Front axle off set to passenger side

[iamtherealJayy]

The smell I’ve narrowed down to hopefully just dirty water on the exhaust, it was kinda wet outside and I didn’t stay on pavement my whole trip. The new brake parts were just a wheel cylinder and an adjuster pin no shoes, drum, pad, or caliper.

 

[Snoots]

For your steering, take an allen wrench and a 5/8" wrench. Loosen the 5/8" nut on top of the steering box about 1/2 turn while holding the allen key in place. Then turn the allen key about 1/8-1/4 turn clockwise and then retighten the 5/8" nut while holding the allen key. Then go drive it and see how the steering feels.

Saginaw Steering Box Adjustment

The nut and screw adjust the Worm bearing Preload and Sector shaft mesh. NOTE! The steering gear must be out of the vehicle to adjust it on all 1974 and later Saginaw rotary gear units. The earlier models can be adjusted (sector shaft preload) on the vehicle. Here is the manner that GM Saginaw Division recommends on how to adjust.

Disconnect the pitman arm from the sector shaft,
completely back off the sector shaft adjusting screw on the sector shaft cover.

Center steering on the "high point" then attach an inch-lb. torque wrench to the steering wheel shaft.

The torque required to keep the shaft moving for one complete turn should be 1/2 - 2 in-lbs.

If the torque is not within these limits, loosen the thrust bearing locknut or tighten valve sleeve adjuster plug to bring the preload within limits.

Tighten the thrust bearing locknut and recheck preload.

Slowly rotate the steering shaft several times,
then center the steering on high point.

Now, turn the sector shaft adjusting screw until a steering shaft torque of 3 - 6 in-lbs. or more is required to move the worm through the center point.

Tighten the sector shaft locknut to 35 ft-lbs and recheck the sector mesh adjustment.

Total steering gear preload should be 14 in-lbs. or less.

Install the pitman arm and replace back in vehicle. To try and adjust the sector shaft screw without doing the preceding will DAMAGE the steering gear. Most of the play is not in the sector shaft adjustment, it is in the spool valve area.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[iamtherealJayy]

I have an issue where say I’m at idle slowing down to turn in a driveway I lose power steering and it sounds like it bogs engine sometimes, I assume the loss of power steering is belt related and the bog is a strain on the engine

 

[Bextreme04]

Saginaw Steering Box Adjustment

The nut and screw adjust the Worm bearing Preload and Sector shaft mesh. NOTE! The steering gear must be out of the vehicle to adjust it on all 1974 and later Saginaw rotary gear units. The earlier models can be adjusted (sector shaft preload) on the vehicle. Here is the manner that GM Saginaw Division recommends on how to adjust.

Disconnect the pitman arm from the sector shaft,
completely back off the sector shaft adjusting screw on the sector shaft cover.

Center steering on the "high point" then attach an inch-lb. torque wrench to the steering wheel shaft.

The torque required to keep the shaft moving for one complete turn should be 1/2 - 2 in-lbs.

If the torque is not within these limits, loosen the thrust bearing locknut or tighten valve sleeve adjuster plug to bring the preload within limits.

Tighten the thrust bearing locknut and recheck preload.

Slowly rotate the steering shaft several times,
then center the steering on high point.

Now, turn the sector shaft adjusting screw until a steering shaft torque of 3 - 6 in-lbs. or more is required to move the worm through the center point.

Tighten the sector shaft locknut to 35 ft-lbs and recheck the sector mesh adjustment.

Total steering gear preload should be 14 in-lbs. or less.

Install the pitman arm and replace back in vehicle. To try and adjust the sector shaft screw without doing the preceding will DAMAGE the steering gear. Most of the play is not in the sector shaft adjustment, it is in the spool valve area.

You must be registered for see images attach

That's the wrong procedure and not the same style gearbox that are in the later trucks. My 1980 saginaw box does not have a single piece worm gear shaft, nor does it have a tapered thrust bearing.

