'93 C1500 Steering Box Rebuild - Help!

[samneric]

Hi all,

I have just rebuilt my Steering Box using seals I bought from Napa. The instructions I used posted on a website were not very detailed and as a result I am not sure I put it back together properly.

My issue is that I can steer the wheels with the front end off the group but when I drive it, the steering is so tight that I literally can only move the wheels half an inch in either direction.

I have subsequently found more detailed re-assembly instructions and it seems I did make a couple of mistakes.

1) I put on the conical thrust bearing races (on worm gear) facing in the wrong direction.
2) I didn't alternate the ball bearings (big/small) and held them in place with grease (not sure if this would cause the problems or not).

Can someone please tell me if these mistakes would cause the tight steering or is it another problem (for example air trapped in the system - I only turned the wheels back and forth about 15 times and the instructions say 75 times).

I also have two other queries about the rebuild.

1) I'm not sure if I am using the correct O ring on the end of the worm gear - it doesn't seem to fit tight.

I have a couple of pictures to show what I am using:



Installed:



2) Is the inner valve supposed to be fixed to the stub shaft? I thought it had to spin round inside the valve body.

I installed it with valve hole sitting on the peg on the shaft like this:



I know these are a lot of questions but I am at a loss, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Steve