GMC 1976 ZEO 6083 Maintenance Manual page 569

STEERING GEAR INSTALLATION
See CAUTION on page 9-1 of this section.
1 . Before installing the steering gear, apply a
sodium soap fine fiber grease to the gear mounting
pads to prevent squeaks between the gear housing
and the frame. Make certain there is a minimum of
.040" clearance between coupling yoke and steering
gear upper seal .
2. Be sure the steering wheel is properly aligned
in relation to the wheels, and tighten the yoke cinch
bolt to 30 foot pounds . Tighten the steering gear to
frame bolts to 70 foot pounds .
3. Install pitman arm on steering gear, secure
with nut torqued to 160-210 foot-pounds.
4. Connect fluid pressure lines and bleed system .
(Refer to ADJUSTMENTS under POWER
STEERING PUMP earlier in this section) .
STEERING GEAR ADJUSTMENTS
Adjustment of the steering gear in the vehicle is
discouraged because of the difficulty encountered in
adjusting the worm thrust bearing preload and the
confusing effects of the hydraulic fluid in the gear .
Since a gear adjustment is made only as a correction
and not as a periodic adjustment, it is better to take
the extra time and make the adjustment correctly the
first time .
Since a handling stability complaint can be
caused by improperly adjusted worm thrust bearings
as well as an improper gear over-center adjustment,
it is necessary that the steering gear assembly be
Figure 56-Loosening Adjuster Plug Nut
STEERING 9- 3 7
Figure 57-Removing Adjuster Plug Nut
removed from the vehicle and both thrust bearing
and over-center preload be checked and corrected as
necessary. An in-vehicle check of the steering gear
will not pin-point a thrust bearing adjustment error.
THRUST BEARING ADJUSTMENT
1 . Drain power steering fluid from gear by rotat-
ing the stub shaft full travel in both directions several
times.
2. Loosen and remove adjuster plug locknut (fig-
ures 56 and 57).
3 . Turn the adjuster plug in (clockwise) until the
plug and thrust bearing are firmly bottomed - ap-
proximately 20 ft . lb . (figure 58).
4. Mark the housing even with one of the holes
in the adjuster plug (figure 59).
5. Measure back (CCW direction) 1/2 inch and
mark housing (figure 60).
6. Rotate adjuster (CCW) until hole in adjuster
is in line with second mark (figure 61).
7. Tighten locknut securely . Hold (or have held)
adjuster plug to maintain alignment of hole with
mark (figure 62).