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Hey all.. I can use some help.. please.. I have a 1976 w/ PS .. (OEM vega steering wheel.)
I had it in the shop getting a fair amount of work down and while they were into the work. I had them replace all the power steering lines, PS cylinder and valve and the gear box. I picked the car up and noticed the steering wheel was upside down and the turn signals weren't cancelling properly..
well back and forth and searching the internet we decided the quick/easy way was to rotate the rag joint 180 degrees.. but quickly realized tthat wouldn't work because of the different size screws & a sleeve as a spacer..
I contacted the vendor for the gear box and figured the gear box might have been built (new unit) incorrectly.. since the flat notch was at the bottom when the wheels were straight.. new gear box came in and I turned the flat notch (where the rag joint connects to) 2 full turns one directions and back.. then 2 more turns the opposite direction to confirm it was centered properly..
The shop installed the new-new gear box and are telling me it's the same thing..
Dumb question.. Is it possible that during all of this , they could have installed the pitman arm upside down ??
Do you have the same turns from centered (upside down wheel) to the right as well as the left? If so, pull off the steering wheel and position it normally and re-fasten it.
Personally I'm shocked any shop would return it to you in that condition. They have the ability to center the steering wheel by adjusting the tie rod ends while doing the alignment. Shame on them.
It's 1 3/4 turns one direction and 1 1/2 turns the other.. It's the vega style steering wheel so it's not very noticeable that it was upside down..
Is it possible that the pitmarn are was installed wrong (flipped over left to right)
Is there that much adjustment in the tie rods to rotate the wheel 180 degrees ? (Wouldn't that effect left and right stop to stop turn - since they are almost equal?)
he mentioned turn signals not cancelling correctly. so the column is upside down, not just the wheel. or is turn sig detent on the wheel itself? and no, if pitman arm upside down it would not reach the drag link. nor if it was 180 out facing the wrong way. i doubt one could even fit it that way without connecting it to the steering. can rag joint connector be re-oriented on bottom of column? and i would also prefer 1-5/8 turns each way, which would be shortening one tie rod and lengthening the other.
Last edited by derekderek; Jul 29, 2019 at 01:52 PM.
sorry.. turn signals worked fine prior to work.. Original rag joint was used during this work, but also replaced to help troubleshoot. I found Jim Shea's document about the steering and it helped to explain the flat notch on the gear box that connects to the rag joint and the location of the screw sizes to know which way it should be.
Here is a picture of how the steering should look when looking straight down from the drivers side fender. mine is all off by 180 degrees.. such as the flat notch is on the bottom. the detachable flange bolt is towards the inside by the engines.. etc...
Since your steering wheel is upside down and turn signals don't cancel properly did they do a front end alignment with the wheel positioned wrong and the tie rod end adjustment is what's out of wack? They might have just positioned the wheel 180 degrees out by mistake and adjusted alignment to there. It would be pretty shoddy work but the wheel would look close and it can be done.
flat spot on top. put flat spot on top and count turns each way to lock. then do lock to lock and split diff and see where the flat spot is. pitman arm. i was thinking idler arm earlier. there are 4 places with splines on this steering. pitman arm to box. rag joint to box. rag joint to column. and steering wheel. the bottom 3. one has the flat spot. can either of the other 2 go on in any orientation, or is there a flat or double spline or something making them all one orientation only?
The flat spot should be the high lash not necessarily true center. The only way to know is to check the box with a dial TW. New boxes may or may not be right as you found out.
Assuming the box is correct I would center it, the flat at 12 o'clock, the pitman arm can only go on in one correct position of the four possible and that would be pointing forward with the box on center. The column flat should be pointing to the engine. The pitman arm can not go on upside down without someone hammering the hell out of and even if it was beat on the end hole for the control valve is tapered so it won't match up.
It is possible the steering wheel was pulled and indexed trying to fix it. It was a common mistake made and would affect the signal cam action. There should be a chisel mark on the end of the column under the steering wheel, this too should be a 12 o'clock. Start with the box correct in the correct position and work your way to the steering wheel. More then likely the alignment will need to be addressed.
Why pay a shop to learn on your car? Seems like they might have screwed this up but it should be correctible with some time.
OK.. Just a quick update.. I was at the shop.. the new gear box (the second one the shop installed) is off by 90 degrees.. I think we are making progress.. . Everything you all had mentioned about the pitman arm shop told me as well.. Thanks..
Shop also mentioned that there isn't enough adjustment in tie rods to correct..
For the record this shop does NOT have an alignment rack.. (He's an old school trans shop.. )
A dumb question.. what's the harm in getting a rag joint from 67-68 (E69) that has splines all 360 degrees and no flat spot?
Thanks for all the help ....
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1976 Steering wheel upside down
