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how car into this column will i have to go to fix it?
Did you get this paper, you might want to check out the alinement at the steering box whilst you are at it, my car was like yours and the indicators didn't cancel correctly until I realigned everything.
Did you get this paper, you might want to check out the alinement at the steering box whilst you are at it, my car was like yours and the indicators didn't cancel correctly until I realigned everything.
how car into this column will i have to go to fix it?
We may another area to address FIRST before we get into the column...if we need to do it at all.
I can not answer this because I do not know if your front wheels are straight. Where they straight when you took this previous photo????
And if the notch I think I see is the notch at the end of the column.
IF your front wheels are pointing straight ahead...you need to look at something for me.
From the front of the car...get down on the ground....what you are looking at is the INNER TIE ROD ENDS that are attached to your center link. What I need to know...is that if your front wheels are straight....look at the grease fittings of your INNER tie rods ends and make sure they each of them are basically EQUALLY visible using the lower control arm as a gauge. IF they are...then that tell me that you center link is CENTERED. So..image if you were going to grease your inner tie rod ends...on how easily accessible they BOTH are and basically evenly exposed.
If they are not...you can look at the tie rod assemblies from one side to the other and you WILL be able o see how some tie rods are threaded in a lot (thus it is shorter) while other looks like they are barely threaded in (thus making it longer). IF your tie rods are like this...than what this does is causes your centerlink NOT to be centered...and thus.....cause your turn signals to get out of whack.
SO I need to know what is going on as if I were there. And if what I wrote does not make sense...let me know and I will try again. BUT I need to know this.
Wheels are straight, are you telling me the steering wheel wasn't centered with the wheels correctly? The DS grease fitting lines up with LCA shaft, PS is of set see pics.
Can't get under the car right now rear is on stands waiting for bolts to come it.
No need to look underneath, you should be able to see the Pitman arm (thats the one that attaches to the bottom of the steering box) maybe not visible with headers but when the wheels are straight ahead this arm should be also, that is pointing at 12 o'clock. The flat on the input shaft to the steering box should be at 12 o'clock and also the head of the 12 point bolt as per the alinement instructions I sent you (study the pic). The notch on the steering wheel end of the steering shaft Dub referred to also has to be at 12 o'clock.
If any of these conditions are not met your indicators will never cancel correctly.
Also if the steering box input shaft is not showing the flat when the wheels are straight ahead your steering will not feel correct either. There is a tight spot engineered into the steering box at the straight ahead position to give better "feel" when driving straight.
Looking at your pic I see the notch on the steering shaft is at the 10 o'clock position, so if the wheels are pointing straight as Dub said you will never get the indicators to work correctly. I assume the steering wheel spokes were in the correct position though with one pointing to 12 o'clock with the wheels straight, if yes a possible scenario is that a wheel alinement was done with something not where is should be and then the steering wheel was reindexed so that everything seemed normal from the drivers seat!
My car was like that when I got it, the flat on the input shaft to the steering box was at 3 o'clock when you were driving straight, indicators didn't cancel correctly and the steering felt very odd.
No need to look underneath, you should be able to see the Pitman arm (thats the one that attaches to the bottom of the steering box) maybe not visible with headers but when the wheels are straight ahead this arm should be also, that is pointing at 12 o'clock. The flat on the input shaft to the steering box should be at 12 o'clock and also the head of the 12 point bolt as per the alinement instructions I sent you (study the pic). The notch on the steering wheel end of the steering shaft Dub referred to also has to be at 12 o'clock.
If any of these conditions are not met your indicators will never cancel correctly.
Also if the steering box input shaft is not showing the flat when the wheels are straight ahead your steering will not feel correct either. There is a tight spot engineered into the steering box at the straight ahead position to give better "feel" when driving straight.
