Just purchased a '69 Roadster & hence 1st post. Thanks in advance for any help.
Steering wheel was off center by about 45 degs when car was going straight. Following Jim Shea's procedure, I first centered the steering gear via equal tie rod adjustments. At midpoint (X/2), the shaft flat & pin is in the correct 12:00 position. I then pulled steering wheel and realigned to what I believe is the correct position. Upper steering column shaft alignment mark is at 12:00 and now faint hub alignment mark is at 12:00. So, hub, steering shaft & gear flat are all at 12:00.

Problem is car is pulling hard left & both wheels are turned in with gear centered & steering wheel straight. Where do I go from here?

 

Find yourself a good front end alignment shop.

 

Just turning the tag joint doesnt change the alignment, so I guess you did these adjustments by turning the tie rods. This changed the toe. My suggestion is that you set the toe as close to straight as possible and take it to your alignment guy. He will set that up. I dont know why you are messing with it in the first place, if you intend to get it aligned.

 

Alignment shop would be the easy out & if that is what I have to do in the end then I will. But, I am looking to do this myself..if possible. In the end I want wheels straight, steering gear where it is supposed to be & steering wheel in correct position. So, I'm looking for help on chronological order of next steps to achieve this goal.

Should I string it & set toe as next step? I have never done this, but looks doable. Or, is this recommended against. Part of the fun of all this is learning & doing the work myself.

 

personally i always hated aligning, so i took it in! if your car was driving straight down the road before, why did you not just pull the steering wheel off and re center it?

 

What threw me was when driving straight, the steering gear flat and pin was not centered per Jim Shea procedure. When researching to figure out why steering wheel was off, I thought the right route was to get the steering gear centered 1st. I did this with equal tie rod adjustments (3 turns same direction each side) on both sides which I thought was not supposed to affect the alignment. Then in validating steering wheel alignment per procedure I realized that the marks were not aligned. I fixed that. Now, I am trying to figure out why wheels are not straight when the steering gear is dead center with equal # of shaft turns going from center gear position to left or right and steering wheel in correct position.

When the wheels are dead straight does the flat on the steering gearshaft and pin need to be at 12:00?

 

The alignment process should always start with the gear being centered. If the gear is not on center when you drive straight down the road you will have noticeable slop in your steering.

The gear set (the sector and rack inside the gear) was designed with a slight interference exactly on center. They were also designed with a slight clearance in the gear set off center. NEVER try to adjust the gear to try and eliminate the clearance off center. You will ruin the gear set when it tries to come back to center.

With the gear on center now you can set the front tire toe so that the car now tracks exactly straight down the road. I have heard of people setting toe with string. I do not know the process. I trust modern alignment shops with lasers to point the way to the correct settings. If the shop doesn't start with setting your gear on center, go to another alignment shop that knows what they are doing.

Don't forget that a Corvette requires a four wheel alignment.

Good luck,
Jim

 

One other thought on why your front wheel toe setting might have changed.

By convention, the outer tie rod threads should be left hand. So both outer tie rods should be the same thread where they screw into the adjuster tube. This will result in one tube shortening and the other side extending if you rotate the adjuster tubes the same direction.

If you purchase a full set (four) of Corvette tie rod ends you will have two of them with right hand threads and two of them with left hand threads. Other than the threads the tie rod ends will be identical.

So now when you screw the tie rod ends into the adjuster sleeves you will have two matched sets of tie rod assemblies (each with a RH thread on one end and a LH thread on the other.) Now you need to assemble both of the RH hand threaded tie rod ends to the relay rod. This will result in the LH threaded tie rod ends being on the outside and will be the ones that attach to your steering knuckles. Now if you rotate the adjuster tubes the same direction one tie rod assembly will shorten, the other side will lengthen and your original toe setting will not be changed.

Unfortunately, because the tie rod ends look so similar to each other, anyone can easily assemble the tie rod assemblies to the relay rod incorrectly (a RH thread at one attachment and a LH thread on the other.) This will result in a RH thread on one knuckle and a LH thread on the other knuckle. They will work perfectly OK. EXCEPT if you try to adjust them when you rotate the adjuster tubes in the same direction both assemblies will either extend or both retract and this will change your toe.

My guess is that this is why your front wheel toe set has changed. If you switch around one tie rod assembly you will be correct. Otherwise you have to remember that with your car you have to rotate the adjuster sleeves the same number of turns in opposite directions in order to keep your original toe set.

Jim

 

Jim,
Thanks for taking the time to respond & think this through. I will check it out tonight. Your site & procedures have really helped a do it yourselfer. Much appreciated.