I recently installed a pair of Posies reverse eye (2 leaf) springs on the front of my 55 F100. Although this went well and the ride improved, doing so resulted in my steering wheel position now being upside down when the wheels are pointing straight. How do I go about correcting? I have checked this as well as other websites to include my shop manual and cannot find any guidance. Appreciate any help. Best, Steve

 

I've never heard of this happening before. I'm not seeing in my mind how one has any impact on the other. Did you remove the pitman arm from the steering box for the install? Could it have been reinstalled incorrectly? Have you checked to see how that has affected the turns lock to lock? Does one way have more turns or travel than the other? It might be worth a call to Posies to see if they have any experience with this or insight on how to correct.

If the pitman arm is still in the correct place on the sector shaft, for the wheel position to be different would require the axle location to be moved fore or aft of it's stock location. You don't have the springs in backward by any chance, do you? Without measuring them, I don't know what the difference is between the spring eyes and the spring centering bolt, front and back.

 

I’m going to guess that the springs are the ones that center the wheels in the fender?
by moving the axle toward 1-2” pulls the drag long forward and that turns the steering wheel a half turn

 

If bigwin56F100 is correct, there is a longer drag link to correct the steering wheel position.

On these old trucks, typically the only way to center the steering wheel is to remove it and reposition it, which is okay for small adjustments. There is no master spline on the steering wheel to shaft. But, 1/2 revolution is too much to move the steering wheel. The sector and worm shaft gears inside the steering box will not be in their "center steer" position anymore when the wheels are straight. "Center Steer" position is critical for the sector and worm shaft gears when the vehicle is in the straight ahead position. In "center steer" position the worm and sector shaft gears have an interference fit (if the box is adjusted correctly). This prevent the gears from impacting against each other when the front wheels hit bumps, etc. which could potentially break them.

 

Thanks all. Looks like I will go over to my friends house and use the steering wheel puller. Actually my steering wheel is about 90 degrees off not completely upside down. My bad-sorry. Looling at the related topics below, my situation is the pretty much the same as the 54 F100 Steering Wheel Alignment thread. The new springs moved the axle a bit. Will let everyone know when and how I resolved.

 

Be careful don't smash your tube with the puller!!

 

Before just randomly repositioning the steering wheel:
1) With the front wheels pointing straight ahead remove the draglink or steering arm from the steering box.
2) Rotate the steering lock to lock and count the revolutions.
3) Start at one lock position and rotate the steering wheel half of the revolutions counted in step (2). This will place the steering box in center steer position and the steering wheel should be centered at this location. If it is not, center it temporarily with the steering box at center steer. You will feel slight resistance as the steering box passes through the center steer position, unless your steering box is worn out or simply not correctly adjusted.
4) Without moving anything, see if the drag link or steering arm you removed can be reinstalled. Now you will know for certain how far off things are. If in the end, the steering wheel is off 90 degrees, in my opinion you are at the fine line of being too far off from center steer in the steering box. Next issue would be why is there so much play in the steering wheel.

I don't mean to be critical, but, aftermarket parts that are supposed to modify and improve something from original sometimes mess up other components. Some that design aftermarket parts do not consider, realize, or care how other components are affected by it.