newbie321

Hi, all:

i just replaced rack&pinon on my 3.8L chevy impala 04. Now that power steering is working, I encountered a different and related problem: making sure that the center of the steering wheel correlates to the center of the rack&pinion.

If I center the steering wheel then the rack&pinon is about 3/8 turns off center and vice versa. the pinion stub has a shape such that it fits onto the steering shaft's u-joint at 0deg or 360deg and I can not mate these at 3/8 turn.

The only possible solution that I see is to reposition the steering wheel, but this creates questions that I need advice on:

1) do I have to reposition airbag's coil as well? Is it even possible to begin with?

2) Currently the steering shaft when at the center position has that lock notch/hole. If I were to reposition the steering wheel, the this lock/notch will no longer be accessible from the new center of the steering wheel. is this an indicator that I am doing something wrong?

3) Are there any other joints/connectors that I can fiddle with that serve as adjusting nodes in this type of procedure (centering)

Lastly, does this also mean that the rack was incorrectly meshed with pinion ie the initial angular orientation was set up wrong when rack&pinion was assembled?

Thank you in advance,

newbie321

shawnvw

You answer lies in the tie rod ends. If you replaced the rack, then you defanitely need an alignment. Even if it doesn't seem to pull, it can still be off a little and wear the tires. By adjusting both tie rods left or right, can move the position of the steering wheel.

Long story short, you need an alignment and all will be well

newbie321

Shawnvw:

I believe that tie end rods option would be applicable when one would need to do minor steering-wheel to rack&pinion centering adjustment. Here is an example:

INITIAL CONDITION:
number of steering wheel turns to the right is approximately equal to the number of steering wheel turns to the left AND
# of turns to the left is at most 1/8 turns more than # of turns to the right AND
center of steering wheel correlates with the pinion's location at the rack's center.

if the above is the case, then I ENTIRELY agree that the tie end rod adjustment is the way to go.

I am not a mechanic, but in my opinion the tie end rod adjustment would result in:
1) wheel alignment (pointing forward and toe-in)
2) steering wheel set at the center
BUT this will not assure that the pinion is set at the center of a rack because pinion's stub can only go one way into the steering wheel.

I can also use a tie end rod option and achieve the following:
1) wheel alignment
2) centered rack&pinion
BUT the steering wheel will be now off about 3/8 of a turn (~135deg)

The problem that I have is that all of the u-joints that I saw are notched so that they fit stubs one way only, hence there is no free adjustment that I see I can make. This is what I do not understand very well and the only conclusion that I can make is that the pinion was not properly oriented when it was being meshed with the rack during the manufacturing process.
BUT this makes little sense too from the business point of view....the control over the pinion's orientation would increase the cost of production and this is inconsistet with business model. This leads me to conclude that there must be a part that is able to undergo unrestricted adjustment. I am 99% certain of that. The only thing is that I can not find that.

Am I missing something or are my observations wrong?

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7469737@N05/3733957277/" title="centeringWheel by newbie321, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2614/3733957277_79c31b8db3.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="centeringWheel" /></a>



Sincerely,

newbie321

shawnvw

I have NEVER seen a rack built wrong. I have seen guys put the wrong rack in. Rack & Pinions go together 1 way, and 1 way only. There is no "secret" adjustments.

Make sure you got the right rack for the vehicle, then take it in for an alignment.

newbie321

As far as the rack&pinion goes...
my suspension package is 7b3 and I got the steering rack&pinion for 7b3 suspension. this can also be verified that the total lock-to-lock number of turns is 2-3/8 which agrees with the spec.

I am also thinking that maybe pulling out the intermediate shaft and reorienting the ujoints with respect to the shaft may do the trick, since I believe the intermediate shaft's profile is circular.

newbie321

shawnvw

do what you want but all you need is an alignment

newbie321

Shawnvw:

Thank you for your continued attention to my dilemma.
I must be missing something in the alignment procedure. Could you please post an alignment procedure that will assure that center of the steering wheel correlates with the center of the rack&pinion given that initially the center of the steering wheel is not at the center of the rack&pinion.

thank you,
newbie321

shawnvw

If the steering wheel is not centered to the rack, then you have one of three problems....you installed it wrong, you have the wrong rack(just because you ordered it properly, doesn't mean it wasn't boxed wrong), or, like you said, it was manufactured improperly

newbie321

Shawnvw:

Thank you for email. I will re-check the three things you mentioned.

newbie321

MDTAHOE

You can not check or do your alignment your self. You have to take it to a shop with an alignment machine.