Steering wheel on my 1979 is turned slightly to the left
when the car is going straight. Would like to center
it by removing the pitman arm and hoses from power
steering control valve and then turning the valve one revolution
either in or out on the relay rod.
Problem is I cannot visualize which direction to turn the valve?

I realize the normal way to center the wheel is by turning the tie rod ends
but on the last car I tried that I made things worse and wound up having it
aligned.


[Modified by mark79,80, 8:42 PM 9/9/2003]

 

Going straight down the road, your steering wheel is turned slightly counterclockwise. When you bring the steering wheel straight, your car would be turning slightly to the right.

If you unscrew your control valve, that will effectively lengthen your relay steering rod. Since the Corvette steering arms are behind the road wheel centerlines, that will make your road wheels turn slightly to the left.

Hopefully, one revolution of the control valve will not be too much. The reason you usually use the tie rod adjuster sleeves to make this adjustment is that the sleeves can be rotated only a part of a turn if needed. The real trick to using the adjuster sleeves is to make sure that you turn them both the same direction and the exact same number of turns (or partial turns). This should center your steering wheel without changing your toe setting.

Good luck,
Jim

 

Jim:

Thanks for the quick reply.

Mark

 

One other thing that I suggest that you check. Start off by rotating your steering wheel all the way to full lock. Now rotate back all the way to full lock in the other direction. Carefully count the number of handwheel turns lock to lock (X). Now, divide that number in half (X/2) . Come back from full lock exactly X/2 turns.

Your steering gear is now right on center. This is where you want your steering gear to be positioned when your car is traveling straight down the road. The reason that you want your gear right on center is because the gear set inside the steering gear has a "high spot" designed right on center. This will provide a good feel on center. (The gear set actually has a small amount of clearance designed into it when the gear is off center.)

With the gear on center, you can mark the top of the flexible coupling with chalk or with a crayon. This will provide a visual clue when the gear is right on center. With the gear on center, does your car travel straight?

You want to make your adjustments to the steering linkage so that the gear stays on center with the car going straight. After making these adjustments, you may find that the steering wheel is not centered. You may have to remove the steering wheel/hub and reindex one serration (one way or the other). The steering wheel is typically "fine-tuned" by making adjustments with the tie rod adjusters.

Hope this helps,
Jim

 

Mark when you turn the tie rod sleeves be sure to mark both sleeves with a scratch mark, paint or whatever. Do not just rely on grabbing the tie rod sleeve and giving it a turn. It never seems to work that way. As far as how much to turn only go about 1/4 turn.
Jim do you want to turn both of them the same way? I would lengthen the right side and shorten the left side but both by the same 1/4 turn.
I would also hook a tape in one tread measure across to another tread in the front and as high a possible and use this as a reference to recheck after making an adjustment.