The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline turning left and right

I just got a 54 3100 and it seems that when you drive it turns right much further than it does left. Are there internal stops in the steering box. The steering wheel appears to be straight but when I go to turn left it only goes so far. Not anywhere like turning right. Any HELP would be appreciated.

The Shop Manual has the procedure for setting the steering at the midpoint.

If you do not have a Shop Manual, one is on-line at the old car manual project. I'll post a link when I get to a real computer.

If it is anything like a 46 or 57, they will turn more to right than left. Left is less to avoid hitting the pitman arm and draglink. If I remember correctly I could only adjust the stop on the right side on the 57. You could have a centering problem also --dunno.

1954 Chevrolet truck steering gear adjustment.

Note "Adjustments - Step 5" for mid-point setting for wheel turns.

The 42-47 Shop Manual shows mid-point/half-way (Step 7 - left side of page)

In any case the pitman arm has to be in the correct orientation on its shaft.

I thought the pitman arm could really only go on one way? On my '50 the shaft has 3 splines that are wider than all the others, and I have to align the arm with those to get it on.

If the '54 gearbox is the same as the '50 gearbox, there are no internal stops- so be careful not to turn it to full stop with any force with the steering linkage disconnected- the manual says that you can damage some things in the gearbox.

I'm using the online manual right now to tear down and inspect 2 gearboxes... it's not as daunting to open them up as I thought it would be.

There is no adjustment in the steering box to adjust how far it turns right and left. Normally the extremes are controlled by the steering stops bolted to the axle. I believe it is possible to put the steering box together in such a way that that it then turns more in one direction than the other.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/advance-design_parts_co/sets/72157632210242370/

The above is the best steering manual out there.

I would unhook the drag link and center the steering box. This will confirm the location of the steering wheel, Center steering wheel if it is not centered to the gear box. Wrap masking take around column and base of steering wheel, draw a line across both for a true center indicator. Next turn the wheels all the way left then all the way right, eyeball the angle and see if one way looks different then the other, adjust stops if they are way off. Set the wheels straight ahead and see if the drag link will drop into place. It should fall in to place.

If the leaf spring bushings are worn, or the leaf spring center pin is worn, the axle can shift forward or backwards, this then creates a problem with the draglink length. If the distance is not what the factor set it to, the steering will be off center, causing just the problems you are having.
To correct this on my truck with a newer axle, I had to build an adjustable drag link to dial in the straight ahead position. I never did figure out why the axle wasn't centered, but the adjustable drag link solved all my problems.

Joe

Thanks for the link Joe!

Great help thanks to all