via the FSM. I've heard reman units often come out of spec (could be true... could be BS). But it would be nice to check it first and be sure. Plus, I could then evaluate my original box out of the vehicle and see what was going on.

I think the steering box issues need more discussion... I wish there was as much info about steering box adjustment as "that black canister thing under my bumper?!?!"