[l&wfagan]

Greetings! My son Wyatt just inherited a 1968 Cougar that has had quite a bit of work done to it recently. The front end has been completely rebuilt and the steering box adjusted. It has new tires and alignment. There is a slight amount of "wander" in the power steering. It feels like you constantly need to move the steering wheel to keep the car going straight. I've felt this many times over the ears while driving sixties era fords, but I would like to eliminate it for my 16 year-old-son. What can be done to get rid of this issue?
Thanks,
-Len

 

[Don Rush]

Welcome Len! Problem is, you really cannot "adjust" those boxes much. Because they have no grease fitting nobody ever thinks to pop the top every decade or so and grease them. Because that box is right against the exhaust manifold (or pretty close) pretty much every box needs rebuilt by now. Stay away from the repro boxes, expensive and not the best quality.

 

[cougarshaman]

$275 is cheap to get the slop out of the steering. That and a windshield change are two major ways you can make an old Cougar feel like a new one.

 

[l&wfagan]

Thanks for the replies! Sounds like the cure. How difficult is it to remove the steering box? That is one operation that I have never done.
Thanks,
Len

 

[doctordesoto]

what specs did the alignment shop align to ?---my 68 acted just like yours on the way to the shop and $75.00 and one hour later it was a different car
doctordesoto

 

[l&wfagan]

I have no idea concerning the alignment specs. My dad just had it done and I found the receipt, but there is no print out showing the specs. What is a good starting point for a Cougar?
-Len

 

[Seafoam jcode]

Adding more positive caster made a huge difference in driving stability on the freeway.

http://www.mercurycougar.net/forums...s-for-a-4-wheel-alignment&p=448617#post448617

 

[mikey1968]

There are good performance alignment charts all over the web....someone here probably has it memorized. Print a copy and enusre they align to that. I've heard, but not sure, the factory specs aren't very good and will allow too much wander.

 

[gte428cj]

The steering wander could certainly be caused by a worn out or incorrectly adjusted steering box, but I am surprised that no one has mentioned the rest of the steering components.

Worn control arms or idler arm can also cause steering wander and in my experience are much more likely to be the problem. If you do replace these parts, don't forget that you will need to get the car aligned right away.

 

[PBCOUG]

Control valve? I greased the **** out of my steering box, tightened the adj. nut and had a good tech familiar with the old schools , allign the front, wow what a difference. I was going to rebuild the control valve, instead I tightened a few nuts and greased it up and it was a 100 times better. Try the obvious things first and see what happens.