Steering wheel wants to turn right while idling, steering gear adustment or front-end alignment?

[BAD69FURY]

I putzed with the valve body today. Tapping it backwards (ie towards the back of the car) makes the problem worse, it increases the tendency to turn to the right. I tapped it forward, but it was already close to the maximum it could be in that direction. I might have moved it a smidge more. With both front wheels off the ground, starting the engine doesn't give any sort of steering wheel kick. but it did still seem to be very touchy as far as staying still and not wanting to auto-rotate the tires to the right. With the wheels on the ground it was better. Moving the car slowly forward and reverse, the wheel feels squirrely, like it wants to turn by itself, either left or right. I don't like it. Maybe the belt could be tighter. I'll look at that tommorrow.

Edit: I did not tap or move it while the engine is running. It leaks a little when the bolts are loosened and I don't want oil all over the place when the pump is running. I loosened it, tapped it to a new position, then tightened it, then started the engine to see the effect of the new position. I trust that I don't actually need to move it *while* the engine is running...

I had this problem in my Newport after replacing the steering gear. A slight adjustment of the steering gear valve body corrected the problem. Here’s a great video showing correctly how to fix it.

watch video from 7:28 onward

 

[ynst]

If the steering wheel twitches one way or the other when you start the engine, the valve body needs adjustment. The FSM, in the steering box rebuild section, tells you which way to tap the valve body to correct the problem.

It's been a while since I had to adjust one of these valves (probably ten years or more) but I distinctly remember the FSM going into great detail about the torque settings for the valve body bolts. One setting will allow you to slide the valve body but not induce any leakage while testing the adjustment and the other is the final torque to affix it permanently.

I never had a problem with one leaking while adjusting it because I always looked up the torque settings beforehand and followed the procedure.

EDIT: I think Chilton and Motor manuals also cover the adjustment procedure.

 

[jmustian]

1967 Monaco. Front stub replaced, steering gear moved to new stub. No alignment done (yet). Tie rod adjusters adjusted by eye. Upper control arm bolts tightened in center positions. All new bushings, tie rod ends, ball joints, etc. Torsion bar height adjustments made. Front end has suitable height, maybe not perfect. Wheels look straight. Only requirements I have is that I can maneuver the car in the driveway for now.

Upon engine start, with wheels pointing forward and steering wheel in correct center position, the steering wheel will start turning by itself to the right and basically point the tires all the way hard right. It takes almost no effort to put a hand on the wheel and prevent this from happening, and if I steady the wheel while the engine settles down I can let it go and it will stay still but it's like on a hair trigger to go hard right. This is power steering.

I looked at the service manual, in the power steering section, looking at the list of problems - solutions. They do not describe this problem.

I vaguely recall that if you take the valve body off the steering gear that you will get this problem unless you putz with it during re-assembly? In this case, I did not remove the valve body.

Could this be just a case of wrong camber / castor? I totally don't know where I am in this regard, I aim to get that set correctly at some point soon.

Comments?

You need to center the valve on the steering gear. The manual describes how you loosen bolts then re tighten to a lighter torque. Then with the front end off of the ground, you tap lightly on the centering valve. Adjust by tapping it up or down until the steering wheel does not go it's own way. Turn the wheel both ways to make sure one way does not move by itself. It's well explain in the fsm under steering gear.

 

[MoPar~Man]

I think I've solved this problem. I removed the gear box and took it apart, following the same steps I took when I changed the worm-shaft seal. I thought I might have mixed up the placement of a few parts:

This is the right-turn reaction ring and couple of placement / spacer rings. This is how I had it put together (which was wrong):

This is how it's supposed to look:

I used a short piece of pipe (which fit real good on the worm shaft) and some shim washers to align the unit to what I think is the correct angle:

With the wheels off the ground and engine running, and some very small adjustments to the valve body, I can get it so that the self-steering in either direction has stopped. I can't quite seem to make it not free-wheel a little bit in one direction or another if I give the wheel a bit of a spin and let go.

I wonder why they didn't load the valve-body piston with opposing springs to give it some neutral return force. I think that would have gone a long way to reducing the wheel rotational inertia.

 

[3175375]

I think I've solved this problem. I removed the gear box and took it apart, following the same steps I took when I changed the worm-shaft seal. I thought I might have mixed up the placement of a few parts:

View attachment 690552

This is the right-turn reaction ring and couple of placement / spacer rings. This is how I had it put together (which was wrong):

View attachment 690553

This is how it's supposed to look:

View attachment 690554

I used a short piece of pipe (which fit real good on the worm shaft) and some shim washers to align the unit to what I think is the correct angle:

View attachment 690555

With the wheels off the ground and engine running, and some very small adjustments to the valve body, I can get it so that the self-steering in either direction has stopped. I can't quite seem to make it not free-wheel a little bit in one direction or another if I give the wheel a bit of a spin and let go.

I wonder why they didn't load the valve-body piston with opposing springs to give it some neutral return force. I think that would have gone a long way to reducing the wheel rotational inertia.

Good work on correcting the assembly error.

Maybe you still have something in incorrectly?

I have never disassembled a steering box, but did screw up a valve body reassembly on Elwood, my 68 Plymouth Fury II 4 door sedan with a 904. I re-read the service manual and figured it out.

I would encourage you to review, carefully consider reassembly and ask questions on this forum. Do not hesitate to include pictures as you have done.