Ways to Straighten Steering Wheel

Thanks. A closer look at the diagram in the TSM suggests you are correct. If I pull/disconnect the upper shaft, do I need to worry about the washer and lower tube bushing assemply? What about the horn contact?

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a boot at the coupling cover for the lower shaft u-joint appears to be torn and exposing the u-joint. Changing all of that out may be above my current abilities. The TSM warns about damaging the bearing surfaces of the pin and talks about removing the steering shaft pivot pin bearing blocks and wave washers. I have no idea what any of that is.

 

The lower joint is a bell coupler, it's not a U-joint. It's pretty simple to understand when you pull it apart. It can only go together one way. But new ones aren't expensive, so no need to mess with the bearing blocks and wave washers and all that. If it's worn I'd just replace the whole thing. My upper u-joint was still good and tight so I didn't replace the U-joints in it.

 

Thanks. What exactly would I be replacing. The bell coupler? The bell coupler and intermediate/lower shaft? Any ideas where I can what I need? Is this the part I need - http://omix-ada.com/lower-power-steering-shaft-coupler-kit-72-86-jeep-cj.html?

My upper u-joint appears to be good and tight, so I'm not convinced it needs replacing. If I replace the bell coupler, it looks like I ought to be able to pull the intermediate shaft from the upper u-joint and straighten the steering wheel at the same time. I would just want to make sure that my wheels are straight before I start any of this and that I don't move any of the steering gear in the process?

 

Keep your bell coupler if its not sloppy and put on a new boot

I got one of those new Omix bell couplers. Typical Omix crap. They will give you an inch of movement side to side at the steering wheel. I've been looking for an OEM NOS coupler.

 

Thanks. Where do I find/buy the boot?

 

Morris 4x4
4WD parts
Quadratec
Rock auto

These are some of the places to start looking.

http://www.4wd.com/Jeep-Brakes-and-...spx?t_c=65&t_s=510&t_pt=8221&t_pn=OAI18018.01

 

Thanks.

 

Hey Matt... you need to do a little photo spread of your rig. That thing looks pretty nice in your avatar.

 

I don't see a concern with the lower bushing or washer when rotating the upper shaft and wheel, if I understand your question correctly. The horn contact is to a ring inside the upper shaft tube which would also remain unaffected by rotating the wheel in the splines. Hope I didn't misunderstand your question.

 

Rick,

I was more concerned about the effect that pulling the upper shaft up the steering column an inch or two might have on the washer, bushing and contact, not so much the turning. But now that I've decided to replace the lower coupling boot, my plan is to just pull the lower/intermediate shaft, leave the upper shaft connected to the u-joint and turn it as necessary to align the wheel before reconnecting the lower shaft. Does that make sense?

 

Very cool. Wish I could tell you that that's my jeep in the photo, but mine was painted yellow just last year by the PO. I'll post some photos after I'm done with a few more restore project. Thanks for posting the photo.

 

Yes, the lower is connected with splines as well. I'm just not sure if the splines have a flat spot that would prevent sliding it on at a different position....been a while since I had it apart. If you pull the upper shaft out some, you should first remove the white nylon/plastic plate under the column and keep it off until the shaft is back down into the column. This piece has the contact for the horn and you don't want to bend it. The plastic has two mounting screws. It's located near the wheel and the horn wires that run down the column are connected to it.

 

Thanks for the advice. I am familiar with those items from an earlier horn project. Really appreciate all the advice from this forum. It helps a novice like me feel much more comfortable getting my hands dirty.

 

OK. So here's the udpate. I ended up purchasing a coupling boot replacement kit that included the boot and everything that goes inside the coupling. This morning I successfully replaced the coupling cover/boot and all the insides (cleaned and reused the old coupling), but had to pull the upper shaft to do so. Couldn't pull the intermediate shaft w/o pulling the upper shaft. While I had the upper shaft pulled, I re-aligned my steering wheel (Jeepers and Pathkiller were right . . . easy peasy). Per Rick's suggestion, I used a bungee chord threaded through the wheel and hooked it to the brake pedal to hold the wheel in place. The whole thing took about 2 hours. Btw, the intermediate shaft and splines are notched at the upper u-joint so it can only go in one way. Likewise the gear output shaft that the coupling goes on is notched across the splines, so it can only go on one way. As stated early by others, the upper shaft is notched all the way around at the splines so it allows for an easy re-alignment when pulled. Thanks to all for making my second foray into mechanical repairs fun (the first was replacing a leaky rear seal on my front diff . . . that was fun too).

 

Glad it all worked out! Don't be too afraid of tearing into many of these repairs. These old Jeeps are pretty forgiving, and most stuff is self explanatory once you get into it. And of course there is always the abundance of knowledge from the great members of this site.