Hello. I'm having issues with my steering alignment. The bearing in my gear box was bad. I replaced the seals twice before figuring that out. i got a used gear box from the junkyard. I centered everything before installing the used one. Made sure the steering wheel was centered. Centered the used gear box. The used gear box had a pitman arm attatched when i bought it. I marked the placement of the old pitman arm before removing it. Installed a new pitman arm in the same position as the old one. But now my steering wheel, which was straight when i started, is now turned to the right when my wheels are straight. Is there any advice anyone can give to fix this issue or is it simply a front wheel alignment issue? i had an alignment when i got new tires a few months ago.

 

You will need an alignment to center the wheel back to where it was. To be off, means that one piece, you put back on, is not exactly where the original was. It requires an alignment to get everything back in the right places. Sorry.

 

But everything was marked before taking everything apart and everything was installed the way it came apart. That is why I'm stumped about why the steering wheel isn't lined up.

 

when you put the new pitman arm on did you have someone hold the wheel when you tightened the pitman arm? when I my lift on my jeep I ran into the same problem. I'd tighten the thing up, and as I did that, the wheel naturally turns. so me and my buddy had to take it off, put it back on, this time, he held the wheel center while I tightened it up. Hope this helps.

 

The pitman arm has four thick grooves in the splines so it can only go on a certain way. I marked the old pitman arm with a white paint pen prior to removing it. The new pitman arm went on the same way the old one did.

 

You need an alignment. The alignment was good with the worn out box. Now you need it aligned to the new one. Im going through the same process

 

You did it the right way, but 99 out of 100 will need an alignment when you fix the box and replace the arm. Whenever you change out hard parts, such as idlers, pitman arms, tie rods, center links, etc, there is almost always one piece that is just a millimeter off in size, that really makes a difference when it comes to everything aligning correctly. Not necessarily from the new part being made differently, but because of old parts being worn, and the front end was aligned to the way the old parts set. The new parts may set at a different angle and cause what you are encountering. Sorry to be a bearer of bad news.

 

Even with the steering wheel being this far off from center, it's simply an alignment?