Steering wheel off after shaft replacement

[Jack Schneider]

Hey guys! I was bored yesterday and slapped the XJ shaft on and noticed that to go straight, the wheel needs to be about 20 degrees to the right otherwise it’ll pull left. Thinking the shaft was off, I removed it and put on the old shaft and it still does it. So do I somehow need an alignment now?

 

[jdla140]

You most likely have the shaft off a spline or 2 at the steering box.

 

[Jack Schneider]

You most likely have the shaft off a spline or 2 at the steering box.

Would that be an easy fix? I mean the shaft can only go on one way so I’m not sure what I can do...

 

[east302]

Not sure about your box, but mine has the flat spot so the steering shaft is pretty much only going on one way. I forget which is which, but think that the flat is on top when the wheels are straight ahead and the pitman arm is centered.

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Did you mess with anything else? It doesn’t make much sense for it to be off that much if it wasn’t before. Unless the steering wheel itself is not indexed on the non-airbag version?

I guess try an alignment.


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[Jack Schneider]

Not sure about your box, but mine has the flat spot so the steering shaft is pretty much only going on one way. I forget which is which, but think that the flat is on top when the wheels are straight ahead and the pitman arm is centered.

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Did you mess with anything else? It doesn’t make much sense for it to be off that much if it wasn’t before. Unless the steering wheel itself is not indexed on the non-airbag version?

I guess try an alignment.


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Nope didn’t mess with anything else besides also rotating the tires. I rotated them back after thinking maybe one of the tires is bad but nope didn’t help. Like as you said, it doesn’t make sense at all since it can only go on one way. Hopefully an alignment will help even though the truck drives straight but just has a donk steering wheel

 

[Jack Schneider]

I noticed that the flat part isn’t aligned with that hole you showed. Could that be an issue?

 

[east302]

The one pictured is a 98. I don’t know if the hole means anything necessarily, but the orientation pictured was when the pitman arm was centered. Meaning, from this position there were (I think) 1-1/2 rotations to full lock at left and 1-1/2 to full lock at right.

A quick (well, sort of quick) check would be to jack the front up, identify the flat spot on the shaft and count the rotations from lock to lock. At the midpoint, the wheels should be straight ahead for the most part.


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[Jack Schneider]

I removed the shaft for the 10th time and reinstalled it and now it seems to work...

 

[Jack Schneider]

Edit: it’s still off but a lot better. Taking it in next week to the shop

 

[Ken K]

I know the post was about a week ago, but let me ask. What was the reason for replacing the intermediate shaft / joint?
If it went down the road straight with the steering wheel dead on and you have no issues with tire wear, the alignment shop is going to sent you a X-Mas card. Pull the steering wheel with the truck going straight while stopped and pull the steering wheel and put back on straight. I don't trust aftermarket trick parts and could be machined wrong. If I took it out of an ACDelco box, pre-marked the shafts splines, there should be no problem. But at the alignment shop, they place a spring load steering wheel holder while straight ahead. When done, if the numbers on the screen are correct, but the steering wheel is crooked, it comes off and re-installed...straight.