The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Centering steering

I just finished putting new kingpin bushings, tie rod ends, and drag link in my 56 half-ton. I centered the steering per the procedure in the manual but I think I might have goofed up somewhere.
I count the number of turns from full left stop to full right, then go back half that distance and that should be the center. Except when I do that, my wheels aren't centered. Is it possible I installed the pitman arm wrong or something else in the steering arm/tie rod system? I also notice that when driving, there's still some float going on though it's different than before I did this job. The thing that tells me that I might not have the sector gear centered is that when I come out of a turn, the wheel doesn't spin back on its own like it did before. It kind of hangs up there at the end and you have to bring it back manually.

Here are few things to check that I found helpful when my '37 acted the same way.

Unhook the draglink off the pitman arm or steering arm.

Count total turns of the steering wheel paying close attention to the center. You should feel the wheel get tight as you cross over center. If you can't feel this, its time to adjust the gear box. The center tight spot is to keep the truck straight when going straight, less work for you.

If the tight spot matches your center count, then the steering wheel and gear box are aligned. I don't believe you can get the gear box wrong if you take it apart for a cleaning. If the steering wheel is off center still, pull it off the shaft and recenter it if possible. Mine has a keyway so it only fits one way. You don't want to move the wheel off center just so the spokes line up when driving, you want it centered to the gear box.

Since these trucks only have two tie-rod ends, you can not adjust them to center the steering wheel like a modern four tie-rod system. The only adjustment the tie-rods give is toe-in or toe-out. This is the time to check that, roll the truck at least one tire revolution forward with full weight on the ground. This takes any slop or movement out and places the front end in as driven position. Measure the toe adjustment at frame height, front and rear of the tires. You are looking for 1/8" toe-in. At speeds, the 1/8" will spread out to straight ahead due to road forces.

With the front tires straight ahead, the gear box centered, and steering wheel centered and locked into place ( rope or seat belt holding it ), the draglink should drop right into the pitman arm or steering arm, which ever one you unhooked.

If it doesn't fit perfect, you have a axle placement problem or bent draglink. I never could see why my truck wouldn't line up, the draglink was just slightly to long. I replaced the front springs, bushings, and made sure I pulled the axle forward the same amount on each side when tightening the u-bolts. It still didn't line up so I had a family member machine a threaded rod and using two tie-rod ends made a adjustable draglink. You can loosen the u-bolts and pull the axle forward or backwards some with a chain pull or come-along to change the wheel position a little. It doesn't take all that much movement to make a decent change in the wheel position.

Ride height makes a big difference when centering the steering wheel. I moved mine off center 1/8 of a turn just by lowering the front end 3/8". To check this for yourself, jack the truck up by the frame and watch the steering wheel. As you may know, the front axle moves up and down in a arc from the solid leaf spring mounted end. The draglink follows its own arc up and down from the pitman arm mount. At a factory ride height, both the arc's are at the center of there respected travels so slight bumps in the road really don't effect steering much. A loaded truck drives completely different over bumps due to the two arc's being out of alignment, same thing when you lower or raise a truck from factory settings.

So after all that,

( 1 ) check that the axle is positioned correct to the frame, measure each side from a given position of a crossmember or frame position, and from front axle to rear axle on each side.

( 2 ) check that the gear box and wheel are centered

( 3 ) check that the draglink is correct part

( 4 ) check pitman arm for any damage or bends ( they will only fit on one way since they are keyed)

( 5 ) check the steering arm for bends or damage. Mine bolts to the spindle, so I was able to move it around slightly and change the wheel position some this way.

( 6 ) check ride height and be sure truck is in as driven condition ( full weight )

( 7 ) did you remove the caster wedges from under the axle? These wedges ( thick part to the rear ) set the caster angle. Without them the truck will drive very loose and not return to center on its own. The caster angle leans the kingpins back, so when you turn, the steering system is picking up the front of the truck. The weight of the front end is what returns the steering back to center. With little or no caster, it steers real easy since you are not lifting any weight. You want the right balance between to loose and to heavy. 2 to 3 degrees is about right for a stock truck. Mine has 3 and could use 4, as it's still a little to loose at highway speeds.

Good luck and hope I didn't confuse the heck out of you (or bore you).

Joe

Thanks for the response, Joe. You posted a how-to like that some time ago that really helped me out alot the last time I did this. It turns out that I didn't have the sector shaft and steering centered properly. I also failed to tighten the castle nut holding the drag link to the pitman arm. It was only finger tight so I suppose that accounted for some of the weird feel.
This morning I did a complete steering adjustment step by step, exactly according to the manual. The steering is almost perfect. There is still a very tiny bit of drift but I figure it must be wear in the steering gear box. I did adjust the toe-in yesterday but I'm going to re-check it. As it is now, it drives nice and straight, there's no freeplay, and it's very resonsive. I replaced the kingpins, kingpin bushings, tie rod ends, and drag link. I didn't touch the axle or anything that would affect castor or camber. I'm really happy with the way it is now. But I was really happy with it about a year ago after I adjusted it and it gradually went back to being loose and unsteady. So we'll see if this time it lasts.
Thanks for the advice.

Spindle stops? Ran in to this problem with my 51' Both were missing!

I suspect your sector is worn out in the straight ahead position. One of mine was this way. I could adjust it out but it never seemed to feel just right. Once I replaced it with a NOS piece of e-bay, it drove just the way I thought it should have. The old one had depressions were it always rode the most.

Glad you figured it out, when they are right, it sure is a good feeling knowing its going to go where you point it.

Joe

Is it possible to rebuild the gearbox in place or do you have to remove the entire column? I just read the procedure in the manual for removing the column and it sounds like a royal pain in the butt.
What I notice about my truck now after the work I did is that I can keep one hand on the wheel and it will pretty much stay in a straight line.

I suppose you could clean it out and adjust it in the truck, although it might be just as much work as pulling it out. If it drives as nice as you say, just top off the grease / lube and drive it as is. When the seal starts leaking then think about cleaning and rebuilding. I use a 00 grade grease in mine I purchased from a vender at work. John Deere sells a 00 grade grease for the corn head gear boxes on combines, any dealer can get it and each tube is around $3.00 hear in the Kansas City area. 00 grade is self leveling, meaning if flows back in on itself, it looks like really really thick gear oil. Pen-rite sells a gear box grease also.

Joe

Penrite sells a "Semi Fluid Grease (self levelling); it is an extreme pressure (1500w), NLGI 00" grease

Penrite also sells "STEERING BOX LUBE:
Suitable for veteran/vintage and some classic car steering boxes, this high viscosity (1200w) self-levelling grease . . . "

John Deere Corn Head grease is NLGI grade 0.
That is close enough.