steering wheel alignment

[Peter A]

If the steering wheel alignment is off, that is rotated to one side when the car is tracking straight, is it ok to just reinstall it straight? I know you can also adjust this at the rack, but I have the wheel off so it seams an easy fix.

Just want to reiterate the need to use the lockring removal tool. I had the wife in the drivers seat pushing on the lockring with both feet while I am struggling with two screwdrivers. I broke the retracting horn contact, then bought the $10 tool which worked in 1 min.

[ClarkGriswald]

You want your wheel to be centered so the blinkers work right both ways.. I would adjust the draglink.

[Pete1111]

I have the same question (sort of). I don't want to touch anything as far as alignment is concerned because my Wag drives perfectly straight. Also, the turn signals work fine. Thing is, my steering wheel is off center and it sort of annoys me. Is there any easy way to fix this without messing anything up?

Sorry to post a question on top of yours but maybe the responses can help both of us :D

[Sitting Bull]

To fix, do what Clark said, adjust the link, not the wheel.

[jode]

Yeah but why? Why not jsut adjust the wheel...mine is so far off that adjsutment at the draglink is out of the question. (from a slight impact to a Geo metro by the PO)
Why not? WHat's the reasoning?

[irbob]

It may look too far off but trust us on this one because the drag link is the correct way to adjust the stearing wheel alignment. You will be surprised at how far a half turn will move the stearing wheel.

If you move the stearing wheel it will mess up your turn signal cancel springs. I'm not to shur you can move it. I seem to remember a thick spline so it only goes on one way. Correct me on this guys...I will check my book and get back with yea on that one.

[Rogue]

find an alignment shop, the steering wheel is locked straight and the only thing needing reset is toe, most alignment shops in these parts will do a toe-n-go for 29.99 or so. it can be done in a drive way, jack up the front tires, spin them and mark the tire all the way around with a tire crayon, the good thing is you are making a measurment between 2 points on the front and rear of the tire so the mark doesn't need to be centered, grease the floor up and set the tires down on the grease, this will allow the tires to settle out and if you use soap based wheel bearing grease its not hard to clean up. measure from the reference line on one tire to the reference line on the other, take measurements on the front side of the tires and compare them to the rear measurement - the difference between the two is your toe-out ( or in ) measurement. not sure what the spec ( usually 1/8" toed in )is can't seem to locate my shop manual, a string and marker works good to take the measurement with as you only need to measure the difference between the two marks. if the front measurement is smaller than the rear measurement than you are toed in, and vice versa. don't forget to keep the steering wheel locked straight ahead while doing this and a pipe wrench works good for making the adjustment

[jode]

Originally posted by irbob:
If you move the stearing wheel it will mess up your turn signal cancel springs. Either they are already messed up...or I never had em...

...waiting to hear if there is a bigger spline that limits the steering to one spot...

[ClarkGriswald]

The steering colum hooks to that ujoint at the bottom there.. that is a splined shaft. If you didnt have enough adjustment with the drag link you could take that apart and move it over a few teeth.

[irbob]

Well for one you don't have a drag link unless you driving a71 or later jeepster or commando. What I ment to tell you to addjust is the connecting rod. It goes from the pitman arm to the right tie rod end. There is a clamp/sleeve assymbly with two bolts going through it. Loosen the two bolts and start turning the sleeve. It's good to have someone in your rig telling you if it's turning the right way.

As for the larger spline on the stearing wheel the book says to mark the shaft b4 removing it so it can be put back into the same place. Mine has a chisle mark on the shaft and a mark on the wheel. Alignment marks. Good luck.

[Sitting Bull]

THE REASON YOU CANT JUST TURN THE WHEEL...

I just went through the column about 3 weeks ago. The cancelling cam goes through a slotted hole behind the lockplate. The lockplate cannot be twisted, it has grooves with a "set groove" that must align correctly. Therefore, the cancelling cam cannot move any further than the slot on the lockplate will allow it to go.

