steering wheel

[Ole BlackBetty]

My steering wheel is sitting with the top (12 o'clock position) , at about 1:30 or 2 o,clock. Can I just remove the steering wheel and reposition it a few gear teeth over? Or is there a keyway, that it will only fit in one postion? The truck drives fine and does not wander going down the road, it just makes it hard to see the gauges and keeps turning off my turn signal, with the slightest movement, because of current position. Thanks for your help.

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

would be best to take it to an alignment shop and let them fix it.

 

[Knuckledragger]

Yes, you can pull it off and reposition it. Make sure that your front wheels are straight to begin with, perhaps that is why it is the way it is now.

 

[RLDSL]

Take it in for an allignment and have them center the wheel. THey will do it by adjusting the collers on the steering arms and leave the wheel alone. You can try doing it yourself, but dont blame me if something else gets messed up

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

The KEY statement in your question is the part about the turn-signal cancelling.

You can re-clock the steering-wheel on the column to a fare-the-well and that will not correct the turn-signal situation.

It reads to me like your problem needs to be addressed at the drag-link adjustment.

I can't speak for a 1990s Ford, but I have aligned several steering-wheels on other makes of trucks by simply loosening the correct clamping-collar and rotating it in whichever direction yields the result I am needing.

Once again, I can't speak for your particular year-model truck, but the adjustment I speak of has nothing whatsoever to do with the alignment of the wheels; it just orients the internals of the column to be centered when the wheels are pointing straight forward.

The alignment of a steering-wheel/column will change when the front suspension either sags (or is lowered), or when the front is lifted as in adding a "lift kit".


Crawl under the front-end and have a good thoughtful look at the various steering linkages; usually the adjustable collar I speak of is on the pitman-arm's drag-link.

It will be much to your advantage to saturate everything with the knocker-loose of your choice for several days before this work is attempted; things will go much easier when the threads have sucked up a goodly dose of penetrant.


As for whether the wheel itself is keyed, the steering-wheel on my 1985 is NOT KEYED, but I sure wish it was.

Those splines are very small and very numerous and it is nigh impossible to replace a wheel in the exact same spot that it came from.

 

[Agnem]

Be sure to use a steering wheel puller to remove the wheel. I've seen some "professional" animals who just remove it with brute force while the rest of the column and dash sqeaks and creaks just because they don't want to take the time to do it right. When I feel it necessary to do this, I find a big empty parking lot and start in one corner and take the wheel off. Then with very light presure, I push it on the splines where I think it should go and drive. If it's not streight, I'll just tug it off and reposition. Once you got it where you like it, tighten the nut and enjoy.

The other wisdom in the thread is also worth consideration.

 

[Ole BlackBetty]

thank you all for your replies, the truck does have a 4 inch lift , which was installed before a owned the truck. wish it was removable, as it makes it hard for an old guy to get in and out of, but it looks to me like it was lifted with higher arched springs and not blocks. I'll just have to get used to climbing.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

When I feel it necessary to do this, I find a big empty parking lot and start in one corner and take the wheel off. Then with very light presure, I push it on the splines where I think it should go and drive. If it's not streight, I'll just tug it off and reposition. Once you got it where you like it, tighten the nut and enjoy.

I like to learn at least one real good bit of information every day.

That bit of wisdom right there took care of today.

Thank you, MEL.

 

[sassyrel]

DONT reposition your steering wheel..the wheel, should be indexed to the steering box properly. there are three teeth,,that engage the rack, inside your steering box. the center one of these three,,is just a bit "thicker" than the other two. if you repositon it,,you will <N O T> be on the center of your gearbox.. do as others have said,,and take it to a alignment shop,,and get the drag link, and the rest of the steering,,readjusted..

 

[Blind Driver2]

It is possible that the steering wheel was in the correct position prior to the lift. When the lift was installed, it moved the position of the steering wheel. Does the truck have a dropped pitman arm?

 

[franklin2]

DONT reposition your steering wheel..the wheel, should be indexed to the steering box properly. there are three teeth,,that engage the rack, inside your steering box. the center one of these three,,is just a bit "thicker" than the other two. if you repositon it,,you will <N O T> be on the center of your gearbox.. do as others have said,,and take it to a alignment shop,,and get the drag link, and the rest of the steering,,readjusted..

The above is the most important reason not to move the wheel(unless it has been moved already). If you look very close on the end of the shaft and the wheel, there is usually a small tick mark on the shaft and the wheel that should be lined up when everything is correct. But that doesn't mean someone hasn't taken apart the splines on the rag joint and go it off.

But, since you said it drives fine, what you can do is drive it forward with the wheel level. Then stop and get out and see how the wheels are pointed. Take the tie rod end adjustment loose on one side and turn it the correct way to straighten the wheel, making sure you count the number of turns you make. Tighten it, and then go to the other side and turn it the correct direction to straighten that wheel, and make sure you turn it exactly the same number of turns you turned the other side. This should keep your toe-in correct.

 

[War Wagon]

Way easier to adjust the collar on the drag link. Changing this will not affect your alignment. The drag link adjustment is only there to clock the steering wheel correctly. If all you need to do is position the steering wheel and you think your alignment is good, you do not need to go to an alignment shop.

 

[Ole BlackBetty]

I'll have to pull the air bag pad off and take a look for the tick mark. Im not sure if the steering wheel is even the one that came from the factory. The last ime I pulled the air bag off to check, the horn and cruise circuit I noticed it was not plugged in and checking under column, noticed that the air bag connector does not match the one on the column.