Crooked steering wheel with straight alignment?

Just got my tundra a couple weeks ago, had a full mechanical inspection at a trusted shop done and my steering wheel is crooked to the right by 5% they say (and I can definitely see it). They said the truck tracks straight and that it's really not an issue. Well suffice it to say that it is to me because it bothers me at some point on almost every drive to have a newer truck with a crooked steering wheel haha

Any way to fix it? I found a video or two showing just using a wrench underneath to straighten it out but really have no idea what I'm doing down there. Not afraid to get down there and try though. Thanks!

 

One way to do it is loosen the coupler on the half shaft under the dash, turn the steering wheel to straight and re-tighten the coupler.

 

I hear ya man! That has to be perfectly straight for me or I lose sleep, Lol
Providing everything else is good, The straightness of the steering wheel is adjusted by the Tie rods. I did mine when I switched to a leather steering wheel by watching a couple of youtube videos. If you don't feel confident any alignment shop can do it..

 

Links? I need to do the same for the same reasons.

 

Any chance you can elaborate on that further? Do I need to remove anything to access that?

 

Just remove the lower dash, 2 screws and pops out. It's a splined coupler, you'll see it. It will click over the splines as you rotate the steerig wheel. Just be sure to tighten properly

 

Thanks!

 

Please post pics when you do it, mine is slightly askew .

 

Yes x2! I replaced mine with a leather wheel but havent straightened it out. Didn't wanna mess with the tie rods so if this is easier, I'm all about. Awaiting your results!

 

It has a steering angle sensor . If the sensor was not set during the last alignment it will cause the steering wheel to off. My steering wheel was off to the left 1.5 degrees. Reset the steering angle sensor when I did my alignment and now the steering wheel is straight.

 

So we can't do anything?

 

It’s properly done by the tie rods when adjusting toe. Shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes.

 

If the alignment specs are good then it’s a quick reset but would require a alignment system . Like the Hunter Hawk Elite systems found at most dealers.

 

Not really. It is possible to do your own alignment w/o the big machines. I've done it and it was/is at least as good as any shop.
So, I blew my steering rack in the desert. We replaced it and aligned the truck in the desert. It actually came out nearly perfect......except the steering wheel was waaay off. I loosened the half shaft and straightened the wheel, no issue with the sensor or anything else. In the desert we could only eye ball the camber and couldn't do anything with the caster but it ended up being OK. Then (because I keep bending my coil buckets in toward the engine) I had a brace installed from one coil bucket over the engine to the other coil bucket. I took my truck to @Vizsla's house and we did a full alignment in his garage.
It's done using a digital angle finder for caster, camber can be done with the same tool or even a small level. Toe is set by scribing a line around the circumference of each front tire and adjusting the tie rods so the measurement from side to side is less on the front of the tire than it is on the rear of the tire. It can be very tedious work since w/o rotating pads under the tires, you have to lift the wheels off the ground, adjust, lower the truck, back it up a few feet and roll it back forward. But, it can be done.
String alignment is another DIY method.

 

Please don’t go messing with your steering wheel. It’s a simple adjustment of the outer tie rod. They didn’t put your steering wheel straight when they set your Toe. It will literally take them 5 mins to fix. Bring it in and tell them to fix it.

 

I did mine recently also. Steering wheel was off just enough to notice. I adjusted each of the tie rod couplers by 1/4 turn (extended passenger side, shortened driver side) and the wheel is now perfect and it didn't mess up the tracking of the truck.

I marked the position of the tie rod before adjusting in case I messed something up, and to easily see how much each side turned. Nothing to it really.

 

This. I've never had an alignment where its been off and they've left it to me. Im particular about where Ill get my work done, but the alignment shop I use(just today in fact) did exactly what I paid them to do...

 

I don't know why you're even considering fixing it yourself. You paid money - take it back to them and tell them to adjust it. It should take them 5 minutes - simply adjusting tie rod ends, like someone already posted. If they say it's not fixable, don't ever go back there again.

