Saginaw manual steering box - is "design center" really in the center?

I'm finding conflicting info on the web and I hope someone can shed some light on this for me. The 75 FSM doesn't seem to really go into detail on this unless I missed it somewhere.

On the saginaw manual box (75 CJ5 in my particular case) is the box at "center" when the cutout for the bolt that holds the belljoint on at 12 o'clock (which isn't really quite center) or about 15-20 degree to the side? Reason I ask is I'm reading some mid-70's saginaw boxes actually had more travel to one side than the other, but those supposedly had "flats" that point to 12 o'clock that my box doesn't seem to have. So is the cut-away bolt area actually the "flat" on these boxes or should I go strictly by the middle of the actual rotation extremes?

I tried tightening up the sector shaft to find that tightness that should occur in the center but its inconsistent in my old junk box, probably because the ball nut is actually cracked through in two places and it has a bunch of slop in the sector shaft/bushing. I'd also rather not do this on my new box to find my answer.

Finally, I assume the pitman arm is completely parallel to the frame at center as well? It looks like it isn't keyed and can go on in any position - which makes it even harder to determine where center really is in the box.

Thanks in advance!

Thanks,
-jd

 

Center should be at Center.................crank the input shaft all the way one direction until stop and then back again the opposite way to stop........1/2 half the distance is the way I always set them up and never pay attention to any flats.

Yes on the Pittman arm is should be straight back so that it can travel an equal distance in either direction minus your stops.........I would also say that most have a missing spline on the sector shaft that acts as a key........but some including myself have filed that key out of the Pittman arm to re-clock or use other style's of dropped arms.