Steering Wheel Off after rack/alignment

So is your rack all centered now too er what?

 

Yessir truck is titties

 

Good to hear brotha. You deserve it.

 

Thanks man. Woke up in a good mood for the first time in days lol.

 

Glad you got it sorted out and one of the spline positions got things where you wanted. Putting her on stands is only really handy when doing the whole centering process.

That being said, the post below presents another problem.

The spiral cable or clock spring as it is sometimes called allows a finite number of turns of the steering shaft. On a 1st gen this is approx 5 (safe) full turns, with "center" at 2.5 turns from when the cable starts to bind. The steering should never be turned past the point when the binding is felt.
If the steering shaft "keeps spinning and spinning" (steering wheel installed) then the cable has to be broken.
http://www.ebay.com/gds/What-is-a-Clock-Spring-ClockSpring-Spiral-Cable-/10000000177530927/g.html

 

If the clock spring is broken, wouldn't that mean the horn and cruise control wouldn't work, and the airbag light would be on?

Should be pretty easy to tell if it's working on not, no?

 

Correct, that's why I bolded the "if, then".
While the cable coil provides enough slack for the 5 turns or so it is none the less a hard wired connection that will not allow infinite rotations.

 

Old post but I'm having similar issues. About a year ago I dropped off a 3-foot ledge while off-roading and my steering wheel was all cockeyed. I took it to the alignment shop and they completely maxed out my passenger side All-Pro HD tie rod and couldn't straighten out my steering wheel. It's a few degrees off. Is it possible that my rack jumped a tooth?

-B

 

In a word, no. Even if all the internal guide and bushing are completely removed there is just not enough room inside to allow the gears to "skip".
In theory a tooth could shear but it would subsequently jam things up.
Don't assume that an alignment shop has a clue to the intricacies of setting up 1st gen steering.
In a situation like yours the "process" needs to be done from start to finish. At some point things will not meet spec's and the offending area will be more apparent.

If the steering was good before the ledge then almost certainly something is bent, distorted, twisted or torn.

 

On a gen 2 rack do you just remove that slip yoke where it connects to the steering shaft?