91forerunner

My 91 4runner was leaking PS fluid from the steering gear shaft seal. I bought a used OEM unit and installed it. Fortunately, it included the Pitman Arm and the only alignment issue was the gear housing shaft and the steering intermediate shaft coupling.

While removing the steering gear, I couldn't get the steering coupling/intermediate shaft to slide back. I'm not sure if it is supposed to slide back. I had to go through some contortions to tilt the gear box and lift and slide the shaft out of the coupler.

While putting it back together, I had to take my best shot at aligning the steering gear shaft and steering intermediate shaft coupler. Both the old and new shafts had similar looking die marks on them. I counted the splines from the mark I had made on the old one to the die mark, and then repeated that on the new one and made a mark.

Everything went together well, unfortunately, my steering wheel is cocked a little to the right. Maybe 2 splines off is my guess. Dang! Otherwise everything was working great after bleeding the system, no more leaks.

So, my big question is this: can the steering intermediate shaft be slid backwards of the steering gear shaft to allow me to make the adjustment?
Would loosening the next coupler up the shaft allow this?

Or do I have to completely remove the steering gear again?

Any help with this question would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Charles

91forerunner

I'll answer my own question. Maybe it will help someone someday.

Still don't know if intermediate shaft slides back.

But, the answer is to simply adjust the steering wheel. I borrowed a puller, it was only 2 splines off. I can still easily access the coupler bolts. If I ever have to remove the steering gear again, I'll make the adjustment up front at that time. Big thanks to my neighbor for pointing this out.

abecedarian

sorry, must've missed this one somewhere...
but by 'intermediate shaft' were you referring to the shaft coming off of the steering box and up to the wheel?
if so, yeah, things can be disassembled and moved around somewhat... so starting at the box:
the steering box input shaft is splined so you can loosen / move / reorient the coupler if necessary
the coupler itself can be disassembled to replace the fiber coupling disc as well, but requires the coupler on the steering box to be loosened and the slip-shaft to be loosened as well
the slip-shaft (the actual shaft that leaves the coupler and goes through the firewall) should have a 'pinch clamp' on it to secure it, and it also can be disassembled and rotated if necessary... but that's not advised since it is part of the safety/crash absorbtion system
and the steering wheel can be removed and reoriented as well (as you've discovered)

now to make one consider things...
any time any part of the steering linkage is disassembled / removed / replaced / etc... a thrust angle alignment should be performed.
if the steering box was worn, there is a decent chance it has affected the alignment, at least as far as maybe an alignment was performed which compensated for the wear, so with no wear, the old alignment is invalid.
the facility has the equipment to perform a thrust angle alignment and during the process of doing so, locating the 'center' of the front wheel position (to compensate for any misalignment in the chassis- read as 'bent frame' or other issues) will be found and the front suspension should be adjusted to accomodate that. Now during that process, the steering wheel may be found to not be 'centered' even though the truck will roll straight. There are some adjustments that may be made, but typically it is a remove/recenter/replace the steering wheel, like you've found.
on the other end of things, if the alignment finds that the steering wheel position needs significant adjustment, there is in all likelyhood some component that is bent or damaged.
that is all.