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Steering Not Centered After Gear/Pitman Arm Work |
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billd
Moderator Group Forum Administrator Joined: Jun/27/2007 Location: Iowa Status: Offline Points: 30894 |
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I had a car decades ago with a lot of wear and was told "your steering sector has too much play". Hey, here's a way to adjust that. Geesh, I was only about 15........... that was a lesson I learned and won't repeat that mistake. Of course I have since learned - besides experience on "don't do that" I went to school and learned WHY to not do certain things. My personality requires a why, not just "don't do that" and that's why it takes longer - if I am to do, or not to do something, it requires why, the whole background.
There are several reasons to not just pull a wheel, move it and center it, tomj outlined a big one. Of course, some you can't do that with because the factory splines are not even all the way around - they index them in many cases, then there's the turns left to right being equal, and of course, masking the REAL reason things are off. I hate band-aids - fix it, be safe, make the thing last, don't let something bite you in the butt later because you taped it together and left it that way. Also - as I keep saying - we have thousands of people hitting us to figure things out - members, non-members, lurkers, and when we say "just wire it together and it will be fine" we are spreading bad stuff instead of facts, ways to troubleshoot and actually fix things. This is a tech area, not the Red Green show LOL - Harold, what did you do with my duct tape? |
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farna
Supporter of TheAMCForum Moderator Lost Dealership Project Joined: Jul/08/2007 Location: South Carolina Status: Offline Points: 19679 |
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I agree with you guys -- find the problem and fix it first -- which is why I said take it to an alignment shop first. Sometimes the wheel has to come off and be reclocked because it's a 50 year old car and it's been off before -- and not necessarily been put back on right. If it drives right and is aligned correctly and the steering wheel still isn't clocked right it most likely has been removed and repositioned at some point, and that needs correcting.
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Frank Swygert
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tomj
AMC Addicted Joined: Jan/27/2010 Location: earth Status: Offline Points: 7544 |
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it's not like this problem is limited to steering boxen. 50 years is a LONG TIME for a consumer product that gets patched and hacked and taped and glued and ignored and the radio turned up to cover the noise. i try to never assume anything and i'm constantly surprised. inexplicable weirdness like bolts that won't stay tight and needs strange magical attention. you know it's old when a generator *bracket* breaks. not the little adjuster, but the big fat boring 1/4" chunk of steel bolted to the block. my old Gemmer box was sloppy, when i rebuilt it in 2010, upon disassembly i found entirely completely wrong bushing in there. it the lost far past someone had rebuilt it, didn't have the right part but had a lathe, bored out the case and put what they had in there. it was well dont, but i ended up turning my own bushing to fit the now customized box. a whole world in a steering box. |
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1960 Rambler Super two-door wagon, OHV auto
1961 Roadster American, 195.6 OHV, T5 http://www.ramblerLore.com |
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Stretch
AMC Apprentice Joined: Nov/22/2013 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 103 |
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I'm enjoying all the reading here, very educational. As with most things I do, this is taking me a while. I disconnected the pitman arm last week from the pitman shaft to check the splines. There isn't any visible difference in the way the new pitman arm is machined, so it's not that. Working back to the gear box itself and comparing to the old gearbox I noticed something. The old gearbox has about an extra 3/4 turn more than the new one. When I think back to driving the car with the old box, I'm almost positive that I could turn the steering wheel an extra quarter turn in one direction. And let me clarify, with the old gearbox out of the car and the studs/bolts on the coupling lined up horizontally where they would meet the intermediate shaft in a way that the steering wheel would sit straight, the gear still had that extra 1/4 turn in one direction. With the new gearbox installed and alignment untouched, the steering wheel was sitting exactly 90* off. So now I'm thinking perhaps the gear was rebuilt incorrectly, OR this new gear has that same extra 1/4 turn in it and I just installed the coupling wrong as I lined the new box up perfectly centered. But the gear should be centered... Just to clarify (and I know this is dumb), when attaching the flexible coupling to the intermediate shaft, are the bolts supposed to go through the holes in the shaft, or the slots?
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purple72Gremlin
AMC Addicted Charter Member Joined: Jul/01/2007 Location: Illinois Status: Offline Points: 16611 |
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purple72Gremlin
AMC Addicted Charter Member Joined: Jul/01/2007 Location: Illinois Status: Offline Points: 16611 |
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Trader
AMC Addicted Joined: May/15/2018 Location: Ontario Status: Offline Points: 6884 |
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You have changed the box and the pit-man and the steering wheel is now off center.
Did you just re-install the old rag joint? I agree with all stated above, but think your rag joint or possibly that box was made for a universal joint is a place to look. When changing boxes, as stated above you should drive the box lock to lock disconnected to center, ensure center of the pit-man arm, leave this in place and check the steering wheel and the joint to the box for alignment, fix any issues and then do an alignment. The box center and pit-man center is not the place to "adjust". |
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Stretch
AMC Apprentice Joined: Nov/22/2013 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 103 |
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Brand new flexible coupling, brand new pitman arm, rebuilt (not the original) steering box. With the new gear box centered lock-to-lock, and the steering wheel lined up, the wheels were too far off center to align. You're probably right about the box being incorrect. Pulling it off is my next step.
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Trader
AMC Addicted Joined: May/15/2018 Location: Ontario Status: Offline Points: 6884 |
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No, the linkage is not correct.
Think it through; The original steering had the pit-man arm straight, steering wheel centered and the linkage for alignment. If your steering wheel and pit-man arm are correct lock to lock, then the problem is with linkage. There are many lengths of tie rod ends, and this is just a guess, but one or both of the tie rod ends are likely the problem. Either this or some one swapped in parts from a different vehicle, i.e. small body vs large body AMC. Find the part(s) that do not fit or be able to have adjustment with the pit-man centered. You solved your problem. Now it's the search for the correct linkage. |
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FSJunkie
AMC Addicted Joined: Jan/09/2011 Location: Flagstaff, AZ Status: Offline Points: 4742 |
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Firstly, the steering wheel needs to be centered on the steering shaft so that the alignment marks on the wheel and the shaft line up. Secondly, the steering gearbox needs o be disconnected from the pittman arm, or alternatively the pittman arm from the center link, and the gearbox rotated lock-to-lock to find the center of it's travel. Center the gearbox. If the steering wheel is not level, then one of the steering column shaft joints to the gearbox needs to be realigned so that the gearbox, steering column shaft, and wheel are all centered together. Thirdly, the center link and pittman arm are reconnected to the steering gearbox. Fourthly, if the steering wheel needs to be cocked to one side for the car to drive straight, the tie rods will need to be adjusted so the car drives straight ahead with the steering wheel straight ahead. That is the procedure to make sure everything is as it should be.
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1955 Packard
1966 Marlin 1972 Wagoneer 1973 Ambassador 1977 Hornet 1982 Concord D/L 1984 Eagle Limited |
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