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1984 Trans AM
I had the power steering box rebuilt, reinstalled it on the frame, reconnected the pitman arm to the pitman shaft. I took the car for a drive & the steering wheel is off centre. I believe that one of the shafts in the gear box was replaced as defective. I can not change the position of the pitman arm on the shaft. I cannot change the positioning on the rag joint on the box input shaft.
Can I remove the steering wheel & reposition it or am I stuck readjusting the tie rods to recentre the steering wheel?
As long as the splines on the steering shaft & the steering wheel hub are all have no flat spot mount position, I s/b okay?
How far off is the wheel? .There is a tiny amount of "adjustment" at the spline/rag joint, but only by one spline. Although tie rod adjustment is gonna be needed if its way off.
Rotate the steering wheel lock to lock and then find the center point. Ignore position of steering wheel and tires, you're centering the steering box. The pitman arm should be pointing straight forward. If it's not then pop it off and put it back on straight. Then fix everything else with tie rod adjustment.
It is fairly easy to remove the pitman arm with the right tool. Any auto parts store has an inexpensive puller to get it off. It is much more difficult to install, the torque is 180 lb-ft if I remember right. It's going to be a problem if you grew up on Twinkies. Don't try to tighten the nut against the steering column lock. Just let the box turn to the internal stop and then torque the nut.
Car drives ok on the hwy. The pitman arm ( i have a puller) fits only one way it has two flat spot on it & the shaft. I will take a picture & post it
today when the fog lifts.
All the steering hardware from the from the rag joint to the tie rod ends is solid (only 21000 miles on the car). Either one of the two shafts in the ps box was replaced & it is the wrong one or the box was incorrectly re-assembled.
A wheel alignment is mandatory after swapping out a steering box. Have you done that yet?
Steering ratio is large, it takes very little movement of the tire to result in that much steering wheel movement. It's maybe not as bad as you fear. While you're at it, might as well re-thread the tie rods so you begin with all of them equally turned in. That way you don't create a large imbalance with some deeply engaged and others barely engaged through years of random alignment adjustments.
Have you noticed if the signals cancel at the same degree from center after you turn left and right?
Also have you counted the number of threads on your inner/outer tie rods and compared them to the other side?
I have not messed with the tie rod ends. Front end was aligned in May of this year. Mechanic had to make a lot of changes to toe, caster, camber.
I still cannot figure out when the orig box was rebuilt then why did the misalign of the steering wheel happened. I am guessing that one of the shafts was replaced and it was different than the original.
Anyone remember if the rag joint is pressed onto the steering column shaft?
The new system is the new system and the old is history. Make sure the center link is not installed backwards and take steps to set it up (advice I gave earlier) and schedule a wheel alignment.
10-27-2022, 10:39 PM