Technically, you are supposed to do the adjustment out of the vehicle also, however the worm gear shaft is split into two pieces and the input side has flat thrust needle bearings in it. For proper adjustment on our trucks you actually tighten the input shaft side to about 30 ft-lbs to seat everything, then back off, then snug and lock the locking nut down. Then you are supposed to undo the 5/8" locknut and loosen the allen key until you feel it bottom out(this is a captured shaft with the gear moving up and down on it as you turn the allen). This will put the gear as far away from shaft as possible. Then you tighten the allen key until you feel it just barely start to drag as it crosses over center.

https://static.summitracing.com/global/images/instructions/agr-283352_yk.pdf

 

[iamtherealJayy]

Took truck to collision place today, guy said “I might entertain the idea of fixing it” yea for $65 an hour I’d entertain it all day. Also showed him a rust bubble starting in my bedside and he said “well there’s a crease right here” yea well the crease won’t make my bed disappear like the rust will
Edit: on the way home truck was slightly shaking at around 55 and when I let off to turn down my road it shook violently for a second and stopped shaking

 

[Bextreme04]

Took truck to collision place today, guy said “I might entertain the idea of fixing it” yea for $65 an hour I’d entertain it all day. Also showed him a rust bubble starting in my bedside and he said “well there’s a crease right here” yea well the crease won’t make my bed disappear like the rust will
Edit: on the way home truck was slightly shaking at around 55 and when I let off to turn down my road it shook violently for a second and stopped shaking

Seriously... should only take you about an hour to pull both locking hubs and check the bearing preload on both sides. Then do the procedure above for making sure your steering sector shaft has the slack taken out of it. Then go get an alignment done. It shouldn't take very much time or effort and will probably drive 10000% better

 

[iamtherealJayy]

So adjusting the steering box will clean up some play in the gear box you think? I have noticed there is a little bit if you rotate the steering shaft the pitman arm doesn’t move for a second. And bearings scare me and I hate grease lmao, I need wheel bearings but I really don’t want to take hubs apart again. How do you actually go about setting bearings? For the k10 I just tightened until it didn’t wiggle but still spun freely because that’s what I heard you do on trailer hubs

 

[AuroraGirl]

I have an issue where say I’m at idle slowing down to turn in a driveway I lose power steering and it sounds like it bogs engine sometimes, I assume the loss of power steering is belt related and the bog is a strain on the engine

are we still talking about the 87 still because I am very very certain we have covered this at least 3 times.

your engine should not be at idle if youre moving in the sense of sitting still, in neutral, operating temp. are you in first gear with clutch applied(partial, not fully decoupled or neutral) with no throttle? if so, and the issue is the moment you are off the throttle and/or fully removed the load from the engine, but it swings back, thats pointing at your minimum idle, TPS, steering bind thus load on ps, or engine electrical like grounds or PROM/MEMCAL.

If your thing youre saying does not swing back and your steering just perpetually stays stiff and you could even full stop and the issue would still happen, id say you are looking at a idle set, power steering valve thingy on the pump incorrect, pulley incorrect, alternator is putting a lot more load for some reason, belts that are slipping enough to provide inconsistent transfer, AC if equipped dragging when not running, engine driveability/EGR/the fun stuff. aka it gets complicated ish.

But none of this accounts for the steering gear talk which I see bex and snoots mentioned, if your steering gear has something out of adjustment I could see there being a problem, I Didnt read what it was about, so disregard if this is not in spec until you fix that.

 

[AuroraGirl]

So adjusting the steering box will clean up some play in the gear box you think? I have noticed there is a little bit if you rotate the steering shaft the pitman arm doesn’t move for a second. And bearings scare me and I hate grease lmao, I need wheel bearings but I really don’t want to take hubs apart again. How do you actually go about setting bearings? For the k10 I just tightened until it didn’t wiggle but still spun freely because that’s what I heard you do on trailer hubs

Oh god you never set preload. Okay. well, ignore my other stuff I mentioned until you fix this. If your preload is theoretically too much or too little your steering could be in bind in those additional places. Get yourself some gloves and get yourself the needed tools(you have them it seems) and do it. do you think i like grease? I touch a spec of grease and next thing you know im inadverntly wearing blackface lol, you just need shop towels and gloves and new grease and a torque wrench.

