Pitman arm vs steering wheel location

I had Hector rebuild my power steering gear box. Today, I began performing the re-installation.
\When I removed the box, I had the steering wheel locked in normal position which had the wheels pointed straight ahead.
After installation, in order for the wheels to be pointed straight ahead, the steering wheel is out 1/2 turn. Thus, the pitman arm was installed in the incorrect position.
Should I remove & reposition the pitman arm or can I just remove & reposition the steering wheel?

 

Re: Pitmn arm vs steering wheel location

I could be mistaken, but I think the pitman arm can only go on the shaft in one position. In any event, it should face straight back. You need to check your steering wheel to see if it lines up with the mark on the shaft. If the steering wheel is off, the turn signal won't cancel right L or RT. Trust me...that sucks because the TS lights are tiny and hard to see. You can always move the tie rods to center the arm. Check the arm position, check the steering wheel mark, count turns to L and RT.

 

I will pop the steering wheel & hub tomorrow and check that the marks on the steering shaft aligns with the hub mark.
I read thru the shop manual and it appears, in my interpretation, that the pitman arm & shaft should have been marked as to original location prior to rebuild.
Comment?

 

As mentioned, check the steering shaft as it aligns to the steering wheel. I've replaced 2 in the last few years and this was a minor issue on both. One was a tooth off and the other was adjusted with tie rod ends.

Half a turn seems quite a bit though, like the shaft is 180 out. Could the rag joint have been assembled incorrectly?

If it isn't much and the steering gear is truly centered (same number of turns left as right to reach full lock) then you can adjust a good bit with tie rod ends. Move the left one in and the right one out the same number, or vice versa, and you won't affect the alignment of the front end.

 

The sector gear in the box is machined with a slight crown, so the high point of the crown is where the steering is straight ahead. To find the center put a flex beam torque wrench that reads inch pounds (I got mine at a swap met for $5) on the steering wheel nut with the pitman arm disconnected from the drag link. Put the steering shaft near center by counting turns and rotate the shaft with the torque trench and find the point of maximum resistance. The torque wrench should read about 13 inch pounds at that point. Put a vertical mark on the steering shaft with a sharpie and put the steering wheel on the shaft centered in the straight position, now the steering wheel is aligned with the box. Any further centering of the steering wheel should be done with the tie rod ends. The pitman arm can only go on in one position and it would have been nice if the rebuilder had put some "straight ahead" reference marks on the shaft when he did the "over center" adjustment during the rebuild.

 

Sounds like the rag joint is 180* out

 

The shaft being 180 out definitely occurred to me, too. But, I figured he's got to check the other stuff first.

 

The rag joint only fits only one way as there are two different bolt sizes that attach the rag joint to the steering shaft which is driller similarly.
Also, the rag joint only fits one way on the steering box shaft due to the slotting on that shaft for the rag joint bolt.

 

Tkx.
By repositioning the steering wheel hub, will that affect the "canceling" of the signal lights/arm from a turn?

 

There is NO WAY you can reposition the steering wheel 180 degrees to compensate .That is unless it is an older vehicle like pre 65 . Or for that the Pitman arm is out that much. Or that the internals in the box are assembled wrong.

The only difference can be that the rag joint stub shaft is a different one from the original . That is something you should ask the rebuilder . That being said I still say the Rag joint is 180* off .

 

The Pitman is only movable in 90* increments . If you move the Pitman arm you will not be able to make either right hand or left hand turns depending which way you move it.

Was your original box rebuilt or was it a exchange box ??

It seems you should be talking to Hector to try and solve the problem . I'm sure he would be able to straighten out the problem s he has a very good reputation with his steering boxes and is very knowledgeable about them.

 

Not sure if this will help but when I changed from an original box to a fast ratio steering box, the steering wheel ended up 180 off when centered. I chose to Redhill and redrill the the rag joint and reassemble it 180 out of phase to compensate.

Tom

 

The pitman arm has a blind spline and I believe the sector splines on the steering shaft have 4 blind splines at 90 intervals. Or it could be vise versa. That is because some mount the pitman forward (Camaro, Nova) and some rear (our cars) and some are at a right angle (4x4 & van?) to the gear box.

The reason I originally mentioned the rag joint was that when I put a quick ratio 1987 GN box on mine, I had to use a new rag joint and it was 180 out plus a little twist on the tie rods but I put a new drag link and new idler arm in at the same time as well.

 

Unfortunately, eventhough removing & reinstalling the gear is a real pain, i guess that redrilling the rag joint and the the attaching point on the steering shaft would be the easiest solution.
I will address Hector on the problem.
if the arm is adjustable at 90*, then I believe that the gears wear reassembled incorrectly as all was well before rebuild.

 

Ok...I don't know, a lot of people have bought those boxes and no problems. Right...I think the rag joint can only go on the box one way like the arm. The lower column shaft where it attaches I think can be flipped 180 IF it's a BBB shaft. I'm not sure about a regular shaft.

 

I am about to remove the gear box and redrill the the rag joint & the steering shaft collar.

 

It would be easier to remove and reposition the UPPER clamp on the steering shaft and chamfer the shaft so the bolt goes thru. You could have everything assembled and run a drill thru the clamp. The upper shaft clamp does not have a locating flat area . It is just splined completely around.