I rebuilt the steering box in my 55 Crown Vic. It has the two tooth sector. I replaced bearings, worm gear, sector gear and seals. The worm gear has a master spline for column shaft and the wheel also has a master spline so they are aligned correctly. The pitman arm also has a master spline. After installing back into car, the steering wheel is about 30 degrees off of center. Wheel spokes were level before overhaul. Double checked the ball from pitman arm into drag link and it is properly seated. Can't figure out why wheel is not straight. Any ideas are welcome. Thanks, Ben
First off determine where the middle of the wheel travel is by turning the wheel fully left and then full right, then halve the travel. Then see where your wheel sits. If it’s still 30 degrees off simply adjust the tie rod ends to centralise it. Makes sure you turn each adjuster equally in the same direction when you are correcting otherwise you will upset your toe-in. If you’ve got all the key ways aligned maybe it was out before you repaired it.
Thanks for the reply. You also replied to a post I had on Ford Barn. I have set wheel to middle of travel before pitman arm was hooked back up and wheel spokes were level. Wheels were never turned or moved since I pulled the steering box and rebuilt. On install, I turned steering wheel enough to get ball stud into slot on drag link and then turned back to seat ball stud in cupped seats. That's when I found wheel was not level. Guess I will have to adj with the tie rods but find it odd that I need to since the box didn't show a lot of wear-even though it has about 200,000 miles on it. Thanks for your input. Ben
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