Steering not centered

[miller]

Haven't fooled with a 72 RR, but no reason it would be different. Good deal on the fixed steering box.
After you mount it up, it's all really basics. Pitman arm only goes on one way, same as the steering wheel, located by the master key.
Center the steering box, via the pitman arm, center the steering wheel, and work on keeping them at those locations. As far as I know, the tie rods should both be the same length! Might check with a parts house on that, for your 72.
Then mount up your tie rods, without moving the pitman, or the steering wheel...the tie rods 'should' mount up fairly even on both sides. Start the threads as even as possible on each end, turning each until the tire on that side is somewhat straight.
Just a ball park toe-in number would be 1/16" - 1/8".
With the steering wheel, and pitman, still centered, adjust each tie rod until the front to rear outer edges of the FRONT tires line up with the rear tires. Either a chalk line, or tight string will help on that.
Then, simply turn the tie rods an equal amount in, on each side, to get toe-in. Use those outer edges of each front tire to go by. Total toe-in is both added together, fronts of the front tires being closer than the rear edges.
That will get you real close, and where it should be.

 

[jeremya72]

Well that took a lot longer than anticipated. Mainly because I put some of it together wrong and then had to re-do it. Anyway, the new box is in and steers great. I still have to do a little more adjusting to the tie rods. It's close, but not perfectly centered. I think i may take it in and have the alignment redone at a shop since I don't think the guy knew what he was doing the last time. Thanks to everyone who chimed in with advice and definitely go stage 3 if you have firm feel rebuild your steering box. Feels awesome!

 

[miller]

If you can, find a shop with experiance with Mopars. The alignment steps needs to be done in the right order, since one affects the next step. Service manual tells all about it!

Good luck!

 

[sleepar]

Do a 4 weel alignment.... and set the ride height first.... bring a copy of how to do an alignment printed off from all par web site... if the shop acts like they know everything and doesn't want to do it by the book walk out of there go somewhere else I give a tip and I go at 9 am coffee break and see the shop how the people act if I wouldn't work there I don't give my business mopar s can be difficult because of the rear fender openings they have to mount the arms sideways to get the sensor heads on to start with if they don't bounce the car to settle it after each adjustment it won't be right either.... keep in mind someone could work on cars for 50 years and never see many mopar and if they did it was 20 years ago..... bring a copy of all par

 

[jeremya72]

Another update. Once again sorry its been so long. It is tough to find time to work on the car with a 10 month old baby! I just got the car re-aligned by somebody that knew their business. I gave them the "street specs" of -.5 degree camber, +2.5 degree caster and 1/16" toe in. Even with the tubular upper control arms he could only get about 2 degrees on the caster, but the car feels so much better. I wish I had done all this work years ago. Totally different car. With the new steering box from firm feel and the new sway bar it already felt 100% better. Having a better alignment made the package complete. I will be putting some miles on this thing again! Thanks for all the input guys!

- - - Updated - - -

I used the alignment specs from the all par website and found a guy that actually works on older cars regularly. Larry at Courtesy Tire in West Seattle is your guy in the Seattle area. In fact the whole crew there was really nice and many of them own older cars (not all Mopars, but some cool rides). Feels like a totally different car going down the freeway now.

 

[nm9stheham]

I just read this thread and want to add the folowing:

The steering box wil only have minimal 'slop' at one point in the whole range of rotation. That is the true 'center' of the steering box. This should be found and adjusted before anything else is done. The process is to

0) Disconnect the pitman arm

1) Loosen the top adjustment about 1 turn and then loosen the lock ring on the bearing retainer where the steering shaft goes in. Using a low range torque wrench on the steering column, tighten the bearing retainer until a certain torque is reached; this is in the range of inch pounds, and is in the FSM. This step sets the proper preload on the main shaft bearing.
2) Start to tighten the top adjuster a bit at a time while turning the wheel back and forth through the approximate center. You will eventually feel a tight spot develop as you make this adjustment, where the effort to turn the wheel is highest, and this is the true center of the steering box. If this is a new box, overtighten the top screw adjustment by 1/4 turn or so to insure proper gear mesh and then back that off. Then on either an old or new box, back off the top adjust another 1/2 turn, and again retighten the top adjustment about 1/8 turn at a time while rotating the steering back and forth through the center spot with a low range torque wrench on the steering column. Evenutally the tight spot will redevelop and you adjust the top adjustment to a specific torque at the tightest point; this torque is also in the FSM, and is higher than the first torque.

The steps above find the true center and proper adjust the gear mesh at center. This will insure minimal/no slop in the sterring in striaght-down-the-highway driving. And, you don't need to make any judgement on the angle of the pitman arm, which is not specified anyhwere in the FSM.

BTW0 The above 2 adjustments are for a manual box. For power sterring, there is no main shaft bearing preload to adjust and the sector shaft adjustments and incar checks are a bit diffenent.

BTW1 If you don't have a low range torque wrench but have a feel for what 10 inch pounds is, then you can have decent success doing this by feel.

BTW2 Make sure the steering column bearings are free and lubed. For an in-car adjustment , measure the steering shaft residual torque with the box adjustments backed off in step 1, and then add that to the torques you are adjusting for.

BTW3 ALL of this (except BTW 1 and BTW2) is in the FSM. I am no genius; I just have good reading comprehension and a conviction that they actually knew what they were doing!

Now, center the steering wheel with the steering box set at it's true center, and then you can reintall the pitman arm and then adjust the tie rods for straght ahead. They may end up with different lengths on both sides.

Also, be aware that the steering box has a number of turns of range end to end, that is more turns than when everythign is connected. The reason is that once everything is connected, then the bump stops on the lower ball joint hitting the stops on the lower control arms determines the number of turns in the steering, not the steering box stops. This is by design as it prevents the driver from jamming the steering box to the end of its range and doing damage inside the steering box.