So in doing routine maintenance on my '52 I noticed that the steering turns much further to the right than the left. So far that the tie rod will hit the spring shackle threaded end on the right-at least when on the lift...
The PO had someone replace king pins, tie rod ends and draglink...
I'm thinking he must have had the Pitman arm off and put it together off to the right.
So- in the interest of fixing this and getting better steering in this all stock set up- it looks like I need to take these steps-
1- Disconnect Pitman arm at steering gear.
2- Center front wheels.
3- Locate the center of steering gear box by turning to full lock each way and find center.
4- Reattach Pitman arm.
5- Remove steering wheel if necessary to center it.
Am I missing anything?
Are there any pitfalls I might want to know about?
General advice?
Corrections?

 

Im not sure but the Pitman may be keyed in position. In other words a double spline so that it can only go on one way. Then you would have to investigate further...

 

Correct, it can only go on in 90-degree increments. There are 4 blind splines, see below.

 

I have never had the pitman arm of of Gertie, so I am unsure as to whether it is keyed in some fashion or not.

That said, before I removed the pitman, I would take the drag link off and examine the pivot ball on the pitman and arm. Serious wear on those ***** can result in significant changes in wheel positioning. Since the prior owner had replaced/rebuilt the drag link, it is possible that the ball seats in the link were mis-installed, resulting in wear of the pivots. There was a thread some years back about issues such as this.

 

Ok- so maybe the Pitman arm is off 90 degrees-
It's a substantial difference between left and right turning radius.
Which way is the arm normally pointed?
I'd think pretty much straight down?
I checked out the rest of the components and all seem tight.

 

Yes, straight down

 

Still confused.
Pitman arm is about straight down...
About 2 full turns of steering wheel to stop going left.
About 2.25 turns of steering wheel to stop going right.
Easy way to tell if drag link is installed backwards?

 

It's not that the draglink is installed backwards that will give a centering issue, but that the internal parts that make the ball socket in each end is installed in the wrong order. Altho the parts in each end look similar they are not installed in the same order. It's not unusual for a novice rebuilder to assume they go in in the same order. Here's the bottom line tho: If when the wheels are straight ahead the pitman arm is pointed approx straight down, then the problem is not likely the drag link. The problem is in one of two places: The pitman arm is installed incorrectly or there is a problem in the steering box. With the wheels straight ahead, take the pitman arm off the pitman shaft and center the box. Try reinstalling the pitman arm. If the keying prevents the arm from reinstalling without turning the wheels, the problem is in the box, I have never rebuilt one of these boxes, but my gut tells me it was apart and the gears were not centered when reinstalled. I'm not sure if that is possible tho. The other thought I just had is that you are not turning the steering box to the stop limits of it's travel in each direction, but are hitting the axle stop in the short direction. Again the way to verify is to remove the pitman arm and see that the wheels turn an equal amount in both directions, or does something stop them in the short direction? The pitman arm is not difficult to remove especially if it has been off before. If it hasn't you may need the help of a pitman arm puller or medium size two arm gear puller, but it is still not difficult and will answer your questions. How much free play is there at the rim of the steering wheel?

 

Thanks AX, you reminded me of the other way you can get your steering out of whack.

As AX stated, if the drag link has been reworked, and the internals are not installed correctly, the relative positioning of the drag link socket seats will change, resulting in an off-center condition of the wheels. In the other thread I had mentioned, someone was having the same issues, and one wheel would rub.

While the truck can still be steered, the worse condition is that if the seats are not put aright relatively quickly, and the vehicle is driven in this condition, significant wear of the pivot ***** can result in short order.

 

What exactly stops the travel in each direction? A 1/4 turn difference isn't much.

 

I don't think anything does - except for the limits of the "linkage" assembled together properly...
I thought maybe there was a "stop" of some type missing on the right side, but after looking through the manual - I don't see anything missing...

Maybe its normal for it to have further steering travel to the right?

 

Are the tie rod ends exposed equally on the tie rod?

 

I have a 56 f100, and it has an adjustable axel to spindel steering stop on each side. I just can imagine that Ford didn't put the same thing on the f1 as that is a really important feature to not damage anything on the vehicle or unpredictable handling while turning.

Search one more time for the steering stops, on mine they are a threaded bolt with a square head

 

Yes. Both sides are equal, very little thread showing.

 

I'll check again, but was looking for something like that yesterday.