The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Number of steering wheel turns from center to right or left

Okay, I'm back in town again and capable of jacking up a 1952 1/2 ton truck which has been set up correctly so I can input some correct data. Very sorry for any confusion but please let me try to rectify.

First of all with wheels, tie rods, drag link and everything attached and wheels off the ground, 4.5 turns (almost exactly) is what you will have, turning the wheel from stop to stop. And so turning back from the right hand stop by 2.25 turns will put your sector gear very closely to right in the middle...where the sector gear adjustment can be made. My scanner has broken, but please look at the image taken from a camera shot of the shop manual below.

When I say right in the middle, here is what I mean: your ball nut rides on your worm shaft (with the ball bearings, etc) and with your wheels pointing straight ahead, that ball nut ought to be right in the middle of your wormshaft. As you can see, there are 4 "teeth" and 3 "valleys" on that ball nut and the sector shaft gear has 5 teeth. So with wheels ahead, ball nut in the middle of worm gear the third "tooth" of the sector gear (middle) should be right smack in the middle of your ball nut. If so, it is perfectly set up.

So back to the original question, if your wheels are mounted, your tie rod is mounted, your drag link is mounted and your steering box is set up as I described, I can see no way you could need more turns to the right than the left to hit the steering stop. If on the other hand (as Phil has pointed out) your sector gear is not centered with your ball nut (which is also centered on the wormshaft) or possibly if your ball nut is not centered on your sector shaft then I would say your center point of steering is out of whack and it is possible you might get this sort of situation. It is going to be very important to make certain your ball nut is in the center of your wormshaft and your sector gear stabs the center point of the ball nut teeth with its center tooth. Please let us know where you are on all of this.

Again very sorry for any confusion. Partly the product of timing and partly the fact all my birthdays have started with the number 7 for a while.

Edit...two other points which may be important to keep in mind: 1. Your wormshaft bearings are adjusted by simple compression. That is to say they're cone bearings and when you press on them each will become more tight in their races. 2. Your sector gear rides with the teeth straight but the ball nut (into which it slides) rides at an angle...the rear of it sitting higher than the side facing the outside (toward the frame). So, when you tighten the screw you're pushing the sector gear into a pinched situation and that's what tightens it. Simply more clarification. Hope it helps.