Can someone give me advise on how I might tighten up the steering wheel play on a 70 cougar? Thanks, will appreciate it
Hi, Mason. Welcome!
The steering system is pretty basic. Perform a check of the normal wear items like tie rods, ball joints, and the steering rag joint to see if they have any slop. You can also adjust the steering box (carefully) using the procedure you can find here.
Be aware that when it’s not running, and if it has power steering, that there will be a sloppy feel until the car is cranked and pressure is restored to the power steering control valve.
The ball joints can be checked by lifting the front and trying to move the tire up/down. The tie rods can be checked by trying to move the lifted front side to side. Any slop will feel like a click or worse.
The steering box can have some slack in it to be adjusted out. The steering rag joint between the steering box and steering shaft can also have some wear and get sloppy. Take it one piece at a time.
It’s not too tough to do.
The steering gear box may need to be rebuilt if it has not been done ever - they tend to not like sitting next to the exhaust manifold. The grease never gets checked and likely there is none after 60 years. Like cougarshaman says the old Bendix power steering needs to be pressurized to eliminate the play at the control valve but that will not eliminate play in your steering box.