 

[iamtherealJayy]

No I never did bearing preload? I never replaced them so why would I check them unless they’re obviously a problem. All I have done, leaf springs drag link and tie rod. I didn’t do ball joints or wheel bearings or rotors or anything else I’ve only done what I mentioned doing

 

[AuroraGirl]

No I never did bearing preload? I never replaced them so why would I check them unless they’re obviously a problem. All I have done, leaf springs drag link and tie rod. I didn’t do ball joints or wheel bearings or rotors or anything else I’ve only done what I mentioned doing

Oh I see what you said now. are your bearings, wheel bearings, getting.. worn? You said you need new ones. I assumed you had reassembled worn bearings but you said that was the k10 that you had "tightened" down on. Checking your hub locks and all that isnt a bad idea for sure tho

 

[iamtherealJayy]

I’ve never taken the hubs apart on my red truck since I can’t have it down for long periods of time like the k10, yes I believe my bearings are going out but they aren’t terrible I noticed I could move the wheels (top/bottom not left right) when I had the truck in the air. Also locking hubs were confusing for me as I struggled to get all the splines and the teeth to line up(locked and unlocked teeth) I learned after a better way to do it that I can’t remember. But back to the steering box, that adjustment, would it take some of the play out of the box? My wheel today was straight for the most part and slightly to the left some the other time. It was originally to the right after I’d changed everything, but I set it straight when I did the drag link. Most of the time it’s straight when going straight but sometimes it’s to the left a little. You can hold it straight but you can feel it’s just the play in the wheel and it feels “tighter?” When turned left.

 

[AuroraGirl]

I’ve never taken the hubs apart on my red truck since I can’t have it down for long periods of time like the k10, yes I believe my bearings are going out but they aren’t terrible I noticed I could move the wheels (top/bottom not left right) when I had the truck in the air. Also locking hubs were confusing for me as I struggled to get all the splines and the teeth to line up(locked and unlocked teeth) I learned after a better way to do it that I can’t remember. But back to the steering box, that adjustment, would it take some of the play out of the box? My wheel today was straight for the most part and slightly to the left some the other time. It was originally to the right after I’d changed everything, but I set it straight when I did the drag link. Most of the time it’s straight when going straight but sometimes it’s to the left a little. You can hold it straight but you can feel it’s just the play in the wheel and it feels “tighter?” When turned left.

That slop may be the rag joint. What bex had mentioned was to make sure to do that before alignment, I dont know muc habout the steering boxes so I cant say what all he was saying but have you done the rag joint at all? They get sloppy, a new borgeson rag joint I hear is really good at taking out that nothingness feel

 

[iamtherealJayy]

My rag joint looks perfect in all honesty, it’s not all cracked or frayed, looks fine overall. But with the wheels on the ground I can rotate the steering shaft probably 20% of a rotation pretty easily.

 

[AuroraGirl]

My rag joint looks perfect in all honesty, it’s not all cracked or frayed, looks fine overall. But with the wheels on the ground I can rotate the steering shaft probably 20% of a rotation pretty easily.

have a friend turn the wheel and stare at the rag joint and box.hold it if you want. if it cannot turn without 1:1 moving the rag joint on both sides of it, then your box or steeering geometry has play, if you can turn it without 1:1 then anything through that point on is affected at a ratio that is not going to be the same. IE, half an inch of "twist" for example on the rag joint that turns the box(that side of it) wouldnt be the same distance or angle etc of movement on the other ends of the steering setup. your wheel or the turning

Also, is your steering wheel tight for sure