Next...the cancelling cam goes through a hole on your steering wheel, below the horn button. This hole is the same size as the cam...so there is no adjusting their either. Basically, your steering wheel is "locked" into a certain position if everything is working correctly. If you don't care about the turn signal cancel feature, you can just move the wheel. But if you want it all correct and working, the wheel is not the thing to adjust.

A few other notes:
Sorry about the draglink vocab...that was incorrect.
If you recently unhooked the steering column assembly, you may have turned the shaft 180 degrees out. You may want to unhook the column assembly at the steering box and rotate it.
If that doesn't work, follow irbob's direction.

SEPERATE QUESTION...why not just park the vehicle with the tires straight, unhook the pitman arm, turn the wheel to straight, then hook the pitman arm back on (it will be rotated a few teeth)? Can anyone see any probs with doing that way?

[PhilSine]

To any who may choose to ignore the advice of adjusting your drag link here is what you are in for by attempting to move just the wheel over one spline.

SCENARIO "A"

1) You take the wheel off (the easy part)

2) You try to shift it one spline over.

3) You discover that there is a little plastic nub sticking up with a metal rod coming out of the end of it (this is part of the horn switch)

4) You try to shift that little nub over to the desired position

5) You push too hard (and it doesn't take much to do that) and break the nub and the springs and broken plastic piece fly away to the great unknown.

6) You find the broken nub after searching for an hour in the grass or garage floor or under the seat etc....

7) You unsuccessfully attempt to repair the nub.

8) You get frustrated and put it all back together only now your horn doesn't work.

SCENARIO "B"

Steps 1-4 are same as "A"

5) You realize that pushing hard will break the nub

6) You have brilliant idea to remove security plate so you can easily adjust plastic ring that nub is attached to.

7) You get the snap ring off by pushing as hard as you can and prying with a screwdriver (it works, really)

8) You adjust plastic ring/nub to desired position.

9) You attempt to put snap ring on using same method you used to get it off. It is too hard that way.

10) You go to parts store, buy security plate compressor, and bring it home.

11) You examine old snap ring. It is bent and needs replacing. It costs $4.50 at the dealer and takes an extra day to arrive.

12) You attempt to compress security plate down far enough to get snap ring on.

13) You bend the crap put of the security plate and you must now remove it and straighten it out before proceeding.

14) You get the plate straight, attach the compressor, and start cranking.

15) The tool is made in Taiwan. Need I mention what happens next?

16) You exchange tool for new one, bring it home, and weld re-enforcing angle iron on to it so that you will not have to repeat steps 14 and 15.

17) After 1 1/2 weeks of screwing around you finally get the steering wheel back together but, there's a catch. In the excitement of getting the plate compressed you fail to notice that the nub is in exactly the same position as when you started. tongue.gif

Ask me how I know all this. I was troubleshooting another problem which entailed taking half the column apart. My wheel is straight but, my horn doesn't work.

Here's a way to check if your wheel is on straight with respect to the column.

Remove that cover, look at the shaft, in the middle witt be a mark. This mark should be perpendicular to the steering wheel spokes that run left to right.

Adjusting the drag link takes very little time compared to moving the wheel one spline over.

[jode]

Originally posted by Sitting Bull:
SEPERATE QUESTION...why not just park the vehicle with the tires straight, unhook the pitman arm, turn the wheel to straight, then hook the pitman arm back on (it will be rotated a few teeth)? Can anyone see any probs with doing that way?This one I know…the pitman arm has 4 bigger splines (90 degrees separated from each other) in addition to all the smaller splines that makes it so there are only 4 positions that the Pitman arm will go on at…I already tried it… :(
I haven’t (on the other hand) tried adjusting the sleeve on the draglink (or connecting arm--what's the difference? I thought it was a draglink that connected to the tierod?) so that seems like a logical way to do it without messing up the alignment. If it is true what they say (that a little adjsutment will move the steering wheel a lot) then maybe that is the best way to go at it.

