Steering wheel not centered

[billschroeder5842]

Happy Ice Storm from Dallas!

I just got my 75 roadrunner a couple of days ago so I'm doing some "baseline" maintenance to get her squared away.

I had the front end aligned and the wheels balanced. Everything seems to be working well except.....

My steering wheel is "off kilter" enough that it will probably bug me. It appears that I'm making a hard right even while going straight.

Any ideas on how to re-center the steering wheel, short of taking it back to the shop for a do-over? Can I jut pull it off and reposition or is there some sort of alignment key?

Thanks!

[b5blue]

They are oriented, there is a gap in the spline pattern both for the steering wheel and for the coupler on the steering box input shaft. I've seen mangled ones on other cars from the parts being forced into the wrong position and seen cars perfectly aligned 6 degrees off to one side. Some alignment shops put a built in "slant" to account for road surface slope. (For drainage.) I always stress I require dead on 100% straight ahead with no monkey business.   

[hemihead]

A good Alignment should always account for ' Road Slant ' but a good Tech should always have the wheel centered . They even make a
locking tool so that when an Alignment is done , the wheel stays centered . Find a new shop that does it right .

[Chargen69]

A good Alignment should always account for ' Road Slant ' but a good Tech should always have the wheel centered . They even make a
locking tool so that when an Alignment is done , the wheel stays centered . Find a new shop that does it right .

[HPP]

I had the front end aligned and the wheels balanced. Everything seems to be working well except.....

Based on this, I would say your alignment is suspect. The quick and dirty way of making alignment specs is a simle "toe & go" In other words,  the alignment tech  loosens up A tie rod and cranks it until the toe is set, locks it down and sends you on your way chargng you for a full blown alignment. Very common because of late model strut suspensions where you can't easily change caster or camber without special plates. But it is the lazy way of doing an earlier car where both tie rods should be adjusted equally to keep the wheel centered. Obviously this requires the tech to work on both sides of the car to make everything right so it takes twice as long to do and in some cases, young guys who have only worked on late models, don't even know how to do these cars correctly.

The net result of changing only one tie rod to meet specs is that it cranks the steering wheel off center. To verify this, you need to precisely measure both tie rods to see if one is longer than the other. If they are, then that is what happened to you and I'd question the rest of the alignment along with it. It everything measures the same, then there is some other problem.

[billschroeder5842]

Hmmmmm.....

Thanks. I had NTB do the alignment at the same time they did my state safety inspection. They gave me a tech sheet that show that everything is "green" and within specs. The car drives nice and I got one of those lifetime alignment deals.

My daily drivers are BMW so I too am F'n fanatical about steering wheel alignment. Actually BMW makes it real easy for the tech with guide marks under the car.

So, popping the steering wheel off and repositioning is not an option? Looks like I'll be dropping her off once the ice melts. Wednesday maybe!

Anything else to check?

[5hunert]

Most alignment equipment these days has a printer that will show before and after.  If you got a printout, that will confirm whether your caster, camber, toe are in spec.  If your car drives relatively straight (no pulls to one side or another when letting go of the wheel) and the problem is the steering wheel isn't centered when the car is going straight, that's not uncommon. 

When centering the steering wheel on the align rack, it helps to have the engine running.  That takes out the "hydro slop" from the power steering box. Unless its an old-timer doing the alignment, most techs don't do it. 

IF the caster, camber and toe are otherwise correct, centering the steering wheel can be performed in your garage.  Shorten one tie rod by one turn, then lengthen the other and see what affect it makes on the steering wheel centering. Repeat untill the steering wheel is centered. As long as you turn match turns side to side, you won't through the toe-in out of whack.

Or just take your car back to the align shop, tell them the steering wheel isn't centered and you want it fixed.

[billschroeder5842]

Thanks. I'll probably just take it back.

The specs that they gave me are all within tolerances--actually really good.

I can wait--nothing but ice on the roads today.

Maybe I'll clean the engine compartment and mess with the fast idle.

Thanks!

[HeavyFuel]

If you feel confident, try adjusting the tie rods yourself.


Shorten (or lengthen) the distance from the pitman to the tie rod end on one side, and do the opposite on the other.   That should straighten up the steering wheel.

[myk]

Take it back.  If you try adjusting it yourself and then some other issue comes up, they could claim that the car was tampered with and the shop's warranty would have a convenient excuse to be null and void.  I'll bet the issue is in the tie-rods though...

[hemihead]

NTB ? We have one here also and I wouldn't let them align a shopping cart .

[HPP]

The specs that they gave me are all within tolerances--actually really good.

If you don't mind me asking, what are the specs they set it to? You can improve road feel considerably on these old hags by going to more modern, radial friendly alignment specs.

[Ghoste]

A lot of techs today don't understand setting algionment with an old Mopar torsion bar suspension either.  It can be "in spoec" on the rack but if they haven't properly set the ride height at the beginning and reset each time they make a change, it can be off when it leaves their rack.  The specs are a "system" and it all needs to be done properly to work together.

[billschroeder5842]

Thanks for the info. I'll schedule things for Wednesday. I'll let you know how it goes.

[1974dodgecharger]

A lot of techs today don't understand setting algionment with an old Mopar torsion bar suspension either.  It can be "in spoec" on the rack but if they haven't properly set the ride height at the beginning and reset each time they make a change, it can be off when it leaves their rack.  The specs are a "system" and it all needs to be done properly to work together.

wouldnt that change based on the torsion bar type on high/low your ride should be?  Such as the hotchkis saids their torsion bars are meant for folks with lowered suspension, but how low we dont know.  I plan to take mine in for a alighment on the toe since putting in their shocks and torsion bars.

[Ghoste]

If Hotchkiss are designing it to be lower than the factory spec then I would recommend contacting them and finding out what the specs are they want you to use and provide it for the shop.