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01 Steering Issue

1K views 17 replies 8 participants last post by  62250 
#1 ·
Before I take a can of gas to the heep, I wonder if anyone has ever had an issue with attempting to re-center the steering wheel after changing out a steering box. Now do not go on and tell me I should have marked this and that because I did not, and with the new box it seems to only have three revolutions from stop to stop. One would think that you go 1.5 and your good right!?! Well so I would have thought too. Maybe I am going through a dyslexic moment, but I can not get the wheel right side up no matter what I try.

Anyone know of or have an image of the pitman arms position on the steering box as a guide? At this point anything is worth a try. :confused:
 
#2 ·
Anyone!?!
 
#3 ·
There is a master spline on pitman shaft of the steering box, so the pitman arm should only go on one way, unless it's damaged.

Assuming you get the pitman arm on correctly, the rest is easy. Rotate steering wheel lock to lock and center. Make sure steering wheel is installed corrrectly on splines of steering column shaft.

Adjust drag link to get wheel centered when traveling down flat straight road.
 
#4 ·
Did all that :( Two full days of twisting that sleeve everywhich way. As soon as the wheel goes to center, the distance traveled between the stops will either increase or decrease a half turn. Times like this I wish I still did drugs, might be able to luck out that way and stop over thinking it.

Seems like I can get close, but as soon as I think I have it licked it will turn to the left way too far, and not far enough to the right...
 
#5 ·
Here is what you need to do:
1. "eyeball" the front wheels to be as parallel as possible to the body sides
2. disconnect the drag link from the pitman arm.
3. center steering wheel
4. adjust the drag link until the ball stud will enter the tapered hole in the pitman arm without any angularity. Install the drag link into the pitman arm.
5. drive vehicle on flat straight road. Do final drag link adjustments as needed.

BTW, I assume that ALL of the suspension and steering linkage pieces are LIKE-NEW, with NO possible wear/lash/slop. If they are not, all bets on my suggestions are off.
 
#6 ·
Will give this a try in the morning. Been at it now for two days straight and all I have been able to accomplish is returning the steering wheel back upside down and equal distance lock to lock.

The issue seems to be when I re-center the wheel, the steering box goes out that half to full turn when adjusting the sleeve on the drag link. Talk about being driven nuts!

And yes, all tie rod ends, pitman arm and so forth are new with little to no wear. Been through all that over the past two days and even went out and bought a new drag-link sleeve this afternoon due to the original one being a little sloppy.
 
#7 ·
Ok, no dice on the suggestion above. When this was tried I came up with the same results.

Going to grab a few images to show what is going on.

Has to be a steering guru out there someplace!

BRB
 
#8 · (Edited)
Ok, here are a few images. You can see that the wheels are straight, the tie rods and drag link all seem to be in the correct position.

The bolt on the steering shaft going to the steering box should have been facing down, not up, but not able to have equal turning radius and the wheel upside right. So the steering wheel is still upside down.

Now is there a way to adjust the output shaft on the steering box without impacting the distance between locks? If I were to rotate the output shaft a half turn without creating an issue with the amount of rotations to the lock to lock radius I would be laffing.

And yes I am going to replace the seals on Saturday......
 

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#9 ·
I have never replaced a gear box on my xj ( one of the few things) so Im just throwing this out there. Can you not re-index the steering coupler at the gear box? or does it just go on one way?
 
#10 ·
The coupling that connects to the steering box is "keyed" to only go on one way. I just about took a die grinder to it but thought better. And the little u-joint thing can not be taken apart so that I could flip it over. I guess my only other option might be to remove the wheel and flip it, just that I do not like the idea of messing with the airbag and it goes off in my face. Now if I find a step by step to do just that I think it would work since the shaft that the wheel connects to from all accounts is not "keyed".
 
#11 ·
The steering wheel is keyed just like all the other linkages. Plus its a pain to to take the wheel off, so that idea no worky. I didn't have this problem when I swapped steering boxes BUT I did run into this when I relocated the track bar hole (I did the cheap just drill another hole). My wheel was pretty close to 180 off like yours is. If you're happy with the position on your steering box now then what you do is adjust the pinch sleeve thats on your drag link. Get it close and make sure you've got the same kind of travel in both directions, then just take it to a shop for an alignment and they'll dial it in to be perfect.
 
#12 ·
I forgot to mention, when you do this, you don't have the car jacked up at all, the weight should be on the tires and the engine should be running so that when you turn that pinch sleeve it will turn the steering wheel. It might be easier to have a buddy keep an eye on the wheel to keep you from getting off the floor over and over. (provided that pinch sleeve is not all corroded and siezed, you should be able to turn it by hand)
 
#13 ·
Well over the past two days we have been trying everything you have stated above with no luck. The issue is that the steering box only seems to have three rotations to it lock to lock. Center brings it to 1 1/5 and leaves the keyed section in such a position that the wheel winds up sitting upside down as seen in the image. Pinch sleeve was replaced two days ago to make the adjustments easier. Not sure how the track bar would change the wheel position since it only impacts axle position.
 
#14 ·
Is your thread length even on either side of the drag link sleeve? I see the new rod end on there and it looks from the picture that you have more threads on the rod end side than the link.
 
#16 ·
Since your wheel appears to be off by exactly 180 degrees, I think what happened is that you separated the steering shaft at the slipjoint and it is flipped 180. This is the only part of the steering system that can go back together 2 ways. Disconnect the steering shaft at the steering box, then pull it all the way out of the slipjoint, rotate the steering wheel 180, and put it back together.
 
#17 ·
possible what he said above... personally I would disconnect drag link from pitman arm, center the steering box. If wheel is upside down then do as donthelegend says. If right side up the alignment is off. Pay attention to the pass side wheel, that's the one that matters right now. Drivers side wheel is tie rod adjustment and from the pic it appears to be pigeon toed... way too much toe out. but that is an alignment issue. Do a driveway alignment w/ tape measure before taking it to alignment shop. but to me it looks like tie rod is waaaay too long which will also throw off steering wheel position. good luck...
 
#18 ·
Be advised that the clockspring doesnt have much extra internal slack for incorrect excursions like this. If the wheel did rotate 180 around like was suggested above and you realign it, you have a 50/50 chance of rotating the steering wheel in the correct direction so that the clockspring is in the correct position to relieve tension and be centered. If you happen to turn lock to lock one day in a parking lot our out on the trail and the airbag light comes on, you know what happened.
 
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