Steering Wheel Upside Down

[alpinecrick]

It's a 96 like I said when I had the steering shaft disconnected to replace the steering box it seemed to only wanna reconnect a 180 out

Only explanation i can think of is somebody had to install the rag joint 180 out.

 

[Dropped88]

Does the gear box look like its been replaced. I've had remans at the shop that where clocked wrong out the box

 

[Qball]

Does the gear box look like its been replaced. I've had remans at the shop that where clocked wrong out the box

I know the gear box has been replaced as I did it myself. I bought a reman one, but the wheel was upside down prior to replacing the gear box

 

[Qball]

What year is the truck? Did you remove the rag joint from the steering gear box? You should be able to rotate the steering shaft 180° if you loosen the bolt on the rag joint where is is connected to the steering box I am almost sure. I know I have clocked mine by doing this 1,2,or even 3 clicks left or right. No need to remove anything, just loosen the keeper bolt. And yes this will effect the turn signal turning off when turning the wheel.

You know it's hard to say but it doesn't look like mine looks like that when I pull back the plastic beauty cover. There doesn't appear to be bolts to loosen it. It may just be I wasn't able to get the cover back far enough to see them

 

[kennythewelder]

Ok, I tried to get you a pic from above, but the PS lines are in the way. So I crawled under the truck and took this. I took off that plastic cover a long time ago, and did not want to put it back on. Look close at this pic. You can see the head of the bolt on the clamp that you need to loosen. This is rite next to the steering gear box, and what holds or attaches the rag joint to the gear box. With the engine off, and once this keeper bolt is loose, you can turn the wheel, without turning the gear box. As mentioned, align the truck so that the wheels are straight then loosen this bolt and adjust. Then retighten the bolt. Keep in mind that in my pic, you are looking at the other side of the keeper blot. This bolt is at the very bottom of the pic.

 

[alpinecrick]

Ok, I tried to get you a pic from above, but the PS lines are in the way. So I crawled under the truck and took this. I took off that plastic cover a long time ago, and did not want to put it back on. Look close at this pic. You can see the head of the bolt on the clamp that you need to loosen. This is rite next to the steering gear box, and what holds or attaches the rag joint to the gear box. With the engine off, and once this keeper bolt is loose, you can turn the wheel, without turning the gear box. As mentioned, align the truck so that the wheels are straight then loosen this bolt and adjust. Then retighten the bolt. Keep in mind that in my pic, you are looking at the other side of the keeper blot. This bolt is at the very bottom of the pic.

OK Kenny, you made me go out to the shop and unpack my spare steering gear. Having replaced the steering gear on my 96 like four times I should know this by heart.........

The input shaft on the steering gear has a "flat" on it that the rag joint indexes to. You cannot rotate the rag joint/steering shaft on the input shaft--it has to index to the flat. The rag joint has to be unbolted from the shaft side, rotate the steering wheel to the correct position, bolt up the rag joint.

One off the downsides to the IFS trucks there is no longer the ability to adjust the drag link to center the steering wheel. If the steering wheel is off center the adjustment has to be via alignment--which very few alignment techs know how to do.

 

[Qball]

Ok, I tried to get you a pic from above, but the PS lines are in the way. So I crawled under the truck and took this. I took off that plastic cover a long time ago, and did not want to put it back on. Look close at this pic. You can see the head of the bolt on the clamp that you need to loosen. This is rite next to the steering gear box, and what holds or attaches the rag joint to the gear box. With the engine off, and once this keeper bolt is loose, you can turn the wheel, without turning the gear box. As mentioned, align the truck so that the wheels are straight then loosen this bolt and adjust. Then retighten the bolt. Keep in mind that in my pic, you are looking at the other side of the keeper blot. This bolt is at the very bottom of the pic.

It would appear alpine is correct that is a shot of mine

 

[Qball]

OK Kenny, you made me go out to the shop and unpack my spare steering gear. Having replaced the steering gear on my 96 like four times I should know this by heart.........

The input shaft on the steering gear has a "flat" on it that the rag joint indexes to. You cannot rotate the rag joint/steering shaft on the input shaft--it has to index to the flat. The rag joint has to be unbolted from the shaft side, rotate the steering wheel to the correct position, bolt up the rag joint.

One off the downsides to the IFS trucks there is no longer the ability to adjust the drag link to center the steering wheel. If the steering wheel is off center the adjustment has to be via alignment--which very few alignment techs know how to do.

Where are you unbolting it from I seem to only have two choices at the gear box and then up near the firewall. Also 4 times? Why?

 

[Schurkey]

All this talk of unbolting/rebolting, and just turning the wheel or the rag-joint half-way around.

That is NOT the right way to fix this.

>>>FIND THE CENTER POINT OF THE STEERING GEAR<<<

Everything else aligns to match the center point of the gear. For all we know, the wheel is half-a-turn off because the tie rods have been installed by a butcher. Re-aligning the rag joint wouldn't fix the problem at the tie rods.

 

[kennythewelder]

I looked up some new gear boxes, and see the flat section on the input shaft. So I guess you can not go as far as 180°. I have replaced my gear box 3 or 4 times as well. The OE box was sloppy. The second box was cracked, the 3 ed box started leaking, and the one that on there now, is good. Maybe your new box was clocked wrong when it was put together. If this is the case, you could try another gear box. You could replace the rag joint and clock it to the correct place, or you could get an alignment adjusted so that the steering wheel is in the correct place. Maybe the flat spot on the input shaft has enough room to turn the steering shaft 2 or 3 clicks over to the right or left, IDK, but I have moved my wheel a few times over 1 or 2 clicks to get it straight as it was tilted a little to the left. As I said, I loosened the bolt on the rag joint where it bolts to the shaft, with the engine off and key on, I was able to get my steering wheel from off a little to the left, to straight. Once done, I tightened the bolt on the rag joint coupler to the input shaft at the steering gear box.