Crooked steering wheel

Alright, I'm to the point that I need help from the sensei's.

After replacing my steering shaft seal in June my steering wheel was slightly cockeyed. Just enough to be annoying.

I tried correcting it last Sunday and now it's far worse. The truck drives straight but the wheel is way to the left.

The issue I'm having is that the coupler only goes on the steering shaft one way. I can't get it to slide on the splines any other way.

I stole these pics from the sticky thread so you can see what I'm talking about.


My next steps I thought about are getting the front end on jack stands and making sure the wheel is straight before I try to adjust the coupler.

 

High Dolla Alignment time from 4 Wheel Specialists.

Or, your proposed method should work.

 

Yup time for an alignment. Toyota here charges around $65 for a front end with a 6 month warranty.

 

This can be done with both of the Tie Rods.. super easy, especially if its only slightly off as you stated.

 

Aren't the alignment guys going to do the same thing as me with the steering shaft? I feel like I should be able to fix it but I'm not doing something right.

Do the Toyota techs know how to adjust our SPC UCA's? I've heard some shops can't follow instructions.

 

Pop the steering whee off and try moving it 1 spline. That should get it closer. An alignment will do
It too. But then the threads will be uneven with the rack.. which isnt terrible. But not ideal

 

I guess I don't understand why I can't make the adjustment at the shaft since that's where I messed it up to begin with. I don't mind to pay for an alignment but it seems like they are going to do the same thing as me.

Then again, they are a lot better at this than me.

 

I’d try the wheel. Typically if I can’t get it from the bottom, the splines on the wheel get er straight. If that doesn’t work, alignment

 

An alignment shop won't touch your steering shaft. They'll just spin each tie rod until the wheels align with the steering wheel.

 

this throws the indexing of the rack off. while not a horrible thing, it is not ideal

 

When I changed my steering wheel, it was off by one spline, no other way to adjust it without touching the tie rods.

 

well yea. thats understandable with a new wheel. He didnt change anything wheel or rack wise.. so it should fall back into place.

 

It didn't get put back exactly the same then.

 

@FirstGenVol your splines are back in the correct spot on the bottom splines... how about the other splines on the part of the shaft going into the cab? you had to take it off there to do the seal..

 

I wonder if that's why my tie rods are so uneven. One spins 16 times and the other spins 23 times if I remember right.

I'm not familiar with making adjustments at the steering shaft. Does the airbag have to be removed to pop the wheel off on these?

Probably easiest to park on level ground with the tires straight, disconnect the battery, remove airbag (carefully, avoid static), pull the wheel and put it back on straight, put the airbag back, say a quick prayer and reconnect the battery.

I've pulled the airbag in my GTI twice, felt like I was on The Hurt Locker trying to disable a bomb.

 

yes, the air bag has to be removed to remove the steering wheel.

 

technically yes. but i live dangerously.

 

I pulled off the coupler and now I went too far to the right. Before the wheel was cockeyed to the left. I'm getting a feel for it though. About to try again.

What I'm finding is that the coupler will only slide onto the shaft in one position. So I'm having to leave it connected to the shaft and make tiny adjustments with the steering wheel. Hope that makes sense.

But you're right, I clearly misaligned it before when replacing that seal.

 

Glad you are getting there. Just out of curiosity did you match mark your shaft so you could line the marks back up before you originally did your donut?

 

Jacking up the front end earlier was completely unnecessary. I have no idea why I thought I needed to do that. I'm able to turn the shaft from below. I'm not ready to mess with the airbag yet. I think I can figure this out.

I just made another minor adjustment and I'll drive it tomorrow to see if it's right. It seems one or two splines makes a huge difference.

What is the correct name for the circled part that comes out of the rack?

 

It was already marked with a blue paint marker by the shop that did the suspension work last year. It honestly looked like I had it lined up correctly when I replaced the seal but I must have been off one or two notches. It doesn't take much.

 

Sounds like a case of matching the mark back up. Make a new tick mark with a razor knife or chisel so you can use that as a baseline to dope back in on the original blue line.

 

That part is called the Bipple (aka Big Nipple). Did we mangle the splines? I hope not as that part isn’t easily replaced without New Rack Time.

 

Bipple. I like it. Thanks.

Nah, the splines are fine. It would be hard to *uck those up. I just need to get them lined back up and I'll be good to go. I'll resume working on it after lunch.

 

Success! Mostly....

My adjustment last night was almost perfect. I'll probably still get an alignment at some point because the truck pulls ever so slightly to the right but the wheel is now straight. I can live with it.

Thanks for all the tips.

 

are each side of the rack supposed to be even? I evened them before I installed my new rack, and I have it in, but in order to get the tie rod ends in the knuckles, they need to be REALLY uneven. 29 threads on the right, 11 on the left.

So my question is, where is "true center" for the rack, and how can yet get it to that point?

 

True center will be when the tie rod threads are as close to even as you can get. How I do it is remove the steering wheel, set rack straight and install wheel. No danger to spiral cable assembly then.