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I just replaced the PS system on my 1976 L48 C3. Reman pump, new hoses, new control valve, new ram. Works fine, no leaks.
My steering wheel now points just a hair to the right (Maybe 12:01 or 12:02 when car is pointed 12:00 straight.) Just enough to bother me. Not a 45 degree thing at all, more like 3 degrees.
How can I return the steering wheel to center? Could this be fixed by tiny CCW adjustments to the control valve adjustment nut? (I did use the nut to center the ram arm movement during control valve installation. Could it be off by a hair?)
The car currently tracks straight and doesn't pull to either side. I'm hesitant to bother with tie rod ends; the car was aligned before I swapped out components.
I just replaced the PS system on my 1976 L48 C3. Reman pump, new hoses, new control valve, new ram. Works fine, no leaks.
My steering wheel now points just a hair to the right (Maybe 12:01 or 12:02 when car is pointed 12:00 straight.) Just enough to bother me. Not a 45 degree thing at all, more like 3 degrees.
How can I return the steering wheel to center? Could this be fixed by tiny CCW adjustments to the control valve adjustment nut? (I did use the nut to center the ram arm movement during control valve installation. Could it be off by a hair?)
The car currently tracks straight and doesn't pull to either side. I'm hesitant to bother with tie rod ends; the car was aligned before I swapped out components.
The steering wheel is most likely not centered because the mounting threads on the control valve are off by one revolution from the old control valve. if you look at the steering linkage you maybe able to determine which direction to turn the control valve. it is a pain, because you have to disconnect the valve in order to rotate it. The alternative is to pay for another alignment. This happened to me, and I thought I could center the wheel by loosening one tie rod and tightening the other, both the same number of revolutions, but I did not trust my ability and had another alignment.
The easiest way to make the adjustment is with the tie-rod ends, as mentioned above. An alignment shop SHOULD be able to make this adjustment easily, without charging you for a complete alignment job. This assumes that the car was properly aligned prior to this issue. If it has been awhile, maybe a front-end alignment is in order.
Thank you to everyone who responded. I learned (or reinforced learning) from every answer.
Thinking about the horizontal difference in the relay rod to Pittman arm distance due to 1 rotation of the control valve on the threaded end... YES! That explains how the difference in steering wheel position could happen when I didn't mess with tie rod ends. That makes sense to me now. Thank you very much for the detailed and graphic explanations.
I get it now. Undoing all four hydraulic hoses and the Pittman rod connection would absolutely allow me to back the control valve off the relay rod by 1 turn, which would center the Pittman arm enough to straighten out the steering wheel... but that's a whole lot of disassembly and reassembly to fix a tiny steering wheel variation.
Given the circumstances, it looks like a tie rod adjustment is in order to return the steering gear to center. It's not a far trip. The car tracked straight before, the adjustment should be small, I'll use the procedure shared by Peterbilt. I can scribe the tie rod tubes at BDC to better measure the tube degree of rotation and keep them the same. Understanding how the steering wheel location changed (relay rod thread depth) made all the lights come on. I'm happy to try that small relative adjustment myself.
Thanks to you all. Now I understand what happened to change the steering wheel position, what I did to make that happen with the control valve threading on the relay rod, and two ways to recenter the steering gear. One way by adjusting the thread depth of the CV on the relay rod, one way by adjusting tie rod ends. That is so cool.
Thanks to Big2Bird, Mark79,80, 7T1Vette, and especially to Peterbilt with the annotated diagrams leaving nothing to uncertainty.
I will fix this and unless I do something to catch the car on fire in the process, I'll consider this query well-answered and closed.
If you do the adjustment yourself, make sure that there is a little bit of toe-IN dialed into those adjustments. About 1/8" toe-in will keep those wide tires on that small vehicle from darting around on the highway or jockeying from minor depressions in the pavement. It really gives the car more stable steering and prevents "hunting".
The conventional way suggested by using the tie rod ends works. However, there is another method that does not risk getting the toe adjustment out of specs on the front end alignment. Disconnect your battery, carefully pry off the horn button on the steering wheel, loosen the nut on the steering column and carefully pull the steering wheel (you may need a puller) just enough to loosen it on the splined hub. The part that makes contact between the horn button and the ground under the hub is spring-loaded, so do not pull back too far. Then carefully pull the wheel just enough so you can turn the wheel one or two notches on the splined connection between the hub and the steering column. Re-tighten the nut on the steering column, replace the horn button and re-connect the battery.
