The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline How to center steering wheel

I had new front springs put on my '54 3100 and now the steering wheel is a little off center.

What's the best/easiest way to get it back to where it should be?

Thx, Tom

Loosen the u-bolts and use a pair of racket straps to pull the axle forwards, while being pulled, tighten the u-bolts back up. If it's even farther off center, pull the axle towards the rear of the truck. All you are doing is moving the axle in the alignment holes, it doesn't take much wiggling to get the steering wheel off center, the alignment holes are not very precise. Caster shims will also change the steering wheel center, did you install them with the thick end towards the rear of the truck? Most stock hight trucks use 2 degree shims.

Hi Tom,
Well...what we need to know is:
What else has been done to your steering system? Have your king pins been replaced? Have your wheels been aligned (toe-in/toe-out adjusted) and have your tie rod ends and drag link ends been checked for play? Has your steering box been adjusted?

Sorry for the game of 20 questions, but we need more information to get you "pointed in the right direction." Ideally you need to check everything in the steering system to be sure all is nice, tight and adjusted properly (especially your wheels) now that you have new springs. When that is done, your steering box needs to be adjusted and it needs to be set so that your pitman arm is in the exact center of travel. And at that point your steering box, drag link, tie rod should all be working together with happiness and when your drag link is reconnected, then you can adjust your steering wheel to point straight ahead. You want your worm gear and your sector gear to be exactly in the center. Here is some information from the 48-51 years...http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1948_51truck/51ctsm0901.htm

Jon, everything is good with the front end. Old girl goes down the road perfectly. The steering wheel is off by 10-15 degrees since the new springs were installed.

If it's driving straight and not pulling to the side, just pull the steering wheel and rotate it the assumed 10-15 degrees and try it out? This is NOT addressing why the
steering wheel is now off by the 10-15 degrees.

Thanks, Tom. I don't mean to overplay this, but as I think I mentioned it is important for the sector gear and the worm to be centered when the wheels are straight ahead. The sector gear has 5 teeth on it. And those teeth are taper cut with the highest point being right in the middle...that being the 3rd tooth. When that 3rd tooth is in dead center of the worm gear and the steering box is adjusted correctly, your steering will be where the engineers wanted it to be. If you rotate the wheel by 10~15 degrees from dead center (to straighten the wheel), you'll either be climbing up one side or the other of the worm. You want it centered and snug when straight ahead. In fact, I usually use an inch torque wrench to adjust these. When I pass through the center, the torque wrench will deflect showing the high point and that's the middle. We don't know what's been done to the steering gear, so we don't know where in relation to center your steering wheel is. So...if you want to just pull the steering wheel and rotate until it is pointing the right way, you can do that. If your steering gets sort of lazy and sloppy feeling, then you know things aren't centered any longer. These trucks have a tendency to wander. If the caster is out they have a tendency to wander around like a drunk billy goat. And if the two gears aren't in the right spot, the same thing can occur. As you turn your wheel left and right, the clearance between the sector and the worm starts increasing. And that is to give you freedom of motion.

Here is one way to find the middle: chock the rear wheels well and put on the parking brake. Jack the front end up so that both wheels are off the ground. Carefully and gently turn the steering wheel all the way to the right. Put a small bit of masking tape somewhere on the steering wheel that will give you a way to count revolutions and then carefully and gently turn the wheel all the way to the left. Count the revolutions. Now divide the number of revolutions by 2 and turn the wheel back to the right until you get to that point. At that point, you will be halfway through the arc. Where is the steering wheel pointing now? If it is off by 10~15 degrees, then it suggests somebody had the wheel installed incorrectly. If the steering wheel is pointing straight, then maybe we need to look at some other things.

You can not check steering wheel / steering box center with draglink hooked up. The steering stops could have been messed with, or you can have bent or worn parts that throw off the adjustment. If the wheel is not centered while checking just the gear box, then moving the steering wheel on the splined shaft is the way to go.

With out more information on how the truck drove prior to spring changes, one has to assume that the spring change made the difference or the owner wouldn't be asking for suggestions, thus the location of the axle has slightly changed and moving it forward or backwards should correct the problem. We will have to wait for more information.

The simple answer is since you installed NEW springs you need to do a complete frontend alignment. The new springs have changed the stance of the truck altering the existing alignment.

Mike B

There is a procedure for just this issue in the truck manual. The page escapes me at this time. But the process is easy. Kind. Disconnect the drag link. One end is just fine. Turn the steering wheel slow and easy from left to right.In the "center" you will feel a slight drag. It can be measured with a fish scale but you can feel it. Find it and mark it with tape. That is the center. For the steering box only. Now hook up the drag link.Are the front wheels straight and parallel to the back? Are both toed in the same amount? Yes? Reset the steering wheel. No? Time to play with the tie rod. Have fun.

Here is a link to the adjustment procedure in the 1954 Chevrolet Truck Shop Manual.
http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1954truck/54ctsm0903.html