Alignment issue after steering box removal/seal replacement

[HughLouisDewey]

Hello all,

This weekend I took on the challenge of pulling my steering box out and replacing the input shaft seal, which recently had started hemorrhaging even more ATF than usual. I spent three days removing the box, replacing the seal, diligently cleaning and repainting the box, and reinstalling it. Despite my best efforts to mark the correct positioning of the input shaft pinion in relation to the universal joint, all the wrestling about with it combined with copious amounts of ATF and Liquid Wrench caused the sharpie marks I made to rub off, which made it difficult to determine where to reinsert the pinion into the universal joint. I did the best I could and got it lined up as square as I could, but when I took it for a test drive it was clear I missed it, since I had to keep the steering wheel about 20-30 degrees to the right to drive in a straight line. I compensated for this by detaching the drag link from the drop arm and unscrewing the tie rod end a couple times, which extended the drag link and straightened out the steering wheel, but I'm worried that this was basically me "touching up the x-rays" and doesn't actually fix some problem that I might have caused.

I plan on taking it in for a proper alignment ASAP, but I'm wondering if there's any significant issue with my missing the original orientation of the input shaft into the universal joint. Is this a mistake that can be corrected after the fact with alignment adjustment, or removing and repositioning the drop arm? I absolutely do not want to have to take that steering box out again any time soon, but I don't know much about the finer geometry of steering systems, and I'm concerned that this is causing an unforeseen problem that can't simply be fixed by alignment adjustment.

On the plus side, however, I haven't seen a drop of ATF leaking from the input shaft, where it was previously pouring out. This was the most in-depth repair I've done so far on the Discovery 1, and it's given me a lot of confidence to keep working on her. That is, of course, if I don't have to junk her for catastrophic steering failure...

1996 Discovery SD.

 

[terryjm1]

I cant imagine you would have a catastrophic failure. I don’t know enough about it but I would be concerned you might be short on full movement on one side now. I’m also curious why after you knew it was off a bit why you didn’t try to adjust it at the input shaft/ujoint?

I also have a 96 D1 with a leaking input shaft seal. It not much of a leak but I know this job is in my future.

 

[lunchbox]

Unhook the steering column at the box input. Center your steering wheel and tape it so it doesn’t move and blow the clock spring. Unhook the tie rod end from the drop link. Spin the input shaft on the box. Count the amount of spins to get from full lock to full lock. It is not an exact number, more like 7.75 spins. Spin the input back to center and attach the steering column. Now the wheel is centered to the input. Now go under the truck and check center of the drop link on the box. There is a slot on the back of the drop arm that will line up with a slot on the back of the box. A Phillips screwdriver will slide into them both when it’s centered. If the slots will not line up, remove the drop arm and center it. Torque it accordingly or you will have bump steer. Now put the tie rod back in and use the steering link to adjust the wheels to point straight when the wheel is straight. If you want to align it, you can with a sharpie and tape. You can only adjust toe anyway without buying radius arms or having the swivels drilled. You should have a hair of toe in. I only get my alignment checked so I know my castor after any height changes.

 

[HughLouisDewey]

I’m also curious why after you knew it was off a bit why you didn’t try to adjust it at the input shaft/ujoint?

I didn't realize it was off until I was test driving it, so everything was bolted in and the hoses were all reconnected. The only way I could think to adjust it would be to unbolt the whole box, pry it out of the u-joint, and try to reinsert it properly; by that time I was pretty beat and admittedly was looking for an alternative way of correcting it. An issue I had in both removal and refitting was that the input shaft was really stuck in the u-joint and needed some real muscle to get off. Even after thoroughly cleaning off the pinion and inside the u-joint, they did not want to slide nicely into one another.

 

[HughLouisDewey]

Unhook the steering column at the box input.

Is there a way to detach the box input shaft from the steering column without detaching the whole box from the chassis and sliding it forward? The shaft that comes through the firewall down to the u-joints doesn't seem to have any forward or backward play, so I'm not sure how to disconnect it without unbolting the four bolts through the frame rail into the steering box and trying to manhandle the whole box out of the u-joint. Can I remove the cloth/foil looking heat sleeve thing off that rod and disconnect it somewhere under there?

 

[lunchbox]

Yes…you can loosen the u-joints on the steering column and it will slide out of the way.

 

[HughLouisDewey]

Yes…you can loosen the u-joints on the steering column and it will slide out of the way.

Awesome, thanks, I'll give that a try. I can remove both pinch bolts from the lower u-joint and see if it'll slide off; it just seemed like there wasn't any play forward or back to actually slide that shaft out, like it was geometrically locked in there or something.

 

[mearstrae]

Centering the steering wheel won't cure an alignment problem in the actual steering. Have the thing properly aligned and the steering wheel may magically center. i found out the hard way by destroying a brand new right front tire in a matter of miles.

 

[HughLouisDewey]

Alright, thanks everyone, all is well. With some prying and convincing I was able to disconnect the u-joint at the box input shaft and just center the steering wheel that way, so now the steering wheel, input shaft, and pitman arm all appear to be centered and aligned. I also had a professional alignment done this afternoon, so I'm happy enough to let any sleeping dogs lie for a while.