As mentioned if the only change was the control valve then I would agree the position on the center link is probably the issue. If the box was rebuilt with new gears or a different box was installed then that most likely is the change in addition to the valve position. If the box was replaced, rebuilt, or just put back on the high center position should be marked clearly, if it was even checked, so you know where the box should be on center. This may not be true center either, you want it on high center. In theory they should both be the same but most of the time they are off up to 90*. Referencing the wrong center will not give the tight straight line driving it should have, then you blame the box as being junk and go out and buy a jeep box or rack system. If setup correctly, all parts functioning as they should, the steering is actually pretty good, convincing some of this though is not worth the efforts anymore.
As mentioned if the only change was the control valve then I would agree the position on the center link is probably the issue. If the box was rebuilt with new gears or a different box was installed then that most likely is the change in addition to the valve position. If the box was replaced, rebuilt, or just put back on the high center position should be marked clearly, if it was even checked, so you know where the box should be on center. This may not be true center either, you want it on high center. In theory they should both be the same but most of the time they are off up to 90*. Referencing the wrong center will not give the tight straight line driving it should have, then you blame the box as being junk and go out and buy a jeep box or rack system. If setup correctly, all parts functioning as they should, the steering is actually pretty good, convincing some of this though is not worth the efforts anymore.
What Gary states above is absolutely true^^^^^^. Gary custom blueprinted/rebuilt my box in 2010 and the box has ZERO play. I too tire of the constant drone of the borgeson box and how great it is versus the OEM box. I am sure it is very good BUT to me after all these years with a properly setup rebuilt OEM box, the benefits of the borgeson setup, like I always say, is mostly in the simplicity of the setup (no leaking PS control valve, PS ram) AND a quicker steering ratio of the borgeson box 12.7:1 versus the stock 16:1. To me the only attraction of the borgeson after all these years with my GTR 1999 box is really just the quicker steering ratio..........Let's not forget after all, all of these boxes we are talking about are recirculating ball...there is no getting around that fact AND one is NOT miraculously better than the other, discounting the differences all ready mentioned previously..............
Last edited by jb78L-82; Jan 17, 2019 at 07:33 AM.
"This could change the set up for cancelling your turn signals". The OP said he needed to make a minor adjustment- from 12:01 or 12:02 back to 12:00. Moving the hub this small amount will not make any noticeable change to the turn signal cancelling mechanism. I have done this three times on my 68 convert to fine tune the centering of the steering wheel. Once after removing the steering column to remove the dash panel, once after replacing the steering gear and once after changing the rag joint on the steering column. Each time required a slight adjustment that was easier working on the top of the car, rather than on a creeper under the car adjusting the tie rods.
Once again I am indebted to the generous members of the forum. Thank you.
After all the advice, I owe you all an update along with the thanks.
I failed to count the turns when removing the old control valve from the relay rod during disassembly. The small change in gap upon reinstallation altered the steering wheel centering. I was happy with the already installed leak-free, carefully threaded control valve and didn't want to undo all the hard lines and Pittman arm connection in order to turn another rotation on the relay rod.
I chose to correct the steering wheel centering using toe adjustment. Cleaned the tie rod end threads (and clamps) with wire wheel and soaked with penetrant. Used some of the wife's nail polish to mark BDC lines on the adjuster tubes. Loosened clamps and rotated both sides evenly in the same directions. Began with 1/4 turn rotations. First try was wrong direction, easy to fix. Fine tuned with 1/8 and 1/16 rotations, then tiny RCH units. She's dead on now.
While I was at it, I also disconnected the slave rod, recentered the control valve, and reassembled. Man, the car is back! Steers straight, tracks straight, no pulls, steering wheel aligned just right, rides beautifully.
It's done. It's together. Works great! Rides great! Turns great! No leaks. Feels just right driving the car. I'm certain this part took me three times as long as anyone else, but I did it and the experience and knowledge is mine now. I sincerely thank you folks for helping me work out how to do this on my own. I would have updated sooner, but I waited for the polar vortex freeze to leave before another afternoon under the car in the driveway.
The people in this forum are great. Thank you.
Chip in Cary
Last edited by Chip Robie; Feb 7, 2019 at 12:25 PM.
Heh! I know the feeling. The car is a real clean driver quality '76 with matching numbers. It's a fun to look at car that would be shredded by an NCRS or AACA judge, but the wife and I are too busy having fun with the car on nice days and weekends. I try to stay OEM, but I'm guilty of stuff like a non OEM hood liner, non OEM air cleaner wing nut, and looming a few sprawling wires under the hood into neatness.
I confess, I did look hard at the Borgeson boxes, but I wasn't unhappy with how the car steered before, it just went through PS fluid like Norm Petersen went through beer on Cheers. Now the steering is back in OEM configuration with no leaks.... (sorry, Norm.)
Last edited by Chip Robie; Feb 7, 2019 at 12:41 PM.
Center the Steering Wheel after PS Replacment
