Introduced by Cadillac in 1940, recirculating ball steering uses a worm gear inside a threaded block. Imagine holding a screw with a nut on it—turn the screw one way or the other and the nut ...

By 1955, Chevrolet passenger cars dropped worm-and-roller steering gears, opting for Saginaw's recirculating ball-and-nut design. In defense of the C-1's worm-and-roller gear, the unit did offer ...

Read the Steering Then and Now article in Street Rodder Magazine featuring the Saginaw 525 steering box, Unisteer Performance rack-and-pinion unit, Ford Mustang steering box, and more.

The worm and nut style is the final development of this design, where a nut meshes with and moves up and down the worm, operating the pitman arm either by use of a lever or through a sector.