So I finally replaced the steering gearbox on my truck. I know everything is together right because its keyed and went together without any difficulty and I marked it. Before I did the gearbox my wheel was always a little left at road speed because of the roadcrown. Now its a little more to the left and it bothers me. I'm wondering since my last GB had so much play in it when I did the alignment if now the new one with no play has caused the issue to be more apparent. What do you guys think? I know gearbox's don't affect alignment but I'm kind of at a loss here. I made sure everything was exactly like the old one. Its just kind of annoying seeing the wheel slightly turned when driving.

 

pretty much normal. i think they just install the shaft a tooth off or something at the factory. but ive replaced a few gear boxes at my old work and the wheel always seemed different. so you probably need a allighment, like you said it isnt going to affect your tow-in or any other alignment issues just your wheel being a bit off

 

when you say keyed I guess you are referring to the gear box to steering column shaft. On my 2000 there is a flat on the gearbox stub and a split on the column for the clamp bolt. Normally these would line up, but I found that it is possible to be off a tooth.

 

it can be adjusted at an alignment shop

 

IF I'm not mistaken you're referring to the placement/positioning of your steering wheel rather than the vehicle alignment (veering one direction or another.) In other words, you want your steering wheel to be straight across rather than tilted to one side. IF this is the case I ran into that with a couple of my T-Birds when I changed the steering gear boxes and/or steering couplers. I just pulled into a parking lot where I could drive a straight line far enough to know my wheels were straight and then I just pulled the steering wheel and realigned it. I got it as close to perfect as it was going to get.