Steering wheel alignment

[Michael G.]

I need to reorient the steering column shaft spline within the spline on the rag joint (its off a few teeth) on my 63 . In order to do so, I think that I need to pull the steering column into the drivers compartment about 1/2 inch. What attachments do i have to loosen or remove to do so?

Thanks,

[Domenic T.]

Re: Steering wheel alignment

Michael,

If it's the steering wheel thats off you line it on the splines that hold the steering wheel on.

DOM

[Dan B.]

Re: Steering wheel alignment

Mike, start by removing the clamp from under the dash, and the 2 retaining screws to the dash column round support. Since you are not planning to remove the column and only slide it back a bit, I think you can leave the turn signal wiring alone (check the slack in the wiring to be on the safe side). On the engine side, remove the coupler top bolt, and the bolts and bracket and clutch spring hook from the firewall and you should be able to wiggle the steering shaft out of the coupler and move it. Normally I would start by saying remove the drivers seat first, but since you are not removing the column, you may not need to unless you want more room to work. If you leave the seat in, you can use it to support the column(put some towels on it first). I've had the column out so many times I think I can do it in under 30 minutes now. It's not hard, just take your time and be sure your steering box is on the high point while you are doing it. This is all assuming you have already checked the alignment marks on the top of the steering shaft and steering wheel and they are aligned Pilot Dan

[Timothy B.]

Re: Steering wheel alignment

Michael,

Remove the pinch bolt at the rag, loosen the little clamp that holds the spring just above the rag. At that point the steering wheel and shaft should slide up from inside the car.

After you fix the alignment at the rag there should be a mark that lines the shaft and steering wheel (inside) so you better check that because if it's not straight the cancelling cam with not cancel the same on both sides.

If everything else is lined straight and the car does not steer straight the toe needs to be set.

[Michael G.]

Re: Steering wheel alignment

Thanks guys. I loosened the little clamp, and both pinch bolts on the rag joint. I then slid the column up and removed the rag joint. After I got everything lined up properly, I reinstalled the rag joint. I made sure that the cancelling cam still worked before I buttoned it up again.

The whole thing started because the alignment wasn't set before the body went back on. The steering column was re-connected before alignment, so when I finally had it aligned, the steering wheel ended up off center. Its fine now.

Thanks, again,

[Michael H.]

Re: Steering wheel alignment

Thanks guys. I loosened the little clamp, and both pinch bolts on the rag joint. I then slid the column up and removed the rag joint. After I got everything lined up properly, I reinstalled the rag joint. I made sure that the cancelling cam still worked before I buttoned it up again.

The whole thing started because the alignment wasn't set before the body went back on. The steering column was re-connected before alignment, so when I finally had it aligned, the steering wheel ended up off center. Its fine now.

Thanks, again,

Michael,

There's one important thing that I see has not been mentioned. That would be the correct "clock position" of the steering shaft to the steering gear.
The shaft is designed to only be installed in a correct clock position. In other words, you can't just install the coupler in any one of the many available splined positions.
Steering gears are designed withh a "high spot" near the center of it's travel, and that's the only position that will provide minimum gear lash in the steering gear.
Frotunately for us, Saginaw made it possible to easily find this "high spot" by marking the rear end of the worm shaft that the coupler is attached to.
If you look at the end of that shaft, you should see a hash mark starting at the center and extending to the outer radius of the shaft. This mark, when positioned at 12:00 o'clock, indicates the designed straight ahead position of the gear assy.
Anything either side of the 12:00 position is a lash area and will allow the front wheels to "follow" irregular areas of the road.

The correct clock position for the coupler would be with the split section of the coupler aligned with the 12:00 hash mark on the worm shaft.
Once correctly installed, it should not be repositioned.

From there, the steering wheel hub should be installed with the same 12:00 o'clock hash mark indexed to the mark on the hub.

This is the only correct installation method/sequence.
(although being off by one spline probably won't have much of an effect on steering0

Unfortunately, many front end alignment shops use the incorrect method of repositioning the steering wheel hub to correct the position of the steering wheel after a front end alignment.

This is another reason why steering assy's arrived at the St Louis plant WITH the coupler correctly installed.

[Michael G.]

Re: Steering wheel alignment

Thanks, Michael, I took it for a ride and it tracks very well. After judging this coming week, I'll take off the coupler and look for the mark, although I'm not sure what I'll do If it's wrong...

[Jim R.]

Re: Steering wheel alignment

Michael,

There's one important thing that I see has not been mentioned. That would be the correct "clock position" of the steering shaft to the steering gear.
The shaft is designed to only be installed in a correct clock position. In other words, you can't just install the coupler in any one of the many available splined positions.
Steering gears are designed withh a "high spot" near the center of it's travel, and that's the only position that will provide minimum gear lash in the steering gear.
Frotunately for us, Saginaw made it possible to easily find this "high spot" by marking the rear end of the worm shaft that the coupler is attached to.
If you look at the end of that shaft, you should see a hash mark starting at the center and extending to the outer radius of the shaft. This mark, when positioned at 12:00 o'clock, indicates the designed straight ahead position of the gear assy.
Anything either side of the 12:00 position is a lash area and will allow the front wheels to "follow" irregular areas of the road.

The correct clock position for the coupler would be with the split section of the coupler aligned with the 12:00 hash mark on the worm shaft.
Once correctly installed, it should not be repositioned.

From there, the steering wheel hub should be installed with the same 12:00 o'clock hash mark indexed to the mark on the hub.

This is the only correct installation method/sequence.
(although being off by one spline probably won't have much of an effect on steering0

Unfortunately, many front end alignment shops use the incorrect method of repositioning the steering wheel hub to correct the position of the steering wheel after a front end alignment.

This is another reason why steering assy's arrived at the St Louis plant WITH the coupler correctly installed.

I just installed a new rag joint I'm going to check mine out for this, thanks michael