Steering adjustment

[bowtie81]

Hey guys

I just recently put a manual box from a s10 on my malibu and would like to get the steering wheel back to the factory spot. Do i take the rag joint off and spin it till the wheel is back in the factory place or is there another method.
Thanks for any help in advance

 

[bowtie81]

Nobody has any suggestions.

 

[SLICK79WGN]

they should fix that when you have it aligned which you should do any time the steering or suspension is taken apart

 

[pontiacgp]

the steering wheel shouldn't have changed if you set the box to 0 before you installed the steering shaft...

 

[Bonnewagon]

Pontiacgp is right. Put the rag joint back the way it was. With the wheels straight ahead the Pitman arm should be centered and the steering shaft on the high point. This is important so the car tracks in a straight line. The rag joint then goes onto the steering box so the steering wheel is centered. Have someone inside the car to hold the wheel straight. You'll notice a flat on the shaft and joint. The flat lines up and you can't be off by more than a spline or two. Look for a dot on the shaft and a line on the joint to line up. The pinchnbolt should be perpandicular to the ground. This is how it is supposed to work, but I've run into trouble swapping boxes around and had to improvise. In extreme cases I've removed the steering wheel and centered it that way, and modified the lockout ring by grinding out splines to accept the new position. Final centering is done by adjusting the tie rods. Hope that helps.

 

[pontiacgp]

I'm wondering also if you took the pitman arm off because it has 3 key ways and you could have put it on in the wrong location

 

[Bonnewagon]

If he swapped in a manual for an 800 series power box the shaft is different size, so he would have needed the Gbody manual arm too. If he had the POS 600 series the shaft is the same and his old arm would be correct. Either way the arm would have been 90 degrees off and been obvious. I think he just fudged it at the rag joint.

 

[bowtie81]

Thanks for the help guys
All i did was take the old box off, I never took the pitman arm off. I used the pitman arm that was on the manual box bolted it up (tires were straight) lined the flat on the box to the flat on the shaft and tightened it up.

 

[pontiacgp]

if that's what you did then your steering wheel should be in the same position with your new box.

 

[bowtie81]

if that's what you did then your steering wheel should be in the same position with your new box.

i'll have to double check it later. thanks for the help