crooked steering wheel

[haydenm315]

I just finished putting my car back together after doing a brake upgrade.... 94 knuckles and all. My car drives straight as before, but the steering wheel is a bit cocked to the left. Do I simply need an alignment or is there something else I can do?

 

[masho95]

Slightly tilt your head to the side.

Seriously though, mine's been quite crooked since I had to tear apart the whole steering column to fix the rod that's attached to the ignition. I've just dealt with it since. Nothing major to me right now, but every person is different on the apperance of their car.

 

[Shoaz]

You probably need the toe adjusted on the front. This is pretty easy to do, and even if you have someone else do it it shouldn't be expensive as long as you make sure that's all they do (some places won't touch it unless they do a full four-wheel alignment, which isn't needed).

If the steering wheel is straight when the toe is set it should cure this.

BTW, it bugs me, too, when it's not right. Many road racers depend on the steering wheel being straight in order to maximize straight-line braking.

 

[shojuan]

There was a writeup here by somebody (I think he defected to a used M3) on how he gets his steering wheel straight and that's the method I've used. Hayden, you can get yourself a cheap toe gauge from Harbor Freight like I've got and have at it yourself.

Or you can take it to a shop like Shoaz suggests. Any competant shop guy that can set the toe should be able to get the steering wheel straight if you tell you you want "the toe checked and adjusted and be sure to get the steering wheel straight". I do my own alignments and I'm a lot slower at it than a pro. I'm sure some of the guys here who do their own and do it more often are a lot quicker about it than I am. I bet Shoaz is one of them. Anyhow, Hayden, you are just the type of guy who would be satisfied doing his own toe adjustments if you feel so inclined to buy a cheap gauge. You can use string. chalk, wood, misc items around the house too but the cheap Chinese gauge from Harbor Freight is SO cheap ($20 or less) and easy that I say why bother with the free hacks?

There are good, fairly affordable camber gauges out there too. I've got one that cost me $75. Shoaz has a better one that cost him I think $150. Lance has a good one too I think. Again, not as cheap as mine. Just alternatives to paying for alignments, that's all I'm saying.

 

[haydenm315]

I'm just wondering what the **** happened since I didn't change any of the tie rod lengths. I'm worried something is crooked or bent like a tie rod. It just seems weird that the car goes straight with the steering wheel about 45 degrees to the left side. What could I have messed up?

 

[shojuan]

I'm just wondering what the **** happened since I didn't change any of the tie rod lengths. I'm worried something is crooked or bent like a tie rod. It just seems weird that the car goes straight with the steering wheel about 45 degrees to the left side. What could I have messed up?

Inspect your front tension strut rods and associated bushings. Both the tension strut to subframe bushings and the tension strut to lower control arm bushings.

Make sure your steering rack nuts are tight too if you can reach a wrench up there without taking the y-pipe off.

I'm sure there are other things you can check that others will mention, but start by checking out those tension strut rods and bushings. Also check that their nuts are properly torqued. Oh, and how were the ball joints on the lower control arms? Inspect those and make sure they look to be installed in the knuckles properly.

 

[SHO_Driver]

When my subframe bolt was loose, right rear bolt, the steering tilted to the right. After I found it loose and tightend it up it was straight again.

 

[Bizzy]

I believe that the problem could be with the yoke on the steering column. There are 3 pinch bolts on the column. From what I understand, the method to correct an off center wheel (given that the wheels are already in alignment) would be to loosen the bottom pinch bolt (under the boot), straighten the wheel to the 12 o'clock position and then tighten the bolt back up. I know it can also be corrected by adjusting the tie rods or adjusting the toe, but many times when it is off center it's cause by the connection (pinch bolt) where the rack connects to the steering column slipping. Meaning the pinch bolt may loosen over time and the column slips out of the correct position with the rack.

This all from memory so hopefully memory serves me well.

 

[DHMag]

i believe the yoke will only go on the input shaft to the power steering rack one way. round with a flat spot..at least, thats how mine was...



BTW..Hayden..good to see ya back !

I believe that the problem could be with the yoke on the steering column. There are 3 pinch bolts on the column. From what I understand, the method to correct an off center wheel (given that the wheels are already in alignment) would be to loosen the bottom pinch bolt (under the boot), straighten the wheel to the 12 o'clock position and then tighten the bolt back up. I know it can also be corrected by adjusting the tie rods or adjusting the toe, but many times when it is off center it's cause by the connection (pinch bolt) where the rack connects to the steering column slipping. Meaning the pinch bolt may loosen over time and the column slips out of the correct position with the rack.

This all from memory so hopefully memory serves me well.

 

[Shoaz]

i believe the yoke will only go on the input shaft to the power steering rack one way. round with a flat spot..at least, thats how mine was...

On my 95 and on the Pumpkin the steering shafts are square, so apparently YMMV.

I wouldn't worry about anything being out of whack on the front. Changing the knuckles is enough to make things a little different. That's why toe is adjustable, though, so it shouldn't be an issue once it's re-adjusted.

 

[shojuan]

Yes, but steering wheel turned 45 degrees to the left seems pretty significant. Worth checking out the easy stuff.

 

[DHMag]

Hayden, did you replace thw wheel bearings before installing the knuckles ? if not, the bearings may be bad. or, one of the knuckles is bent from an accident.

 

[haydenm315]

Well it appears one of my strut to knuckle pinch bolts fell off. I was fortunate only to lose a little bit of tire. Whoops. My steering wheel is much straighter now, but still isn't 100% perfect. This is probably normal though. No more burnt rubber smell either.

 

[shojuan]

glad you found it. Sometimes a simple looksee (after prodding from a third party) is all it takes. That's how I found my recent suspension problem...when George Fourchy pointed me towards taking a look at the tension struts....a problem with a bushing that resulted from an error of mine, ahem...but it took 20,000 miles to become a problem hehehehe.