Thanks for the detailed explanation as to why the steering-wheel-removal-method won't work...it's always good to know more than less...so now we all know that the steering wheel method opens a whole can o worms (and it soundslike a real PITA too)
I'll adjust my sleeve on my "draglink" and let y'all know what the result is... smile.gif

[ July 26, 2002, 10:56 AM: Message edited by: jode ]

[reddog]

Alway fix that problem with the link. Most steering boxes (I THINK!) are supposed to sit "centered" if you could move the sterring wheel to fix the problem the steering box would be off.

Adjusting it at the drag link is easy and will NOT affect your alignment.

Kerry

[Marvin Gates]

I guess I'm a screw up, my j10 never had a horn when I owned it. The steering wheel was off just a little so I moved it and problem was solved, my turn signals work fine (I hate horns so thats not a problem) been that way for quite a while with no prolems and the steering wheel is straight, what can I say. MG :D :D :D

[jode]

Originally posted by irbob:
It may look too far off but trust us on this one because the drag link is the correct way to adjust the stearing wheel alignment. You will be surprised at how far a half turn will move the stearing wheel.UPDATE:

Bingo baby!
Yep, this wknd while ArtsiFartsi and were messing with my T-case, we had a few extra minutes and used the draglink adjuster sleeve to rotate the steering wheel...toook about 1 minute and the steering wheel was straight as an arrow :D Thanks for the advice and help.

THe PO told me the wheel was offcenter ever since his wife ran over a Geo Metro with it, but I am starting to think it happened when they lifted it...anyway, all's well that ends well... ;)

[Tad]

Thanks folks, that was a very good read with some resolution. My steering wheel has been about 1/3 of a turn off ever since the lift went on. I'll align and put that right but it brings up another question.

At the time the lift went on and changed the steering wheel alignment I also lost my left turn signals. Now I have been over every wire back and under neath the wagon and it seams I just don't have power coming out of the column for the left side turn signals.

Could this be related to the alignment? (I'm thinking no, how would that apply?)
and
How do I remove the steering wheel when the PO has stripped out all the holes to thread my puller into under the horn button?

[Marvin Gates]

Its easy Tad, just losen the nut that holds it on but don't take the nut all the way off, get a good grip on the steering wheel and pull on it and work it from side to side and it will pop right off.The reason you don't take the nut all the way off is you can end up with the steering wheel in your face. I've never found one that wouldn't come off that way. MG smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif

[Tad]

MG, I'll look at the wheel and nut setup again and give it another try but I kind think mine has been PO'd. I have another column from Ridgbak's 85 which I can modify to fit but would like to avoid the wiring calamities that I'm going to encounter there for a while.

[irbob]

Whew...glad you worked it out. Funny how easy some things are and seem so hard.

Tadsal...forget it...it's a lost cause. Just a joke sorry. I would straiten the well first to see if by some chance it is affecting the signal. If moving it side to side doesn't do the trick you can losen the nut leaving it flush with to bolt and hit it with a dead blow or brass hammer while lifting on the wheel. Carefull not to damage threads. Works every time. The hard part is removing the rings without a puller to gain access to the switch.

[Tad]

OK, none of that pulling and pounding stuff works either, gonna try the puller again after I retap the holes so I can get something to bite down in there.

[ August 06, 2002, 01:51 PM: Message edited by: tadsal ]

[irbob]

You didn't hit it hard enouph. ;)

[Tad]

You didn't hit it hard enouph.I see you winking and that's fine, any harder and all that stuff attached to the dash would be on the floor. I think something is seriously wrong here, I have never had this much trouble with a steering wheel coming off.

Any body have the schematic that would tell me what is what wire wise on an '85 column?

[irbob]

tadsal...any luck with the stearing wheel?