For all you steering experts, a question.

[scottg918514]

I installed a new steering gear box and associated pitman arm yesterday. The truck steers and tracks great, but with the steering wheel turned about 20-30 deg left. Is there a way to adjust the gear box itself, or can this situ only be fixed by adjusting the tie rods?

Thx

 

[Bikeboy80]

I'm not sure about the gear box, but you might be able to pull the steering wheel and rotate it to center with the wheels straight.

 

[MeanGreen03]

You will need to get an alignment.

 

[ATL]

get the front wheels straight, then count the turns lock to lock. as long as they match(say 1.5 turns from middle to lock, then 3 turns to other lock) it can be fixed with alignment. if youre off lock to lock, you didnt get the teeth lined up right

 

[M3PO]

get the front wheels straight, then count the turns lock to lock. as long as they match(say 1.5 turns from middle to lock, then 3 turns to other lock) it can be fixed with alignment. if youre off lock to lock, you didnt get the teeth lined up right

ATL hit the nail on the head, you have to make sure you are centered. If you are not centered, and just take the steering wheel off to fix, your steering wheel traveling too far to one direction can pull wires out of their connectors in the steering column. In many cars, there is a bundle of wire that goes to all the buttons, air bag, etc, and it only has so much slack in it.

 

[MeanGreen03]

Are you guys talking about the teeth on the pitman arm? I believe we have the 3 groove so there are only 3 ways to put it on. That means if it wasn't on right it would be 120 degrees off and would be very noticable when installing/turning, which I'm sure he would've mentioned. Even if it were a 4 groove it would still be 90 degrees off. Maybe I'm totally off in my thinking since I recently woke up.....Regardless, any time you do any front suspension work you need to get an alignment

 

[Bikeboy80]

ATL hit the nail on the head, you have to make sure you are centered. If you are not centered, and just take the steering wheel off to fix, your steering wheel traveling too far to one direction can pull wires out of their connectors in the steering column. In many cars, there is a bundle of wire that goes to all the buttons, air bag, etc, and it only has so much slack in it.

That is true, I was thinking back to having to put the wheel in my honda's but that was back when the only thing you has to worry about was the horn and it was a spring loaded contact to a metal ring. Didn't matter to adjust it left or right!

 

[M3PO]

Are you guys talking about the teeth on the pitman arm? I believe we have the 3 groove so there are only 3 ways to put it on. That means if it wasn't on right it would be 120 degrees off and would be very noticable when installing/turning, which I'm sure he would've mentioned. Even if it were a 4 groove it would still be 90 degrees off. Maybe I'm totally off in my thinking since I recently woke up.....Regardless, any time you do any front suspension work you need to get an alignment

You could very well be right, I never worked on this area of this truck, what you describe makes perfect sense. I was just giving a warning as people have done it on other cars.

EDIT: I reread, and yeah the pitman arm does, but I think the input to the steering box is a shaft with splines, but again, I'm not 100% sure on this truck.

 

[ATL]

yes, the pittman arm does only have 3 big main teeth, then a bunch of small ones. BUT once the gear box is out, anything could have happened. maybe then steering box wasnt lined up perfectly at 12 when you installed it, maybe the steering wheel spun once during the time the box was out, theres many things that could be a tiny bit off. and im not saying that they are off, im just saying its worth counting your turns lock to lock to find out

 

[MeanGreen03]

You could very well be right, I never worked on this area of this truck, what you describe makes perfect sense. I was just giving a warning as people have done it on other cars.

EDIT: I reread, and yeah the pitman arm does, but I think the input to the steering box is a shaft with splines, but again, I'm not 100% sure on this truck.

Oh definitely, we are here to help each other out. The input shaft can only go on one way, 1 groove per se. If the steering wheel was turned and he reinstalled the steering shaft the clock spring would have been broken when he turned it for the first time I'm almost positive he only needs an alignment which is simple enough.