Re: steering adjustment

[tony martie <tony@domain.elided>]

Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2002 15:55:07 -0800 (PST)
From: Vangelis Kokkevis <vkokkevis@domain.elided>
Subject: steering adjustment

The steering wheel of my 83 Spider has slowly
developed a rather significant "dead zone" even when
the wheels are pointed straight ahead.  The steering
wheel can move along an arc of maybe 3-4 degrees (with
absolutely no resistance) before it has any effect on
the wheels.  Apparently the ZF steering boxes are
adjustable to take care of such issues through a set
screw on the top of the box but I couldn't find any
information on what the proper adjustment procedure
is.  Anyone care to share some info on it?

Thanks a lot,
Vangelis
Mountain View, CA

I have the same problem with my Spider.  The dead spot with the wheels 
pointed straight ahead is due to uneven wear in the center of the worm 
gear (since most of us unfortunately spend most of our driving time with 
our wheels pointed straight ahead).  If you tighten it up your steering 
will require more effort on either side of center, possibly a lot more.  
The best fix is to switch out the steering box.
If you want to try tightening your box up, just loosen the nut on top. 
This will allow you to turn the screw in the middle of it. Tighten the 
screw down a little bit, tighten the nut back down a try it out. Repeat 
as necessary, but pay attention to how difficult parallel parking 
becomes.

That makes at least two of us that could use a steering box in good 
cond. just in case anybody here is hoarding them?

Tony Martie (78 Spider)
TM PhotoDesign
www.tmpd.net
phone  469 233-8673
fax        214 328-0882

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