cutsupreme72

Hello All,

Happy Veterans day to all of you vets out there on the forum. I took the day installing a quick ratio steering box. Used all of your advice on the forum to remove and install and I must say what an improvement!!! corners great, drives excellent. Only problem I'm facing now is that my steering wheel no longer lines up. See below:

The gear box I purchased had 2 or 4, can't remember larger splines on the spline that hooks up to the pitman arm. I know I got it on there correctly as it slid on easily as I torqued the nut down. Only question I have is could I have installed the pitman arm 90* or so off on the spline there were multiple larger slots? I have the rally wheel where the spokes usually sit @ 3 and 9 now sit at 1 and 7 driving straight. I really don't want to pull that damn thing off again and was wondering if there were other ways to tackle the beast. I already tried removing the spoked wheel and lining it up with the next set of screw holes with no luck. I will need an alignment any ways so I don't know if that would do it or it would be too far off once they adjust it, if so can I adjust the shaft where the rag joint is (7/16 bolt) one or two splines to match up? any help would be great. Thanks again!

PS: here's the link of the one I bought if that helps:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/122168187339...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

RandyS

If you have the full turning radius in both directions there is probably no issue with how you reassembled it. You need to go a bit deeper in to lining up the wheel. Rent a steering wheel puller from your local Auto parts dealer. The piece that the wheel bolts to and the steering shaft itself have narrow splines on them. Once you pull the mounting piece loose you should be able to adjust the position (rotate it left or right) and slide it back on. A little trial and error and you should be able to have your wheel lined up almost perfect. Your alignment guy will be able to get it centered perfectly when he does his thing.

cutsupreme72

Thanks Randy! Appreciate the advice! I was not looking forward to going under the car to battle my nemesis sir pitman again! I'll give it a shot and post results! Have a great weekend!

oldcutlass

As Randy said count the turns from lock to lock, divide by 2, and place the wheel in the divided amount of turns. You may need to get the front end aligned for proper position.

4speed455

I had the opposite effect. Before I swapped gear boxes my wheel wasn't properly aligned. When I had my front end aligned they said they couldn't fix the steering wheel. I used a JGC box. I put the wheels straight, but the gear box in the middle of the turn radius and put my steering wheel straight. Everything went together and now my steering wheel is straight.

cutsupreme72

Got the puller and worked excellent! Had to flip the steering wheel so the screw holes for the horn would line up (thank god it's the same upside down as it is right side up!) I have the horn with the spring loaded switch so had to line that up as well. Alignment will tweak out the tiny difference and I'm good to go! Thanks again guys! Best olds site out there!