steering box

Steering wheel in my '54 R-112 has about 6 inches of play. Does it require any maintenance. ..fluid?

No replies,needs to be moved to correct section.

Is it a Ross box?

I was wondering the same thing mine moves quite a bit and people have told me there are adjustments on it but i havent found the screw and nut to do so. they must be thinking of something else?

OK, fellows, a couple of dumb questions. the answer to these will require another person to help you. Sitting in your truck and moving your steering wheel back and forth does the other person observe the tires moving? how about the pitman arm, and all related components on the axle to the wheels? The Ross box is a worm gear drive box if I am not mistaken, there are only a couple of things for it to be loose inside from, Worn gear, and missing/damaged keeper pins, loose parts inside. It should have an oil inside it, but does not need it to operate correctly, only to keep lube on the parts so they do not wear quickly. Now, I could be out in left field, but I think not. IF the couple of questions at the first are that the parts move before the wheels start to move, that is probably where most of your "play" is. If it is in the box itself, it can be rebuilt(not cheap) or you might find a good used one.
OK, ready for the ones who have actually rebuilt their steering boxes to speak up.
Lloyd

OK, fellows, a couple of dumb questions. the answer to these will require another person to help you. Sitting in your truck and moving your steering wheel back and forth does the other person observe the tires moving? how about the pitman arm, and all related components on the axle to the wheels? The Ross box is a worm gear drive box if I am not mistaken, there are only a couple of things for it to be loose inside from, Worn gear, and missing/damaged keeper pins, loose parts inside. It should have an oil inside it, but does not need it to operate correctly, only to keep lube on the parts so they do not wear quickly. Now, I could be out in left field, but I think not. IF the couple of questions at the first are that the parts move before the wheels start to move, that is probably where most of your "play" is. If it is in the box itself, it can be rebuilt(not cheap) or you might find a good used one.
OK, ready for the ones who have actually rebuilt their steering boxes to speak up.
Lloyd

I havent needed to rebuild mine, but would you suggest replacing it with a quick turn box? just curious

I think Loyd is right on the money. There shouldn't be a place to add fluid. Adding fluid would seem to indicate a power steering system and manual steering doesn't normally need fluid (oil) added in the steering box. More likely, worn components like the pitman arm, tie rod ends, king pins, etc. would contribute most to sloppy steering. Refresh the whole system and the steering goes back to being good.
As for a quick turn box. I could be wrong, (it wouldn't be the first time) but I suspect there are few options for this. IH put specific steering boxes on their trucks and I don't recall anyone speaking to their being optional or alternative boxes being available to interchange. Yeah, some of the boxes may fit several similar models and you could interchange that way, but being able to get different boxes to change the steering gear ratio, does not ring any bells in the memory banks.
All that being said, as for adapting a steering column and box from something else, that would be plausible. I've heard of guys adapting Toyota boxes with some way to couple the column to the box being added (u-joint(s), etc.) The stock configuration has no u-joint or easy way to adapt another box, so surgery would need to take place to do the coupling and possibly to mount the abnormal box. Then there is the matter of making the pitman arm work properly. As you can see, one minor change can end up being a lot of work and really big deal.

So I was out messing with my parts trucks (L-110 & R-110) and I noticed these adjustment screws on the steering box. Does your truck have one of these on it? My '57 S-110 doesn't have one on it.

Someone with explicit knowledge will need to answer that. My original steering set-up is gone and I have a new column and rack and pinion system.

JJantzen what does yours look like? You should be able to loosin that nut and turn that screw to make some small adjustments. But like they said it might be something else worn out. Mine has a fill hole in the top of the box. It is a "gear" box so it should have some sort of fluid in it to lubricate it but not to make the steering better or worse.