Steering Control Valve Play.

[Chris01573]

Hi All,

So having re done my seals and honing the cylinder I have a dry rack (at the moment).. One thing I do find is that I have exactly 1/2" of play at the rim of the steering wheel. Its not too bad and I am liviung with it at the moment. I did take a look at the control valve when I dissasembled the rack and if i grabbed each end of the control valve shaft out of the housing i could feel a little play in it, however looking at the info on the rebuild PDF I downloaded from here I can see that some play is to be expected between the spool sleeve and pinion shaft ? So am i just imagining an issue that is just a case of "they all do that sir"...

Steering Control Valve..png

[DJT]

1/2" of play is probably as good as it was when new. Pretty good for a 50+ year old design.

[mole42]

Mine has had 1/2" of play ever since I got it - 50,000 miles and three steering racks ago.....

[Fortyfiver]

+1 half an inch

[Tdafforn]

+1

[sujitroy]

The two halfs of the control valves are held together via a torsion bar. 1/2" or so of movement is built in.

[MandM]

spool.jpg

[trunt]

Picture above shows it, the lug on the output shaft is a loose fit in the slot in the input shaft, the play is there. its what opens the flow to right or left through the internal s of the bobbin.

[MandM]

Picture above shows it, the lug on the output shaft is a loose fit in the slot in the input shaft, the play is there. its what opens the flow to right or left through the internal s of the bobbin.

does this photo show the difference better

spoo l2.jpg

[trunt]

Yes, perfect! The torque bar movement is within the slot. That’s the 1:2 inch play you feel but it shouldn’t be as obvious when engine is running. if it fails the lug takes over and you can steer manually.