So I am in the middle of replacing my leaking steering gear on my 1988 E250 and have run into a couple of issues. The old one came out fine (except fighting the pitman arm). I have the new gear bolted in place, but.....
1. When I was lining everything up to bolt the gear in place I felt the steering column push up.....like it telescoped up. Now that the gear is in place the steering column is an inch short and won't telescope back down. Is there something that I am missing? Do I need to loosen something to get it to drop down the inch I need?
2. With the new gear in my steering wheel would be upside down with the wheels straight due to where the flat spot on the steering gear is. I am assuming that the gear and steering column will spin 360* continuously (no stops) when it is not attacked to the pitman arm. Is this correct? If so I can get the steering wheel close by rotating the gear/steering wheel 180* before attaching the pitman arm. I know there are some grooves in the pitman arm gear that line up with the larger teeth on the gear.

Thanks in advance for the help.