Crooked Steering Wheel?

Ever since I picked up my 21 Tundra last month, I noticed that the steering wheel is crooked and faces the 1 o'clock position when the truck is driving straight. The alignment always seemed fine, the truck drives straight if I take my hands off the wheel, but the wheel remains off-center. If I grab the wheel and turn it so that it's perfectly straight, then the truck pulls to the left.

I took the truck today to have it fixed. They redid the alignment (even though the alignment was perfectly fine) but on the drive home, it quickly became apparent that nothing had changed. It's exactly the same as it was before.

I set up another appointment next week, and they're supposed to have the shop foreman meet with me about it. Perhaps they misunderstood what the issue was

Anyone else encounter this issue? If you had the dealership resolve it, how did they do so? I had a '17 Tundra prior to this and never had any issue.

Below is a pic I took today on the drive home. The truck is tracking perfectly straight in this pic but you can see the wheel is off-center...

 

Just went through this, but it was because I had removed the wheel to wrap it and then put it back on crooked. For me it turned out that all I had to do was park it with the tires straight, remove the wheel again, align the clock spring hash marks and then reinstall it. I had misaligned the wheel when reinstalling it unfortunately. For you, I'd just ask them to adjust the tie-rods to align the steering wheel. Shouldnt take them more than 30 mins if they understand the issue.

 

Welcome from NY.

Yeah, they can either adjust the tie rods or remove the steering wheel and re-center it.

 

Welcome from Ontario Canada . I’d go with removing the steering wheel and realigning it .

 

I went through the same thing with my ‘21 Pro. My steering wheel was at about the 11:00 position when driving straight. Took it back to the dealership and they supposedly aligned it 3 times. When I left it was exactly the same as before. I gave up on them fixing it and took it to a Goodyear service center. They got it right first try. Cost I think about $170, but I get an alignment every 6 months for 3 years.

 

My ‘21 also at 1 o’clock position when I test drove it. It only had 8 miles on it, and when I did the deal, I told them to adjust the steering wheel. The toe was slightly out also when they put it on the rack. No biggie.

 

Mine was the same when new, I tried recentering the wheel myself when I had it off to wrap it. That didn’t work, so I had it address at the 5k service. They told me the toe was out of spec. Now it’s straight again

 

I had a VW fox purchased new back in the 80s. It pulled to one side and took it in under warranty (no problem right). Picked it up drove perfectly straight but noticed the wheel slightly crooked when going straight. No problem, under warranty, took it back, fixed they said. Drove it away and next day got on highway and pulled again but the wheel was straight. Next, warranty fix, now it goes straight, wheel crooked and dealer says can't fix?

So there was a super highly rated alignment shop near where I work and I was just sick of the back and forth so I gave them a shot at it. Dropped it off in the morning and got a call about 1/2 hour later, ready to go and only $14. Only needed to adjust the toe. They didn't charge for a full alignment. So I went to pick it up and said Dealer couldn't fix. They laughed and said all they needed to do was adjust one tie rod and in and the other out and set it right. They had fully adjusted one and couldn't figure out how to get past that. So I drove the car and it was perfect. They must have oil change kids doing the alignment at some dealers.

I also had my Avalon alignment done and newer tires wore out at 28k. I stopped going to this tire shop and went to another for next set of tires and there was one setting that the previous tire shop said they could not get within spec, close, but not perfect. The new tire shop got it all within spec and just shrugged when I told them the other shop with high end alignment equipment could not get it in spec. The new tires at the new shop are wearing much better too.

So be careful out there on alignments, it seems like close is good enough for some, and others take the extra 5 minutes and know what they are doing and get it right.

 

I'm surprised they didn't adjust the tie rods. Not sure what's wrong with so called mechanics these days..Been there, done that, One spline is sometimes not enough if you remove the steering wheel..