Help With Steering

As some of you know me I restored this beautiful 67 v6.
I don't drive it much due to not being able to get the steering dialed in right. Constantly moving my hands back and forth to keep it straight I was doing some reading on it and figured maybe I didn't have the gear centered before attaching the pitman arm.
I decided to dive into it today. Mistake #1
I got the wheels off the ground, disconnected the drag link and found center by counting turns on the wheel, removed pitman arm and with wheels straight aligned it to the drag link and put everything together.....made it worse.... now when I turn to the left the tires won't turn all the way to the stops on the axle. Turning left is a 3 pt turn now. Took it all apart and put it back like before and still the problem persists.
Also when adjusting the gear it will not drag in the center but drags when wheels are turned to the left. Everything is new and tight. The gear was rebuilt with a nos sector shaft and new bearings.
I'm thinking of pulling the column out and starting from scratch....help...

 

It sounds like the sector shaft may not have been correctly centered on the column's worm gear (a.k.a. the cam), as I believe this would result in the condition you're describing. If that's the case, AFAIK, the only way to fix it is to remove the steering wheel, then the column, gearbox, and pitman arm, then pull out the sector shaft and reassemble with the sector shaft correctly positioned on the worm gear.

Here's a write-up I did - with a LOT of help from Moses Ludel! - when I rebuilt my V6 steering gear years ago. There are photos about 2/3 of the way through it showing how the sector shaft should be positioned in order to get full left and right travel:

https://forums.4wdmechanix.com/topic/691-rebuilding-the-jeep-ross-tl-cam-and-lever-steering-gear/

Hope this is helpful....

Your Jeep is gorgeous, BTW!

 

Is it even possible to put the shaft in off center ? Shouldn't u be able to just turn the worm gear to center it ? Without the sector shaft in it just spins freely without stops

 

What you're saying makes sense, but it seems like there was an issue with getting equal left and right turns if the sector shaft wasn't positioned correctly to start with.

Here's the part of the above thread I was talking about:



If I'm incorrect about the above, I'm sure someone will straighten me out on that - it's been about 8 years since I rebuilt mine, but I think the point of centering the sector shaft was to establish the center position of the spline relative to the housing. That made it possible to ensure it was centered when the pitman arm was installed. However, you may be able to assess the center position of the sector shaft without disassembling the box, then mark that position on the housing as shown above.

 

When I rebuilt the steering box in my '69 last year, I used an NOS sector shaft and a good used pitman arm. Both were marked on the end. I lined up the marks when I reassembled it. I ended up with no slop on center doing that and can steer to both stops:


Another thing that helps immensely is installing some 6 degree caster shims. Those made the Jeep easily driveable even with some slop before I rebuilt the steering gear.

 

Yeah the new stuff doesn't have marks

 

Measure the caster, I used a phone app and put my phone on the kingpin flat. You want about 5° difference between the kingpin and the smooth flat ground.
Next
Jack up the front wheels.
Take the arm off, mark the shaft then mark the housing left, right, then split center.
Then make sure you have full smooth travel on the axle left to right.
Then check all the linkage and bellcrank for wear or other issues.

Is your draglink for a v6?

If assembled at center does not seem correct assemble it at full left and make sure you are not hitting the flywheel cover.

 

It's the original drag link rebuilt

 

So these get installed on top of the spring pack ?

 

Yes

 

Yes between the spring and axle.

 

Thank you, what's the best way to check my current angle ? I don't have an angle finder but downloaded the angle finder app

 

So I went and bought an angle meter. I zero it on the pavement then put it on the flat of the knuckles (camera is tilted not meter) and this is what I ended up with

 

The king pin would have tilt towards rear of vehicle to achieve more degrees of castor. WFO products has a 4 degree shim then the next size is a 6 degree shim. What would you recommend ?
Also I assume I would need a longer spring pack bolt also ?

 

Another way to sort of know if caster is off is in how well it follows when flat towed. For years mine followed like a lamb then I messed with the spring pack and bushings which disturbed the caster angle and it started testing the lead side to side.

A 5/16 (someone please verify) Allen head bolt is easier to work with than the spring pin and is a better quality so... yes but you can remove a leaf. Mine is down to a 6 leaf pack and it finally settles a little when I lift the snow plow off the ground and doesn't ride like a tractor.

I'ld go with 4deg shim in your case the WFO shims are good stuff (that's what I have)

 

The one in the photo I posted above is a 4 degree. They have worked perfectly for me. But everybody's old jeep is different.

Also be aware that when you add angle it will tip the pinion shaft down so the front drive shaft will have a sharper bend at the u-joints