1951 Pontiac Chieftain steering gear wrench?

[Guest 51Pontiac]

I need to recenter to steering wheel on my 1951 Pontiac Chieftain the shop manual says to use a special worm gear thrust adjuster jam nut wrench so it can be done in the car. I am having trouble finding the wrench it's number is J-1032. I am unsure of the size of the wrench either. Has anyone run to this problem before?

[PONTIAC1953]

has some work been done on the steering gearbox ?, or did someone remove the steering wheel and not get it back on centered ?, i have had my 1953 pontiac steering wheel off several times over the last 42 years, and have never had any problem getting the wheel back on centered, never needed to make any adjustments on the steering gearbox, it might be different in my car, has it has it's original saginaw power steering option.

charles l. coker

1953 pontiac tech advisor

tech advisor coordinator

poci

[Guest 51Pontiac]

I have no clue of someone has had the steering wheel off. But when the wheels are facing straight ahead the steering wheel is almost a half turn off. My car doesn't have power steering because power steering for Pontiac didn't come out till 1953.

[Guest]

Does your car turn just as short left and right. If it does the problem is in you steering gear or the wheel is not centered on the shaft. If left and right turning are not equal then your problem is between the steering gear and the wheels . On older models with the spring and cups in the steering tube between the pitman arm and the front wheel it is easy to put the wheel half a turn out if one attempts to correct looseness with washers rather than using new cups.

[Guest 50SedanDelivery]

Here's a link to a tech article on rebuilding the steering box out of the car. It mentions that there is a centering mark on the steering shaft from the factory.

If it's only matter of steering wheel alignment then simply pull the steering wheel and re- align, but if you have a lot of play in the center position you'll need to adjust the worm and sector. The wrench referred to is simply a large wrench to loosen the big thin worm gear adjustment nut at the end of the column. You can loosen it with a punch. The article will make it clearer.

http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/225413/

[Guest 51Pontiac]

Here's a link to a tech article on rebuilding the steering box out of the car. It mentions that there is a centering mark on the steering shaft from the factory.

If it's only matter of steering wheel alignment then simply pull the steering wheel and re- align, but if you have a lot of play in the center position you'll need to adjust the worm and sector. The wrench referred to is simply a large wrench to loosen the big thin worm gear adjustment nut at the end of the column. You can loosen it with a punch. The article will make it clearer.

http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/225413/

Thanks for the article but the jam nut doesn't have notches in it for a punch. The worm bearing adjusting cap isn't a hex head but a really large flat bladed too like a drag link socket is needed to adjust it. I'll try and take some pictures of it Sunday.

[PONTIAC1953]

I have no clue of someone has had the steering wheel off. But when the wheels are facing straight ahead the steering wheel is almost a half turn off. My car doesn't have power steering because power steering for Pontiac didn't come out till 1953.

i knew that the power steering came out in 1953, i was just pointing out that my car has the power steering, smile.