im going to be replacing my power steering control valve and power steering cylinder next week. im having a hard time understanding the instructions for installing the control valve. it says to position the ball stud in the pitman arm. then it says, after getting the correct measurement between the grease plug and the center of the stud at the inner end of the left spindle connecting rod, align the hole in the steering arm-to-idler arm rod with the slot near thew end of the valve sleeve. install the roll pin in the hole to lock the valve on the rod. it sounds to me like there saying im suppose to remove the ball stud from the control valve and install it in the pitman arm first and when everything is lined up insert it back into the control valve. im not understanding this part. any one installed one of these units.

 

well i took another look at my steering setup and it looks like the drivers side of the rack is held up by the pitman arm. so im guessing if i press out the pivot ball from the pitman arm it will fall away and ill be able to unscrew the control valve. right ?

 

You have a 70 Mustang. Thread the control valve/ball stud assembly onto the end of the centerlink until you have only about 4 or 5 threads left showing. There is a slot about an inch long cut into the end of the ball stud sleeve where it threads onto the centerlink. Screw the sleeve onto the link until this slot lines up with the hole drilled into the threaded section of the centerlink end. Measure from the centerline of the grease fitting nipple to the centerline of the hole in the centerlink that the drivers side inner tie rod mounts in. This length should be 5". Thread the assembly in or out on the centerlink until you get this measurement.
When you have it at 5", make sure the slot is aligned with the hole and drive the rollpin into the hole. This locates the control valve assembly in relation to the rest of the steering linkage, and helps to keep it from unscrewing. Install the bolt and nut on the clamp and tighten down. Now install the ball stud up and into the end of the pitman arm.
If you have mounted and tightened down the ball stud in the pitman arm. You will need to remove it to turn the valve. DO NOT do this with a "pickle fork" or you will pull the ball stud out of the sleeve and ruin it. Use a proper puller.

 

now i understand. and yes i have a tie rod puller. i know what a pickle fork does to things, its ok to use to remove things your not going to re-use. the hard part i was trying to understand was about putting the control valve on and aligning the pivot ball. now i understand it. it also helped me when i took a second look at it and noticed that the idler arm holds the passengers side and now i know the pitman arm connected to the control valve holds the drivers side. thanks for the information. and thanks for these forums and the people that have the knowledge to help.

 

seeing that im going to have to install a new roll pin in the new unit im figuring im going to have to remove a roll pin out of the original unit. any suggestions on doing this, is it in there really tight, can i tap it out from the opposite side. do i have to grind it out.

 

If you haven't already removed the rollpin, there should be one in there already, but it may be missing because of previous work.
The hole it goes into is a blind hole, so you can't tap it out from the opposite side. Remove the nut and bolt on the sleeve clamp and knock the clamp off of the sleeve onto the centerlink to get it out of the way. If the rollpin is still there, grip it as close as you can at the base with some wire cutters and lever it out of the centerlink. You should be able to re-use it. If it has been sheared off, due to someone unscrewing the sleeve without removing it, you will have to drill it out.

 

so its right under the clamp. maybe ill get lucky and be able to grab on to it and get it out. looks like its on the top side so i would think it would be pretty hard to drill it out. i can see its the kind of thing that could double the time of the job if all didn't go well. i don't think the steering has ever been touched. ill find out sunday, checker has the control valve and ram in and im getting new hoses tomorrow, it will be a lot cleaner putting back together.

 

well i got all my stuff today, hoses, cylinder ram and control valve. is there any way to check the control out before putting it on the car. the repair manual says to clamp the pivot ball in a vise and push on the unit to see it moves freely, then turn it around and do iti again. i tried this and it will move about 1/8th inch in either direction. i know it must have some kind of tension on it or there would be slop in the steering wheel. the book i have is really only good for torque specs.

 

that play you're feeling should all but go away once the system is full of fluid and under pressure. From what I understand there will be a bit of play there to tell the slave cylinder which way to move as there is a reaction valve inside the cylinder. Correct me if I'm wrong guys.

 

what i meanis, am i suppose to be able to clamp the pivot ball in a vise and move the slide back and forth with little effort or should it be so tight that i shouldn't be able to budge it.