My steering box was leaking. Replaced with a used one. Ended up with steering wheel upside down. (Replaced last year, attempted to fix today) Figured no big deal, I will take the coupling apart and give a half turn. To my surprise the coupling has 2 diff size studs going through it (bolt outer diameter is same). Thought of loosening the pinch bolt, but requires a special tool. I am nervous about taking the puller to the wheel, it's perfect and I do not want to crack it...any thoughts or suggestions? Or something stupid I overlooked. I have not thrown away old steering box. Will keep and rebuild in future.
I wouldn't flip the steering wheel/column at the rag joint (the coupler). The steering gear has a preferred orientation, called the "on center" adjustment, which affects how the car drives going straight down the road. My concern is that if you simply make the change at the rag joint then the gear is going to be operating "off center", that is, over on one of the ends of it's adjustment and the car will want to wander or not feel right. That's why it is error proofed with the different sized bolts. I think you need to make the correction in the individual tie rod ends. Sorry -
When you swapped the gearboxes, did you make ANY other changes/adjustments? If not, then it sounds like the rag joint flange on the new gearbox is 180 degrees off from you old one, which would be easy to compare. If that's it, you'll need to loosen that pinchbolt (special tool?) and rotate the flange, sorry to say. You could pull the steering wheel, BUT: then your turn signal cam will be 180 degrees off, which may or may not be an problem, I don't know offhand - might be able to rotate it back? And the indexing mark on the shaft and wheel will then be 180 off - no big deal unless somebody comes along later and tries to "fix" it. (A proper puller will pull from the hub and shouldn't hurt the wheel at all.) If you are able to move the tie rod ends enough to rotate the wheel 180 degrees, your steering gearbox will be "turned" that much to one side and will try and center itself by going the other way. I don't know, but I don't think you could get that much adjustment out of them anyway. I just remembered - on the steering (pitman?) arm coming out of the box, there should be an indexing mark on the box and arm or shaft that shows the straight-ahead centered position. If that's lined up, and your wheel is lined up on the shaft, you oughta be able to move the rag joint (coupler) around wherever you like/can to get things lined up. Sorry, but I'm betting you're going to have to rotate the rag joint flange.
You seem quite smart about the subject, but want to say this. If the steering wheel wasn't upside down before the swap, and the new box is an exact replacement, Then I don't think the outer tie rods are the cure. Sounds to me the steering shaft was inserted in the rag joint 180 degrees off, or the sector shaft is twisted meaning the used box came off a car that had some sort of accident involving steering component damage. That's a common problem when a wheel gets hit pretty hard.
I'm not looking at one, but I'm sure there is a cut out on the steering shaft that will allow the rag joint flange to be mounted only one way.
I've only changed a handful. The ones I've changed can either go in only in one position, or in one of three positions. I've changed alot more racks than gearboxes. Most of the gearboxes were changed because of a twisted sector shaft.
I happened to mention this to a guy I know last night. He asked if the steering is centered, straight ahead, how many turns do you have lock to lock. You probably have 1/2 to an extra turn one direction than the other. He said that the pitman arm, did you have it off, is made so it can be indexed in four different positions and this will have to be moved to a new position. Course depending on which way you go you could make the lock to center even worse. Now for the disclaimer, he's a Chrylser mechanic, but has been around since the late 60s, so I'm not sure if GM works the same or not. Dave B
Did you take the pitman arm off of your old steering box? Or is it still on your old steering box? If you left it on a you put a used one on that still had a pitman arm on it, just line your old one next to the one you put on turn the steering gear all the way to one side and see where the pitman arm is facing. Then do the same to the one you put on your car and see if the pitman arm is in the same location. This way youll know if your pitman arm is in the same location as your old one was. This is if you never removed your pitman arm from your steering box.
Agreed - I was assuming everything was assembled correctly/not damaged and was banking on variation from part to part being enough to throw it off (that's why they have adjustment in the first place). I think the rag joint is cammed with a flat spot to keep it from being installed incorrectly but a twisted sector shaft is certainly a valid concern. K
Thanks guys, Just got from from a family holiday! Will have a look over the next few days. I changed this last year, brought both steering boxs to the corner garage, the pitman arm off the replacement box was different then the one on my car. So I had the guys pull the one off the xisiting box and install it onto the replacement box. By the sound of your comments, looks like the guys may have pressed it on wrong. DANG! And I thought I was just in for a simple bolts off, half turn and bolts on! I do not have the tools to R&R the pitman arm...Oh well...looks like the car will have to go to the garage. o No: Thanks again for all your input.
So... I have equals turns lock to lock. I would tend to believe that a damaged unit sector shaft would break before it would twist enough to put the steering off by a half turn AND it would probably leak steering fluid. I am going to attempt to R & R steering wheel and see if I can can resolve it that way. Let you know how it goes. Thanks.
Well, going to get myself in trouble here, your steering shaft is splined and there's a section where there are no splines just a flat raised area. The steering hub will only fit one way and the steering wheel will only fit that one way. Back in the old days I have seen guys take a flat file and file the steering shaft flat at that point and eleminate that problem. Now the steering hub will fit anyway you want to put it on. Course this is just sort of a folksey recollection and I'd never be crazy enough to do that myself. :Brow: I'll be in trouble for this with some guys for this I'm sure. If you have the same number of turns lock to lock then I'd say the pitman arm is on correctly. Who knows, maybe when you get it apart you'll find out someone has already done this. Dave B
I have worked on some gear boxes that have 4 indexing marks on the output shaft. Each 90 degrees apart from the other. I am not sure if this is the case with the Buicks or not, but just a thought. If it does have 4 indexing marks it would be quite easy to install the pitman arm 180 degrees off center (I have done it myself) ou:
I pulled the steering wheel and re-installed 180 degree (no big spline, no flat spot...) now my wheels are straight, my steering is straight, and my turn signals still de activate appropriatly. :3gears: (took all of 15 minutes)...must be because it was a Canadian car...Not complicated and well thought out! :Brow: Tee Hee! Hayyyy you cant get there from here! :Smarty: PS I bought a book on Carter Carbs...now this could get interesting! BOOM! Thanks for your interest and input in my dilema. If only everything else would go so well. :beer
That's great Mike, glad it turned out to be so easy. Guess the wide spline is exclusive to Mopars which is mostly what I've owned. Was it Shakespear who said, Much ado about nothing?? Dave B
