steering wheel not straight

[monterey1962]

'91 GM ... Installed new PS pump, gear box, and pitman arm today. Lined everything up as close as the new parts would let me and the new steering wheel is now off. In the picture below, the front wheels are straight, but the steering wheel is turned to the right. Any fixes to get the steering wheel straight again when the front wheels are straight?

[mrltd]

yes. adjust the tie rods to shift the wheel straight.

or you could move the pitman arm if its not keyed.

[monterey1962]

By keyed, do you mean narrow splines with a few wide splines in between?

[monterey1962]

I should add, I replaced the o-rings for the two lines coming out of the gear box, but there is still some fluid seeping through. Any fix for this?

[DuceAnAHalf]

i think what happened is that you did not have the box truely centered when you attached the wheel and the ptman arm.

when you install it, you need to center the wheel.
run the box from stop to stop with nothing attached, then turn it back to center
then attach the steering wheel.
after that you can attach the pitman arm, that should get the wheel centered

[mrltd]

by keyed I mean you can only install it one way.

[pseudoboyfriend]

these adjustments are done with the tie rods.

Basically you need to align it. As far as I know all the parts are keyed and cannot be put together wrong. You just need an alignment.

[DuceAnAHalf]

Basically you need to align it. As far as I know all the parts are keyed and cannot be put together wrong. You just need an alignment.

the pitman arm is keyed. it has 4 keys on it., so you can put it on in 4 different posistions. 0*, 90*, 180*, and 270*

Monty, when you go lock to lock, does your steering wheel have an unequal number of turns left to right.

im betting that you did not have the box centered when you installed it. you probalby had the output shaft 90* off

[gadget73]

Either that, or the tolerences are off enough between parts that it threw the toe settings off. The input shaft on that should have 2 flats on it, and be more or less impossible to assemble wrong. You *might* be able to get it a spline off one way or the other, but it would probably take a stretched out coupler to do it. Same with the pitman, it goes on only one way thats close to correct.

[monterey1962]

Input shaft only had one flat spot. I got a reman. gear box. Don't know if that makes a difference or not. I had not checked to see if the turns left to right were equal or not. Have been rush rush, lately, trying to get things done.

I'll see what I can come up with. Will probably try to center the gear box when I get time. Thanks for the info, fellas.

[monterey1962]

the pitman arm is keyed. it has 4 keys on it., so you can put it on in 4 different posistions. 0*, 90*, 180*, and 270*

Monty, when you go lock to lock, does your steering wheel have an unequal number of turns left to right.

im betting that you did not have the box centered when you installed it. you probalby had the output shaft 90* off

There seems to be an extra 1/4 turn in the steering wheel (when going left) where the steering wheel will turn, but the wheels don't.

I'm not sure I completely follow about the 90* off. After watching the output shaft turn while someone turned the steering wheel for me, I can't see centering the box as aligning it. If the steering wheel is 1/8 of a turn off from straight, how could the gear box be centered if the output shaft requires 90* (or 1/4 turn).

Sorry, man. I'm not questioning your advice at all. I'm just confused as to how this works. I guess I'm looking at it from the angle of steering wheel rotation vs. output shaft rotation, and I'm not seeing something.

However, I did get the car scheduled in tomorrow for a front wheel alignment since the car hasn't had one in at least 7 years ... yeah, I know ... bad me.

[gadget73]

basically if the box wasn't in the middle, you'd have 3 turns from center to one side, and like 1/2 or something from center to the other. If the box was most of the way right or left, you'd only really be able to turn one direction. If the wheel is pretty close to the same number of turns from center to left and center to right, the pitman arm is installed correctly.

[DuceAnAHalf]

when i say 90* i mean the the pitman arm is 90* rotated on the out put shaft. since there is 4 key ways there are 4 different places you can install the pitman arm.

you need to center the wheels. remove the pitman arm. center the wheel which will center the box also. then reattach the pitman arm, you should be pretty close to the right keyway that way

[monterey1962]

Had a front wheel alignment done today. Seems to have done the trick. Mom drove it up from the shop and said it's good and straight. Funny, they said the '91 only required a toe adjustment to straighten out the steering wheel. I've known this car for 7 years, and never has it had a front wheel alignment.

[gadget73]

if it was aligned properly once, it shouldn't need to be aligned ever again unless the parts wear out to the point that it won't hold adjustments anymore. The toe thing is probably just due to tolerences in the parts, the new box is a smidge off from where the old one was.