my steerings as loose as a goose and the steering box has run out of adjustment, i tried to get one out of a 1200 at the wreckers and had little sucsess removing it from steering arms, even with a ####ty little bearing puller, is there an easier way, the guys up the road want to rebuild the steering box but i reckon thats just an attempt to rip me off cause it probably doesnt need it. does anyone know much about them and want to give me some advice?

p.s. i may get a bigger bearing puller and go back for my third attempt at this other one but when i couldnt get it off i started opening it up to see if i could use one or two of its internals to repair mine but ive really got no idea.

Hey 1200, what I would do is try the bigger bearing puller first, then, if no luck, get a pickle fork.(you know those big two prong wedge things they use to separate tie-rod ends and ball joints) That usually works every time, but if not, get a torch and heat up the metal around the pin. Get it red hot, then try the pickle fork again. If that doesn't work, then the steering box is pretty much a permanent part of the car...lol. Good luck and hope this helps.
P.S. you probably already did, but don't forget to check the play in the new box before removal

Only girls use bearing pullers!!

Pull out the split-pin, Loosen the nut.
Get two kick-ass sized hammers and bash it at the same time either side of the solid part of the joint (not the balljoint itself).
It works everytime. Sometimes it takes a couple of whacks.

The steering boxes are expensive items to get from Nissan. The gear and worm-block wear out after 20 years of normal use. I got one out of a B120 (Ute) from the wreckers, the car had a big front end accident and the steering column and shaft was bent, but the gears were like new! I straightened the shaft and put it in another tube. All good. Sometimes packing shims can help with the mesh, outside using the adjuster screw. But generally the gear wears out in the central area, making for the symptoms you have explained.

I have the Nissan Service Book for the 1200 and I rebuilt my steering box to factory specs.

Chris.

i forgot about that pickle fork thing, i used one before to good effect, im pretty sure my brother has one too, as for the hammer idea theres simply no room to sing the buggers for enough ooomph!. i checked the play in the new box and it does have a bit but i figure as the adjusting screw looks to have a lot of adjustment left in it i can just screw that down and thatll fix it. is that a bad assumption or do you think it should make it good again?
i know youre gonna say tighten the screw and see before you take it off, but its too late for that, im just hoping that when i started pulling it apart i didnt loose anything, and nobody else has decided to have a play with it!

well, ideally I would tighten the screw and check it, but I understand you've probably got it pretty torn apart. You can probably tell if someone has messed with it while you were gone. If they aren't charging you too much for the box, I would take it home and play with it. Worse case scenario you'll have a rebuildable core. Good luck bro, let us know how it works out.

roughneck

just updating, i still havent gone back to that wreckers for the box and my car has started swerving on the road on its own, this is quite a scary experience actually because you dont know how sharp to turn the steering to correct it due to varying amounts of play, but anyway i went to a multi-specialty bloke up the road and they said around $200-$300 to reco the box depending on what needs replacement so bugger that option, ill be going down to that wrecker with that fork thing and also a gas torch to heat the pin before i whack it and if that doesnt work well ill go nuts, and maybe then seriously consider taking an angle grinder to the barstard!

stupid question,but have you (1) checked the idler arm bushes on the left hand chassis rail,these wear because of lack of lubrication,& can have this effect,or (2) you haven't dropped a bolt out of a caster rod,this little darling happened to me once,& the car bump steered violently under brakes.just somethimg else to check before all the heating,hammering & swearing you seem to be headed for.definitely using the bashing smiley with this one

Hey 1200, just wanted to tell you to be damn careful when you are dirving your beast. Hate to lose a fellow datsun enthusiast because he went head on with a tractor trailer...lol. Oh, on the idler arm bushing that 310 was talking about, my coupe did the same thing. It would clunk very loudly when going over bumps too. The bushing kit only cost about 7 dollars, and was very easy to replace. Have someone move the steering wheel back and forth while you look at the steering linkage. Good luck.

roughneck

Sounds like you'd be better off if you tied a rope to each steering knuckle and used that for steering. At least untill you get your new/used steering column.
Good luck
angelo