01 Dodge Ram 1500 2wd finished up with ball joints, tie rod ends, pitman & idler arm, alignment. I decided this past weekend to do the gear box and stabilizer (sway bar to pitman) Well I thought I had everything lined up but when I took my test drive the steering wheel is not centered, off to the left about 1/3 turn very annoying. Can I just disconnect the pitman arm, straighten wheel and reinstall the pitman? Had seen something about adjusting tie rod ends evenly but would rather do it by pitman if it can be done that way.

 

look at your old pitman arm, usually they can only go on one of 4 ways, in which case, no, you'll need an alignment again.

 

Sounds like he did the alignment after the tie rods but before the pitman arm.

OP, you could probably try it via the pitman arm, you need to make sure the steering wheel is centered then go from there. Otherwise another alignment may be needed.

 

With the tires dead center mark the steering wheel (piece of tape)tdc and see if you have the same amount of travel lock to lock. As said, You need to start with the centered wheel. Might just be off at the steering shaft.

 

Drag link. Should have an adjuster on it. Just like there's one on the outer tie rod end.

 

Thanks for the replies and sorry for the late response. I did ball joints, tie rod ends, pitman arm & idler arm at the same time then had it aligned. Several weeks later (last weekend) is when I decided to do the gear box. The old box and pitman arm were just splinned didn't have the 4 groves. The new box does have the 4 groves but new pitman arm does not however it snugged up just fine. Since the pitman arm does not have the 4 groves is the reason I thought I could just reposition it to straighten the wheel.

 

Adjust the drag link

 

That would be the link between my inner and outer tie rod ends correct?

 

The drag link goes from the pitman arm to the tie rod.

 

Would you be referring to 4WD? Mine is a 2WD with center link attached to pitman arm, only adjustment are at the tie rod adjuster tube.