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When you look at the new box the end of the shaft that connects to the rag joint (thats the rubber grommet thingy) has a flat spot...that flat spot should, line up with the flat spot on the end of the steering shaft and as long as that hasn't been adjusted should give you center alignment...OK, got the steering gear box out of the truck finally...
Good work!
HOW DO I MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS "CENTERED" while I'm doing this? I straightened the wheel before I lifted the truck, kept the pitman arm aligned (it's still attached to the steering rod), the new steering gear is centered from the factory... what else? Does the steering column need anything special done before I attach it back to the steering gear?
Getting excited, this project is really starting to come together =)
Excellent, that's pretty much what i expected, just wanted to be sure.
Hope you can get one of those, they're hardened steel so the parts stores within a 60 mile radius of me didn't carry them. Luckily I didn't damage mine I just wanted to replace it out of an abundance of caution so I just reused the old one when I couldn't find it, let us know where you get the bolt.
Autozone didn't even try, O'Reilly was close but no cigar, hardware store has one that matches the threads but it's threaded all the way up, not just half way like the one that came out of it... Think that'll be sufficient? Will the extra threads damage anything? How can i tell if it's hardened?
The main issue I could see with the threads being all the way up is that you may not be able to torque it properly and I know the bolt tapers at the top to provide a snug fit at the top so that could cause issues of some sort too, overall I don't really know the dangers of that so everything I've said just now is conjecture.
) can tell you it's safe to do otherwise.Heading to the dealership. . . NAPA had your generic crappy hardware store stuff. . . you'd think VEHICLE REPAIR places would carry the types of bolts that go IN VEHICLES, not cheap pot metal. ?The main issue I could see with the threads being all the way up is that you may not be able to torque it properly and I know the bolt tapers at the top to provide a snug fit at the top so that could cause issues of some sort too, overall I don't really know the dangers of that so everything I've said just now is conjecture.
The bolt needs to be hardened, this is obviously what connects the steering wheel to the gearbox so you do not want it to fail. There should be markings on the head of your bolt unless they've faded off and that will tell you what grade and material it's made out of. I did a quick google search and came up with this graph that ought to help you out. I stopped looking for one when I realized I would have to special order one, you may have to do just that. Unless someone smarter than me(and there are lots of those people here
EDIT: Let me preface this by saying I am not familiar with the company I shared the graph from, but it looks like if you know the grade of the bolt and the thread pattern you could order it from them.
Most of the time you don't need the heavy duty nuts and bolts, and if you do they're part of a rebuild kit. Steering system is a special case, good luck with the dealer let us know how it works out.
The dealership didn't have one but i found a "Pick and Pull" style yard nearby that specializes in trucks, SUVs and 4x4 and he had a row of old Fords lined up so i pulled one off one of those. He didn't even charge me!
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