Thread: Vega Steering Box Play

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No answer on this yet? I have noted a similar situation. I have a new Vega box on a '29 Ford Brookville frame and I find no slack at all from the steering column down through the new (2) universal joints of the column extension and yet there seems to be some slack at the (new) Vega box. When I just had the exhaust system installed I asked the guy at the muffler shop about this because he has worked on many racing frames. He said there is an adjustment nut on top of the Vega box which can be adjusted when the front end alignment is done. Is your Vega box new? Now the real reason I am responding to this thread is because I have a castle nut with a cotter pin on the tie rod end but on the bottom of the Vega spline there is only a thick flat washer and a simple heavy duty lock washer. I chatted today with one of the tech guys at Flaming River and he said that nut should be torqued to 115 ft. lb. but I did not have a socket large enough so I put a 12" adjustable on it and then put a 9" adjustable on the end of the 12" and gave it all I could until I just got the nut fully on and maybe with an air wrench it would go on more BUT (!) what is supposed to hold this critical component on???? Is there a hole further up for a cotter pin? If so, the nut is not a castle nut so is that key fastening just held on as a tight fit with a single lock washer??? I will make sure when I get the front end aligned to get the slack out of the Vega box as much as possible AND call attention to that single nut and get the alignment shop to make sure it is on there correctly. Comments? Is there no other check on that fastening except the large lock washer? In summary, that nut will fall directly down if it gets loose so what is supposed to hold the Pitman arm on safely?

Don shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder