Okay so, after my axle swap, my steering wheel has been different. Sous may remember that he told me it was my clock spring. Well for some reason my turning radius to the left was way worse than my turning radius to the right. I also heard a lot of creaking when turning to the left. Felt like steering wheel could go further and I knew it could and sure enough, bam! A pop came from inside the steering column and some smoke shot up I think it was my clock spring emphasis on was. My seat belt light won't turn off either anymore. I can turn now though! I'm pretty sure that was my clock spring snapping. I don't know if it was smoke or dust that shot up. It was one or the other, it looked more like dust. For a couple of seconds my seatbelt light was flashing on and off randomly and now it is staying on. That light has never done anything before. Whether I had seatbelt on or not it never stayed off. Do you reckon it was my clock spring snapping?

 

Probably... Never heard of smoke coming from under there, though it is an electrical connection so that is possible.

This is the thread I linked earlier when we were discussing the noise.

Link: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ghlight=Spring

You can disconnect the batteries and pull the airbag cover off in order to inspect the clock spring and look for burnt plastic.

 

Thanks! I reread that forum and I know which one I'm going to get! Ordering today! I'll take the airbag off today and take a look!

 

RacinJason pointed out what may have happened to my clock spring. It makes good sense too. I never had this noise until I took the steering gear off to reseal it the first time. And all the confusion of trying to figure out how the shaft goes back on and what not, I must have turned the wheel a Turn or two extra before the shaft went back on. This overstressed the clockspring when I turned because it was already turned once or twice. RacinJason pointed this out to me and I think he's right.

 

He is right.

 

 

What Jason and Dan said.

This is similar to how I damaged my clock spring as well. When my steering gear exploded as I was backing in the 5th wheel, I was mid turn. So, the steering wheel spun around a couple of times as it fell loose from my hands because it was no longer connected to a gear and spun freely. I tried to return it to the position in which I thought it was at the time the gear exploded while telling my wife to put some chocks out because the ATF was pouring out onto the ground at a quick rate.

Since that day, my clock spring creaks a bit when turning left to lock. I have procrastinated fixing it because cruise control and the horn still work. I guess your clock spring breaking might be a nudge for me to get mine done too.

Maybe you want to do another write up for the 7.3L PSD Tech Folder?

 

I was unsure of how clock springs work. Now that I know, it won't happen again. We live and we learn!

 

Mine started out as just a little creak and then it got bound up and snapped! You should definitely fix yours! When I get my clock spring I will do a write-up and explain what not to do as I have done here! I would think if it's creaking to the left
You could take the steering shaft back off of the steering gear and do a rotation and put the splines back on. I'm not positive but I would think you would want to spin the shaft to the left one full rotation. I could be wrong about that because I don't know about the clock springs much yet. It might be the exact opposite. So please do not take my word for it!

 

My guess is if it’s binding to the left then you would have wanted to spin to the right.

Best bet is to never turn the wheel while steering gear is disconnected. (Sorry we’re having the conversation after the fact). I have a friend I’ve worked with that was very ‘passionate’ about that. He would actually put the seatbelt through the wheel to prevent someone from coming up and giving it a whirl. And I’m sure someone would have done it. He’s a smart guy!

 

I'm unsure how the clock spring works exactly but, after looking at it, it seems like a big spool of wire (basically). You are probably right about turning to the right one turn. It would be easy to find out! I will try to determine this information when I do my right up tomorrow on how to change the clock spring.

It's not your fault. I should have known it mattered. My inexperience showed through. I learned my lesson.

I had trouble getting the splines to line up and ended up spinning the wheel back and forth trying to line it up. Next time I will keep the key out of the ignition so that the wheel can't turn.

Your friend is a smart guy! Maybe I need to learn a thing or two from him and from all of you!

 

It took me a lot longer to change out the clock spring then I thought it should have. The problem was my steering wheel was seized on the steering splines. I messed one puller, one of them didn't work and finally got it after the third puller and the fourth trip to the auto parts store. I also tried one of the three jaw pullers. That didn't work. After I finally got the steering wheel off it was easy. I was a little under impressed by the quality of the dorman clock spring though. You can feel it in your hands how crappy and cheap it was. Not talking about how cheap it was to buy of course. I had to get it from the auto parts store and the only one that could get it was O'Reilly's and they do not do price matching with online stores. I ended up walking out with it for $174 and change. I know, not worth it but, I'm glad I did it. My clock spring is in multiple pieces and was unraveled and Tangled up. Also, the new dorman clock spring makes a little bit of noise while you're turning. Not creaking like before but, every now and again you can hear a plastic on plastic tap throughout the course of the turn. It really did feel like a pile of Chinese junk. But it's working so not going to worry about it. I will do my write-up on how to change the clock spring when I get home.

 

Good to hear you finished up and all is well.

Do us a favor and try to state the puller by part number that ended up working for you. Perhaps you will save someone else 3 or 15 trips to the parts store.

 

Yes sir! Absolutely! I went back and added it to my write-up! Good call!