over assisted, dead spotted steering

[dusterbd13]

ok, in the test driving of my duster, i learned that i made some pretty poor steering parts choices. my only defence is that i did it for economy and availibility. doesnt change the result, though. what ive got is an 84/85 diplomat system. pump, lines, box, pully, bracket, all of it. the box is a junkyard unit that was leak free and felt tight at the yard, and the pump is a reman saginaw unit with all the stuff off the junkyard pump swapped on. the result was a steering unit with about 1/2 turn of play (1/4 either direction), no feedback even with 235/60/15 front tires and a 14 inch steering wheel. it makes the car almost darty and no fun to drive. the main problem is the dead spot. its very difficult to drive with it. is there adjustment in this box to reduce the deadspot? is there any budget oriented mods i can do short of replacing the box? if i wind up replacing the box, any reccomendations? im really looking for steering like whats in either my mazdaspeed protege or an 80's corvette. but i dont want to go rack and pinion, even though its cool. would kill what im shooting for.

thanks for any help you can throw a mopar guy's way.
Michael

[High Plains Mopars]

You can adjust the pre-load in these to reduce some of the play. however the adjustment will only go so far so I don' t know if you can get rid of a half turn worth of slop. I forget the actual proceedure because it has been nearly two decades since I've adjusted one. Check on some of the mopar specific boards, like moparts.com, and ask for detailed info.

If your box is toast, you still don't have to go to R&P for decent feel and results. Call Firm Feel and place an order for one of their boxes, available in the stock police stage 1, or improved stage 2 or 3 firmness. These get rid of that floaty mopar overassist, and nice and tight, and create a feel like a late model steering system.