Alignment and steering wheel
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 107
Likes: 9
From: Raymond NH
Alignment and steering wheel
It's a '72. I'm having rear and front wheels aligned, but the mechanic is stumped because the steering wheel is not centered. He knows the tricks about the shims in the rear. Any ideas about centering the steering wheel?
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 107
Likes: 9
From: Raymond NH
Safety Car
Joined: Sep 2005
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From: Orange County Ca
IF the alignment tech knows what he's doing and if the tie rods are adjusted as far as possible to center the wheel and it is still not centered, it is possible that someone has reclocked the wheel sometime in the past.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 2,156
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From: Dunedin NZ.
I would suggest making sure that all other parts of the steering are inline as well. The flat on the input side of the steering box where the flexible coupling fits should be at 12 o'clock. The pitman arm should be pointing straight ahead, the chisel mark on the end of the steering column (you need to remove the horn button to see this) should be at 12 oclock and the steering wheel lower spoke pointing to 6 o'clock. If these conditions are met and then the tie rods set you should be good to go. A final tune on the tie rods as Petes suggested can sometimes be needed but it is important not to pull the steering box input shaft far away from the 12 o'clock position because it has a tight spot engineered into it at this position to make the steering feel better when travelling straight. When I got my car the steering box flat was at 3 o'clock and even though the wheel alinement was correct the car steered poorly plus the indicators didn't index correctly either as the steering column was wrong as well!
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 107
Likes: 9
From: Raymond NH
Thanks guys. The history, in case anybody runs into the same thing, is that I removed the power steering, rebuilt the steering box, replaced the "rag joint", then had the front end rebuilt. Somewhere along the way, the steering column was reclocked, I guess. So, the mechanic finally figured it out. All is well at this point and she steers much better. At last, no play in the steering wheel. Thanks again.
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From: New Or-leens Loo-z-anna
I'm sending all this info to my printer!
I was also wondering about the "other" way to check steering box center:
Example:
Turn the steering wheel (wheels) all the way to the left.
Count the number of turns of the steering wheel to turn the wheels all the way to the right.
Divide that number by 2......then turn the steering wheel back to the left according to the answer.....then the steering box internal gears are centered....then the alignment can be done and the Toe can be adjusted using the "Tie-rod-method" shown in one of the previous replies.
I was also wondering about the "other" way to check steering box center:
Example:
Turn the steering wheel (wheels) all the way to the left.
Count the number of turns of the steering wheel to turn the wheels all the way to the right.
Divide that number by 2......then turn the steering wheel back to the left according to the answer.....then the steering box internal gears are centered....then the alignment can be done and the Toe can be adjusted using the "Tie-rod-method" shown in one of the previous replies.
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I'm sending all this info to my printer!
I was also wondering about the "other" way to check steering box center:
Example:
Turn the steering wheel (wheels) all the way to the left.
Count the number of turns of the steering wheel to turn the wheels all the way to the right.
Divide that number by 2......then turn the steering wheel back to the left according to the answer.....then the steering box internal gears are centered....then the alignment can be done and the Toe can be adjusted using the "Tie-rod-method" shown in one of the previous replies.
I was also wondering about the "other" way to check steering box center:
Example:
Turn the steering wheel (wheels) all the way to the left.
Count the number of turns of the steering wheel to turn the wheels all the way to the right.
Divide that number by 2......then turn the steering wheel back to the left according to the answer.....then the steering box internal gears are centered....then the alignment can be done and the Toe can be adjusted using the "Tie-rod-method" shown in one of the previous replies.