The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Steering wheel adjustment

I'm helping a friend make his steering wheel horizontal while going down the road straight. The cross bar on his steering wheel is currently straight up and down while driving straight....bugs the crap out of him.

How do I adjust this?

You have to pull the steering wheel and rotate it to the desired position. Remove horn button, remove retaining nut, use puller to remove wheel and you are ready to go.

Thanks! Dont have to disconnect horn wires?

Should not have to disconnect horn wire, (but that may depend on year of truck). I just installed a new steering gear box/mast in my 51 (and it made all the difference in the world), but I did what Forty9 said. After I got it all installed, test drove it, I saw that the steering wheel was off a little. Pulled the steering wheel, rotated a few degrees, put it back on. Now, going straight down the road, steering wheel is horizontal.

But on my 51, the horn wire did not have to be touched. It's soldered to the upper column bearing, so it's all below what you're going to be fooling with anyway.

You should be asking why the steering wheel is out of position. What went wrong? ISTM that pulling the wheel and putting it back in the "proper" position is treating the symptom.

Disconnect the battery before working around the horn. Makes calmer working conditions if the horn doesn't go off.

Correct Gord, I should have addressed that. If the steering wheel USED to be horizontal, and now it ain't, then he has issues other than the steering wheel out of alignment.

You can rent a puller from the major parts stores and get you money back when you are done.

You can unhook the pitman arm (correct name?) from gear box. Count the revolutions to find center. Go slow so you don’t hurt baring. You should also feel a slight difference in the amount of weight to move it out of center. You might as well check this at this time with a luggage scale. (Read manual) If you find center is horizontal like previously, then steering linkage/alignment is off. If your steering wheel is vertical, then take wheel off and put on correctly.

If you just take steering wheel off without checking, you might decrease your ability to turn to one side. I used this process to get my steering correct after rebuilding my steering box. My alignment ended up being off.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Chris

Ps: if I am wrong everyone will jump all over my thought process.

He said he tightened something on the steering gear box so maybe that got it out of level?

I am not sure year of his vehicle but on my 51 there are only 2 adjustments that I know of. One controls the amount of force to turn the steering wheel (bottom end of steering box) and the other controls the amount of play in the wheel (engine side of box that requires a screwdriver and wrench to tighten locknut). If there is a third adjustment, please tell me so I can learn.

Chris

1952 GMC suburban.... I have no idea if those adjustments would affect steering wheel orientation but it doesn't sound like it.

Chris is right on the money, you need to know center of gear box before moving the steering wheel. Somewhere around 2 turns each direction from center. Might as well adjust the gear box at the same time. If you find the center doesn't tighten up, then you have worn parts.

Check all this with the pitman arm unhooked from the steering linkage.

Get wheel and box centered correctly, hook up steering and go for a drive. Toe-in adjustment, worn or broken leaf spring center bolts, worn leaf spring main bushing, loose u-bolts, incorrect draglink, bent steering arm, and even different ride hight front and rear can cause problems.

If you absolutely cannot keep wheel centered, look up in the tech section of this site for information on building an adjustable length draglink.

The truck will drive much better with gear box straight with the wheel and when driving straight.

Can you tell us the year of the truck?

My 1951 3100 has 2 adjustments to the steering box. The first one is on the end of box and controls pounds required to turn the steering wheel. The second is on the engine side that requires a wrench to loosen lock nut and screw to tighten or loosen steering wheel play.

Edit to reduce confusion: if I wanted to change my steering wheel position, the only way I could change it is unhooking the steering arm and putting in a different position or changing the position of the steering wheel. I would be unable to use steering box adjustments to throw off my steering wheel by 90 degrees.

I am still learning about my truck, so hopefully one of the experts jumps in here.

Chris

1952 GMC suburban

Chris, the end adjustment is to take all play out of the steering shaft bearings, do not over tighten these. You want a slight drag with no up or down movement when you pull on the steering wheel. The side adjustment controls the gear mesh between steering shaft and sector gear. This is the adjustment that controls the tight center position and the free travel in the steering wheel. With the steering wheel just off center, you should have zero play, then when crossing center position, you should have a 1 to 2 lb drag.

Joe,

I’m tracking. I rebuilt my steering box as per manual and had someone double check. My truck handles pretty well for its age. I was just trying to explain due to what these adjustments do, they should not change the steering wheel position by 90 degrees. I probably didn’t articulate my post well enough.

Chris

If someone on this thread has installed a PS box and has a SW that’s off center, then this might help. However, it may not apply to the off center SW problem the OP is experiencing.

I installed a 1974 PS gear box on my 1965 C10 frame. It’s a common upgrade and I used a professionally made adapter plate to make it fit properly.
The first thing I noticed was that my SW was off center. (Since the pitman arm is splined with a flat spot, it can only be installed in one position. No adjustment possible.)

So I centered my SW so it was straight when driving straight.

Next problem I noticed was that I had fewer SW turns to the LEFT than turns to the RIGHT.
Here’s why.
The PS box adapter plate sets the PS box off the frame about 3/8” from where the factory gear box was. So that means the CENTERED pitman arm now has the CENTER LINK off center to the LEFT by 3/8”. This means the tires are now in a slight right hand turn when the PS box is centered. To compensate for this and point the tires straight, the driver needs to turn the SW to the left slightly. So now, the steering box is no longer centered when driving straight ahead.

This explains why the SW was off center and why I lost about 3/4 turn of the SW to the left.
To correct the matter, I had to adjust the tie rods with the pitman arm centered. In my case, the DS tie rods were adjusted shorter and the PS adjusted longer so the end result had my tires pointing straight again. I made sure my SW turns left and right of center were the same. I then checked alignment. Last, I centered the SW.
I hope this helps someone.

One can file the flat spot with a 3 cornered file to clock the pitman arm. Good chore while watching a ball game, etc. I have done many.

Ed

But then the pitman arm will no longer be centered when the steering gear is centered.

One of the best ways I've found to locate dead center is by using an inch/pound torque wrench...and get one which is the old style and not the "click" style (the long needle and scale up by the handle type is the most useful). I noticed Amazon has a couple for $21-$25. Using this (once the bearings are adjusted and the gears are relatively adjusted) you can easily see where things change. Mark that position with a line drawn on some masking tape on the shaft and box and then count the revolutions both ways to check. If you aren't in dead center you can adjust the box until you're blue and not accomplish anything. If you are rebuilding the box, it is dead easy. Find the center point of both, assemble it carefully and don't turn it, mark the center point with a Marks a Lot and there you have it.

When non-original steering parts are used, some way of getting things close to right is needed, and filing the wide splines can help. By clocking the Pitman arm one spline at a time the position can be changed a few degrees at a time instead of 90 degrees. Center the steering box, get the Pitman arm close, and then use an adjustable drag link to get the rest of the steering linkage configured properly. That's "Round Track 101" when using non-OEM parts to build a steering system.
Jerry