Steering column/rack alignment

[HSKR]

Little help. When I swapped the motor on my Spirit, I dropped the k-frame, tranny, and engine as one. When I put the k-frame back up and got steering column attached to the rack the steering wheel is clocked 90 degrees clockwise from where it should be to be centered. I didn't touch the rack, or screw with the tie rods. There is only one way the little ujoint on the column will attach to the spline coming off the rack. I thought maybe I could just pull the steering wheel and re-clock it, but it's keyed so it only fits on one way as well. What the hell happened to cause the steering wheel to be 90 degrees off from center? It can't go together any other way.

[cordes]

I'm sure it's a gear ratio thing in the rack. You've got to turn the wheel three times to get relatively little movement out of the rack. Take the column out and reclock it. That should solve the problem if anything I would think.

[HSKR]

It's not that simple. The column will only attach to the spline on the rack one of two ways, which would be 180 out from each other. I need to go 90. I've already pulled the column to try that, and pulled steering wheel to try reclocking that. I even tried attaching the steering column to the spline and trying to pull the spline out of the rack ujoint which I think it how i came out originlly but I can't get it to budge.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm thinking I'm going to have to hook everything back up, then use the weight of the k-member to pull down to separate the spline from the rack.

[cordes]

So you removed the pin from the coupler on the rack and left the u-joint piece with the steering column? It's been years since I've done that. I can't recall if it was keyed or what. I do know that I swapped out the u-joint piece for an earlier one when I did that. I'm out of suggestions, but it sounds like you've got this one under control. I'm very interested to see what the problem ends up being.

[HSKR]

No, I didn't remove any pins or bolts prior to dropping the k-frame. When I let it down it was hung up for a little bit so I jacked it back up to level it out thinking it was just binding then it dropped on its own. I can't remember exactly where is separated.

[cordes]

There should be a roll pin which connects the u-joint to the rack. If you didn't drive that out it is highly unlikely that you separated the rack from the coupler. Do you know if your is a quick ratio rack or not? IIRC the regular racks are 3 turns lock to lock. If it's not an issue where you can reclock it and call it a day I'm really at a loss here. Although I know that 1/4 turn of the steering wheel is virtually nothing at the wheels so any movement in the steering stuff should make a pretty big difference at the wheels.

[HSKR]

It is a quick ratio rack on it.

Here is what Tue end of the rack looked like when it was out of car. Basically it appears I need to drop the k-frame again to get the spline/shaft out of the rack like it was when I dropped it the first time where I stayed connected to the column. I tried pulling it out from inside car by hand and it won't budge.

Well I guess I will need to upload the pic to photo bucket to link it here since I can't attach an image in the post.

- - - Updated - - -

[cordes]

If that's what it looked like when you dropped everything then dropping it again won't do anything for you. The top half of the u-joint there is where the column slides into. You can see the roll pin that would have needed to come out in order for the coupler to come off of the rack. IMO your problem is 100% not that coupler if that is your pic from when you did the work. Well, either that or the coupler itself is severely damaged somehow.

[HSKR]

The steering column has a spline shaft that it connects to that is not in that picture be ause it was still connected tonsteering column, along with its own ujoint. So need to get that splinenshaft separated from the rack.

[cordes]

They can be a pain, but the part which is connected to the column WILL come out of the rack u-joint piece. The grease in there dries out over time and can be pretty stubborn. I would hit it with some penetrating oil and let sit for a while.

[HSKR]

I couldnt get it apart from inside the car last night. Not sure if it can come off without dropping rack.

[cordes]

Leave the rack in place. I always pull out the column portion of the coupler with the column itself. I never remove any portion of the coupler from either the column or the rack.

[HSKR]

I connected the column last night and tried yanking on it to pull it apart and nothing budged.

[cordes]

I connected the column last night and tried yanking on it to pull it apart and nothing budged.

Try some penetrating oil. That may be hard to come by in your parts. It's just a D shaped piece of metal with a little spacer to give it some friction.

[HSKR]

IIRC it was more cross shaped when I was looking up from the bottom at it.

[cordes]

I'll try to snap a picture for you. I have a few of them in the basement.

[Fox]

later columns (91+ ?) should have a securing bolt on the inside of the car you need to remove to disconnect from the rack, earlier steering uses a d shaped joint that will just pull apart with some force

[cordes]

later columns (91+ ?) should have a securing bolt on the inside of the car you need to remove to disconnect from the rack, earlier steering uses a d shaped joint that will just pull apart with some force

Thanks for that info. It's been years since I pulled a 93(?) shadow suspension, K frame, and column for use in my old 600 vert.

[Fox]

just found your problem i think, if you pull a 91+ column out of the steering rack without removing the securing bolt the + shaped part will pull out and can go back in any direction, i did the same thing and am also just realizing it now

this is a picture of the part still attached to one of the steering columns i removed, you can see the keyed joint with the bolt securing it

[HSKR]

That would be what happened. I tried dropping the k-frame today but couldn't get it to separate there. I didn't u hook the tie rods or axles. I was doing this on jaxk stands in my driveway verses on a lift where I was at before. Almost like I needed the weight of engine and trans to get enough force for it to pull out. And I've tried pulling out out using the steering column to ysnk on it and it wouldn't move.