Hey guys,

Took my steering gearbox off awhile ago and the steering wheel did not get tied down beforehand. As I am going to be putting it back together I was wondering what is the best way to ensure my steering wheel will be as close to lined up as possible?

Thanks.

 

Whatever you end up doing, DO NOT FREELY TURN THAT WHEEL, PERIOD. You will damage the clockspring that does the chores of cruise control. Those things are either high dollar replacement, or not even made for our trucks anymore. Hopefully the steering wheel is sitting there loose, and was never turned a revolution so you lose count of where true center is located. To tell you to turn the wheel all the way to the left, stop, and count the turns all the way to the right, then divide by half back towards the left is kind of too late now, as for sure you'll damage the clockspring.

If the steering wheel never turned, strap it off with bungies, ratcheting straps, and such. Did you at least make some reference/indexing marks to assist in lining things back up? Do you own a shop manual? Explains the procedures in detail of what steps to go thru, prior to dismantling anything steering related. Good luck- hopefully my tid bit of info will save something

 

He already broke his clock spring, judging from a previous post of his last week.

 

Are you referring to JDingess11's inquiry about losing his cruise control, after turning his non strapped down steering wheel after removing his steering shaft?
I remember that one.

 

That was the one I was think ing of....

 

You only wreck the clock spring if it turns past the end.

I had it happen changing my buddy's steering box... didn't lock the steering.

I carefully turned the wheel from limit to limit on the clock spring; divided that in two to find the middle. Locked it there. Assembled the steering linkage back up with the pitman centered. Done.

EDIT: As for centering the wheel itself... the stock suspension height and non-adjustable draglink are supposed to make the wheel centered.

 

There is a procedure in the FSM on re-centering the clock spring. I had to use this on the crewcab when swapping to the 93 wiring system and column since I was not 100% sure of the alignment after I removed the column from the donor.

To the original poster.....look at a clock spring from a 90-94/95 dodge dakota as well....the same units.

 

Hey guys, this is a bit long overdue, I ended up turning the wheel as u2slow suggested. Lined up great and cruise/horn still work! Thanks for your input.