Hi,
Just installed my freshly rebuilt steering box (thanks Rock Auto) in my '50 F1. I noticed the pitman arm and the sector shaft on the box are splined with a sort of keyway. I have centered the steering wheel and the front wheels and noticed the keyways don't line up. I don't think they were aligned when I disassembled them and the key in the pitman arm seems to be flush with the surrounding splines. Sure would appreciate any suggestions.
Thanks,
Tony (olguy)

 

Mine is a '52, but should be the same. There are 4 "blank splines" on mine, and yes, they have to go into "missing splines" on the sector shaft. The pitman arm should be virtually straight up-and-down with the wheels straight ahead.

 

I only have one keyway in the arm and one in the sector gear. They don't appar to even contact one another. If I aligned the two, the arm would not be pointing straight down with the wheels centered. With no adjustmnt on the drag link it seems that positioning the pitman arm on the sector shaft must be done with the steering wheel centered and tthe left front wheel pointed virtually dead ahead. Am I wrong?
olguy

 

You're correct, the pitman arm should be pointing pretty close to straight down with the wheels ahead and the steering centered. Not sure why your arm and shaft are keyed differently. New parts?

 

Ok I am not familiar with the 50 steerinbox just the 53-56. But if you disconnect the pitman arm and turn the steering wheel to the stop (right) and then turn it to the stop (left) and then back down half of it there you should have the keyway lining up with the pitman pointing down. If then the steeringwheel is of, I guess you haveto take off the wheel and move it.

If the keyway is not lining up with the pitman pointing down, I would guess the box is assembled wrong???

 

That was my thought, Jim, but I can't see how the sector shaft would not have the splines in the correct position after centering?

 

Well it says centred Wheel that doesn´t necessary means the box is centred? right.....

 

hmmm??? I canr edit my own post??

With wheel I mean steering wheel....

 

I meant with the box centered, not necessarily the steering wheel.

 

If OP "by centred steeringwheel" mean centred steering box I cant understand why it doesn´t line up other than some error in the box itself maybe during assembly??

 

Hi guys,
As the original poster of the thread, I'm going to admit that I didn't wipe off the grease, get down on my knees and look very closely at the whole mess. I took the pitman arm off the drag link and found that I had burred the splines enough that it wouldn't slip on. A needle file solved that and the arm slid on...Now it looks like the drag link may be a bit too long to have the left front wheel point straight ahead. I'll save that one until it's installed properly and isn't right. Oh, incidentally under the grease and after scoping it out closely with my bifocals, I found that both the sector shaft and the pitman arm have four keys....you guys were right...
Thanks to all involved,
olguy

 

How could the drag link be too long unless it is assembled improperly, it is a fixed length. Make sure the pitman arm is vertical and the parts in the ends of the drag link are installed in the correct order. I don't know about the F series, but on the 53-56 the parts DO NOT go in in the same order in both ends of the drag link, I would assume yours is the same way. The truck used the same parts and steered properly for 65 years, the parts didn't suddenly and magically change, you did something wrong. Admit it, take it all apart and clean it all so you can see what you are doing (should always be the first step when doing any mechanical work), inspect the parts for wear (especially the ***** on the pitman arm and steering arm on the spindle, if they show any wear replace them along with the cups in the drag link), get a shop manual and check that you are putting each and every part back together properly, DON'T assume ANYTHING! Steering is too critical to safety to work on haphazardly.

 

The 48 - 56 typical drawing is attached.

 

On my 52 the arm points slightly to the rear - The drag link and the wheels str8t ahead will only allow this set up
It was the same with the original steering box and it's the same with a Toyota box

 

OUCH! Thanks for the chewin' out. I had it coming. I didn't clean everything up before I asked for help.
Sorry,
olguy