 

It’s a basic steering wheel alignment. When they did your wheel alignment they never checked that your steering wheel was straight when making adjustments. That’s just laziness.

 

Mine is tilted slightly to passenger side. Do I extend or shorten the drivers side?

 

Funny, I have the same issue AND I see you’re from Breck, I just spent the weekend there. We blew through 7 growlers from Highside Brewery.

Anyway, I’m due for my first service (5k) and have asked them to take a look at it (as well as turn off the “key not in the car when a door closes chime”). It’s scheduled for the 22nd. I’ll report back what they say.

 

Unfortunately I bought the truck on Carvana (which has actually been a great experience other than this minor problem) and had the inspection done at a shop they have no affiliation with. The shop didn't do an alignment as it is already tracking straight, so I'm sure if they did they wouldn't have left it like that. All I paid for was an inspection, and I bet they'd charge more to do this as simple as it is. Quite honestly I don't mind trying to learn these simpler things anyway as it is good to know.

 

That makes sense. Was the inspection part of the Carvana purchase or something you just decided to do afterwards? Either way, might be worth getting a hold of Carvana and see if they'll take care of it since they sold it to you that way.

Personally, though it's prob pretty simple to screw in one tie rod end and unscrew the other, I'd hesitate on doing it myself since it might mess up the alignment even a little bit (possibly unnoticeable) and cause uneven tire wear. Then again...I've dealt with severe uneven tire wear caused by alignments, so I'm a little paranoid with that stuff. Not that you asked

 

Driver in, Passenger out...But you really should watch a video.
Keep in mind that moving the steering wheel method one spline won't get it perfectly center most of the time..

 

It was of my own doing, while Carvana has generally good reviews except for some registration issues, they're still relatively new and I wanted to make sure everything was 100% even on a truck with only 44k on it. I'll probably contact them to see what they say though.

 

I'd just remove the steering wheel and move it a spline tooth over. Its very simple and doesn't take much time, as I have swapped in a leather Tacoma steering wheel on my Tundra. Just mark the steering shaft and wheel with a sharpie before you remove it so you know where to readjust it too. I'd rather try this as this doesn't affect the steering geometry you just paid to have done. Disconnecting the battery will remove any concerns you have about the airbag.

There are several youtube videos on how to do this as well as a thread on here on swapping a Tacoma steering wheel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOX_6E5pZYI&ab_channel=Victory4x4

 

How much did your Tacoma steering wheel cost??

 

I paid $200 for a used one on ebay. Its all over the place, right after I purchased mine, I found a mint 2019 4runner wheel which auction closed around $100.

Here's the thread:

https://www.tundras.com/threads/tacoma-steering-wheel-in-tundra.33795/

 

I am no specialist here, so please use your own judgement and think things through if you are going to make any adjustments. If your truck is already tracking straight, you should adjust BOTH the passenger and drivers side the same amount, but in opposite directions.

If your wheel is tilted slightly to the passenger side, when you turn your wheel back to straight, both wheels will turn to the left (looking at it from the drivers seat).

Looking at my pic of the drivers side tire from the front, you can see how the tie rod adjustment affects the wheel position. In your case when you straighten the steering wheel, the truck will be now be tracking left. You will need to shorten the tie rod on this side to bring that wheel back to straight.

If you think about the passenger side, when you straighten your wheel, again your passenger wheel will be turned to the left, but on this side you will need to extend the tie rod to bring that wheel back to center.

In my pic, the blue arrow is pointing to the nut you need to loosen first. The red arrows are the pieces of the tie rod that you will need to extend or retract. You can see my markings on them already. I highly recommend marking them as all the pieces are free to move.

Also note that only small adjustments are needed here. A quarter turn on each rod my be enough.

 

One spline doesnt always center it. between the two most "northern" splines, my wheel was left and right, never center, so i picked left and will have to do the tie-rods.