Steering Wheel Off after rack/alignment

You can do it.

You need to separate the joint at the rack.
Turn the steering wheel gently from lock to lock counting the turns then center it and the spiral cable with in.
Center the rack (if tie rods are equal and truck drives straight you can assume it is centered) however best to check it lock to lock.
Connect the spline joint. The wheel will likely be slightly off. 36 splines on the spline joint, one spline equals 10 degrees at the wheel.
Get it perfect with the tie rods.
As long as you turn the ITR's exactly the same amount, toe will not change. One turn of the ITR equals around an inch at the wheel.

 

That's not even an option. The shop that worked on it was a joke. Didn't do all the work they were supposed to. Didn't fix a fender, didn't install bump stops, only had 5 lug nuts on one side. I went and checked on it after not being able to get a hold of them for a week and my truck wasn't even touched yet.
And I specifically asked for oem parts and they had Napa parts there to put on it. They reused the old lbj bolts that were on the lbj that failed. They were bent even. They reused old bushings on ghe new steering rack.
I can go on and on.
At the end of the day, I'm fixing it myself. I live 60 miles from the nearest shop or auto store.

 

What jack asses. This chit fries my balls man. They knew insurance was paying out for OEM and all the work, so they pocketed that money from the parts and did chitty work. What a motherf***ing joke. And it's not even my truck. Sorry man, I'm done venting for you, lol. It sounds like dirty pool has it spot on. Doesn't sound difficult. Sucks you've had to redo almost all of it.

 

Jesus. Ha yup, well I was really hoping you wouldn't have to do all that. And would be an easy fix like mine was. But you got a nice task ahead of you now. Heh. Not too hard, but yeah a process. It really did sound like the alignment was good, so hopefully it won't take too much And the rack doesn't have to be adjusted by a lot. That'll be the hardest part.. Tackling those inner tie rods.

 

So I have to take off the rack right? Disconnect the OTR's and drop the rack and separate the shaft, center the wheel/spiral lock from lock to lock, reconnect it to the rack and put everything back to together?

 

It's been a nightmare, but I'll get it right. Hope my ordeals help somebody else out. Just trying to stay positive lol

 

Yeah for sure, my bad. I'm not helping you with that lol. Can't change it now, but you got some of the best help around with these guys. Good mindset.

 

Sorry, chow time.

You should not have to remove the rack or disconnect the OTR's. Separate the spline joint at the rack, remove the bolt and "spread" it with a big screwdriver, should not take much. Might need a helper to wiggle the steering wheel a bit as you pry/push the joint off the rack.This should be done with the wheels off and the frame on stands. Might help to remove the 2 rack mount bolts on the driver side for a bit more "wiggle".
The outer end of the ITR (28mm IIRC) turns on the threaded stem of the OTR when the lock nut is loose (slide the small boot clamp off so the ITR can turn within the boot). This is the adjustment point for both toe and final centering.

 

Thank you, much appreciated. Idk what I'd do without TW lol

 

Almost got the shaft all the way out...but noticed it has a flat section where the bolt goes thru, so I can't turn it and put it back in, the bolt won't go back in if I do.

 

Can I unbolt where it meets at the rack? Either the two bolt on the upper part or the lower where they meet?

 

See big blue text below.

Check out these shots of the splines at the rack (control valve shaft). First shows vice grips gently gripping the shaft to turn it (on the bench).

Second is the shaft itself (removed from rack). Note how short the splines (right side of pic) are and that the relief for the bolt goes all the way around the shaft.

 

I unbolted it here and on the other side, and turned the wheel right until it aligned back up on the bracket. Bolted it back up and wheel is straight now.

 

About time your luck changed.
I'll assume you centered the wheel in it's range of turns.

 

So it's not perfect. Better, but not straight. Can this much be corrected with the tie rods?

 

That's a bit much for the tie rods. I would try 2 or 3 splines at the rack joint and verify that the steering wheel is centered (in rotations) when it's disconnected. Remember one spline equals 10 degrees at the steering wheel. Then fine tune it with the TR's.

 

That's what I was just gonna say. I'm gonna put it back to how it was then adjust it using the method you described. I go on shift tomorrow until sat so won't be able to work on it again until then. Gonna drive me crazy until I get off work.

 

Have it disconnected at the rack. But the wheel doesn't have a "lock to lock." It just keeps spinning and spinning.

 

I got it straight. It was super easy after I figured it out. The truck doesn't need to be on jack stands. Just need to loosen two bolts and it separates.
Found this out after taking my steering rack off twice in the last week. And taking the skids off, and dropping the diff to get the driver side rack bolt out.
Live and you learn. lol. I spent hours and hours trying to figure this out and it turned out to be a 10 minute fix.
For anybody who goes through this, all you need to do is unbolt these two bolts in the picture attached. Then the shaft will separate from the rack. I drove in a straight line a couple times, parked, undid the shaft from the rack, turned the wheel straight, slid it back together and test drove driving in a straight line again. Did it about 3 times till it was straight. Then bolted it back together, easy.

 

Aha! Told yaaaaaaaa.. Well kinda. Ha. I just remembered wrong. It had been a while since I did that myself. Now that you posted that pic, I remember that's what I did as well. I think I loosened the top column anyways but was probly not needed iirc.