How do I tighten my steering??

[dieselexcursionfor6]

I have about 3" of play in my steering. It tracks straight but there is about 3 inches of play when I go to turn or a semi goes by. Can I tighten myself or do I have to replace something (steering box etc.)

[jethro]

may have to replace the box

[cliford]

there is a nut and an allen screw you can tighten, but when you do this it does not take much at all. like ann 1/8 turn then check and see where your at.

[countryraised]

on the top of the steering box is an allen set screw with a nut on it for lock ing it down. Loosen the nut, then very gentle turn the allen down until it just starts to bottom out then back it out 1/8 -1/4 of a turn to allow clearnce, and set the lock nut.

[Duanesz]

What kind of mileage do you have to do this at? i just got a 250 with 122000 mi on it and it has about 1" either way in play. It goes straight down the road but when you have to give the truck a correction it is kind of annoying with the slop in the steering wheel.

[PolarBear]

All the slack could either be in the steering box or in the steering tie rod linkage. Have someone move your steering wheel back and forth in the slack while you look underneath to see if the movement is all in your box before it moves the linkage or if the linkage is moving alot before its moving the wheels. Probably a little bit of both though. I replaced all of my steering linkage because the ball joints in each end were pretty loose. That helped alot and but there's still a little bit of play in the box I plan to take care of by replacing the box later on.

[Ryan Rønning]

All good things to check

[Fireman40]

IF there is anyone out there with steering problems its me. I have been going through this for two years and finally got it right. The whole alen key and nut thing didn't work for me. When I tightened it down it only made my steering wheel harder to turn and did nothing to tighten the slack. when I turned the wheel i had a good two inches of play in the shaft before the pitman arm would move. I replaced the steering box and it was spot on and very tight response but still i have alot of play going down the road. I had someone turn the wheel as a layed under the truck and found that all my tie rod ends were loose. There is no way to tighten these or replace just the ends so I had to buy all new tie rods. Upper one, lower one, and the center one that connects the two tires. Finally after several hundred bucks I have tight clean steering again