Looking at your pic I see the notch on the steering shaft is at the 10 o'clock position, so if the wheels are pointing straight as Dub said you will never get the indicators to work correctly. I assume the steering wheel spokes were in the correct position though with one pointing to 12 o'clock with the wheels straight, if yes a possible scenario is that a wheel alinement was done with something not where is should be and then the steering wheel was reindexed so that everything seemed normal from the drivers seat!
My car was like that when I got it, the flat on the input shaft to the steering box was at 3 o'clock when you were driving straight, indicators didn't cancel correctly and the steering felt very odd.
So I can put my column back together then is what both of you are telling me.
So I can put my column back together then is what both of you are telling me.
I did not write that. We are not at this point as of yet.
Knowing that you can not get a good visual from under the car for the front end visual. I feel you should be able to look at your tie-rod end assembles and utilize what I wrote on a my previous post. With the rear of the car being supported...I am sure you can look from the rear of the car.
NOW...even though you did not take a photo from the front of the car for each inner tie rod end...I can clearly see that your center link it NOT correct....thus....even though your wheels are straight....your column is can not be correctly indexed.
If possible...and being SAFE!. Slip your steering wheel hub back on the column and turn the steering wheel so BOTH inner tie rods ends are mirror images of each other in relation to your lower control arm bushing points. I believe you now know what to do achieve this.
If you do that....THEN...take photo of the end of your steering column so we can see the notch in the end of your column shaft. Or at least let us know where teh notch is when you get the inner tie rods ends correctly positioned.
I personally do not use the flat spots in the steering gear box or column shaft due to I have seen gear boxes that had to be rebuilt because the flat spot was no longer in the correct position. This is why I trust the inner toe rods ends ( and their length both being about the same)...they can not lie if correctly positioned....and then....you can begin to find the problems from there....such as a bad gear box or someone got into the column and jacked it all up. The last thing I worry about is how the wheels are pointing ONCE I get all of the other stuff corrected.
I did not write that. We are not at this point as of yet.
Knowing that you can not get a good visual from under the car for the front end visual. I feel you should be able to look at your tie-rod end assembles and utilize what I wrote on a my previous post. With the rear of the car being supported...I am sure you can look from the rear of the car.
NOW...even though you did not take a photo from the front of the car for each inner tie rod end...I can clearly see that your center link it NOT correct....thus....even though your wheels are straight....your column is can not be correctly indexed.
If possible...and being SAFE!. Slip your steering wheel hub back on the column and turn the steering wheel so BOTH inner tie rods ends are mirror images of each other in relation to your lower control arm bushing points. I believe you now know what to do achieve this.
If you do that....THEN...take photo of the end of your steering column so we can see the notch in the end of your column shaft. Or at least let us know where teh notch is when you get the inner tie rods ends correctly positioned.
I personally do not use the flat spots in the steering gear box or column shaft due to I have seen gear boxes that had to be rebuilt because the flat spot was no longer in the correct position. This is why I trust the inner toe rods ends ( and their length both being about the same)...they can not lie if correctly positioned....and then....you can begin to find the problems from there....such as a bad gear box or someone got into the column and jacked it all up. The last thing I worry about is how the wheels are pointing ONCE I get all of the other stuff corrected.
I am sorry that I have been away for quite a while. Family issues have had to take priority.
Here is my 2 cents.
On Saginaw locking steering columns (1969 thru 1982) the turn signal cancelling is set inside the steering column and the column must be on-center (along with the rest of the steering system) in order for the turn signals to cancel symetrically either side of center.
Having the steering column mis-indexed causes people to think that their turn signal switch is defective, when in fact some component(s) may be assembled incorrectly and the switch is no longer cancelling equally either side of center.
And yes, the notch on the end of the steering column steering shaft should be at 12 o'clock when your road wheels are pointing straight ahead.
This may be a bit late, but here is a link to a paper that takes you through all the steering system connections to help you chase down exactly where and why certain steering components are no longer centered.
You may want to have your front end aligned such that a competent mechanic can position your tie rods, center link, and steering gear properly before making changes to the steering column, flexible coupling, or steering gear.
01-19-2017, 10:09 AM
