steering gear box rebuilt now wtf

[morbidgoat]

sorry if this is in the wrong place if so feel free to move it

ok so i just rebuilt my power steering gear box and when i got it all back together (pita) i started it with the front end up in the air and the it instantly spun the wheel all the to the left. now i thought i read somewhere that this could be caused by the inlet/outlet valve body. i believe you have to move it side to side to adjust it, so i loosened it back up and slid it all the way toward the firewall and restarted it only to have the same reaction. so i loosened it up and slid it all the way towards the radiator snugged it back down and started it again this time the wheel will sit still so i tried turning it back and forth seemed to be working but with some resistance to the right. so i lowered the car to see what it would do under the weight of itself and the verdict is, it takes two hands with a lot of resistance to turn right but just two fingers to turn left.

i put everything back together the way i found it but obviously i did something wrong so im looking for any thoughts from experienced builders i really dont want to have to pull it back out again if possible

thanks for any help you may offer

 

[Deleted member 214]

I had a similar problem a long time ago. The proper place for the valve body was somewhere in the middle. I can't remember if you can loosen the bolts and have somebody move the valve body while the engine is running or if you stop the engine, move it, tighten it down, try it, and repeat the process until you find the sweet spot. Good luck!

 

[A383Wing]

stop the engine, adjust valve, restart eng, keep doing this until steering stays centered

 

[morbidgoat]

i had it almost centered it cranked to the left i shut off the engine moved it all the way toward the firewall and did same thing so i shut it off again and moved it all the way toward the radiator and it dont move on its own now but i have no power assist to the right only to the left??? almost like the right assist isnt working at all??

 

[Cranky]

There's a find line where it works like it's supposed to and don't move it so much at a time. Baby steps.....

 

[morbidgoat]

i appreciate the advice guys but just to make sure this is correct off center towards the firewall will make the wheel crank left but off center towards the radiator will not ever make the wheel crank to the right??

if this is correct then that releaves a lot of stress off me. im worried i put something back together wrong

 

[MarPar]

Maybe this will help you morbid...i haven't been able to get all of it back together to see if works, but it sounds more or less like what everyone is saying...

http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?t=11223&page=2 look @ post #26 from q-ship...

 

[morbidgoat]

i wont be back out to my car till saturday so ill have to wait till then to try adjusting it i understand how to adjust it and i believe what everyone has said

that being said my question still stands if the valve is slid all the way toward the firewall the wheels crank hard to the left upon start up so wouldnt it be true that if the valve was slid all the way toward the radiator the wheels should crank hard to the right upon start up (cuz mine dont)? or does it not work like that, so far no one has answered this question

thanks for any help offered i appreciate all of it

 

[q-ship]

I rebuilt a power steering box ONCE. It worked so poorly that I would never do it again (and I'm a perfectionist type person).

I hope you can get it working properly, but I would suggest sending it off to Firm Feel. That's what I do nowdays for anything more than shaft seal replacement.

 

[Cranky]

The couple of times that I messed with this, the wheels went to the left and I never tried to see if they would go to the right....just got it to where they didn't move anymore. Don't worry about if they go to the right, just get it to where they quit turning on their own and nail it down.

 

[Cranky]

And yep, post 26 explains it well.....

 

[morbidgoat]

I FOUND THE PROBLEM i think. so first i played with sliding the valve and the only thing i could achieve to not having it turn left was pushed all the way tight towards the firewall and in this posistion (i tried many babysteps) wheel dont turn but no power assist to the right so next i took apart the input/output valve cleaned it and everything was still the same. so i pulled the whole unit back out and took it all apart and found a broken ring (i think it fell out of place as i was installing it and it broke) so now i think i need a different gear box since i dont see those washer like parts for sale any place

 

[morbidgoat]

well i was wrong again i bought a remanned pump off ebay that said it was for my car however once i recieved it i found that it had the wrong size pitman shaft rather than paying shipping to send it back and being out shipping for both directions i decided to pull the guts out of that one and put them in mine (except for the pitman shaft). i got it all put back together with the new guts and it still does the same thing the only way the wheel dont crank to the left is if i have the top adjustable valve slid all the way towards the firewall and when its there i have no power assist to the right. so back to square one and now after studying this pic i am wondering if maybe my problem is in my return fitting valve.

before everthing went to hell i had a trw pump that had the large 5/8 i think hose return line to it and the return fitting on the gear box was empty just a straight through shot. now the new pump has the small return hose and in this pic it shows that there should be a piston with springs on both ends of it (of which i dont have) so im thinking maybe thats whats causing my problem that maybe i just need the extra parts in the return fitting

 

[morbidgoat]

well after messing around a bit with it today and putting on the new return fitting with the parts i was missing it works now just needs to be adjusted a bit though. i didnt really have a lot of time to work on it so not much got done but its a start. next weekend ill finish putting my car back together and adjust the valve better and see what i got