Hi everyone,

I'm restoring the steering gear for my 1984 MB300TD W123. This 10 years old thread provided big help during the process.
What a feeling it will be! A properly adjusted W123 / W116 / W126 power steering box

I replaced all seals and gaskets and re-assembled the gear. All went relatively smooth. The problem came when I started tuning the torque by turning the adjustment screw. The torque value does not increase in the center (or middle rotation point). In fact, when I tighten the adjustment bolt in the middle so the geat just starts to feel tight, and then turn the input shaft CW or CCW, it starts "binding" closer to the end rotation points. So it looks like it's the opposite of what it should be. I re-adjusted the bolt several times with the same result.

The gear I'm restoring seemed to have no excessive wear inside. The torque value measured with the input shaft out of the gear was ~15 Ncm.

- Question #1: What did I do wrong causing having more friction at the ends than in the center? ... or maybe it's just totally dead gear, which would be really sad.

- Question #2: Is it worth installing this steering gear on the car at all?

Anyone more knowledgeable, - please help.

Thanks!