Steering wheel crooked

Hey everyone, Since I've bought my truck, the steering wheel has been at an angle. I've had the truck aligned, tires rebalanced with no luck. No matter what I do, when I put the wheel perfectly straight, the truck goes slightly left. Has anyone else had this issue or are tundra's naturally like that? It drives me nuts and I'm looking for a solution.

Thanks everyone! Happy Holidays!

 

Lifted?

 

Its got a 1.75 in spacer in the front and airbags in the rear. Even when I had it lifted and realigned it hasn't given me trouble, just recently its been giving me trouble.

 

I would take to actual alignment shop

 

Thank you, I've spoken with the dealer and they told me the toe in the rear cant be changed.

 

Dumb question here, are all those angles supposed to be zeroed out?

 

24 total toe is in the front though.

 

I had the same issue with mine. But I did the alignment that CB recommended and that fixed all my steering issues. It’s straight all the time!

 

It is caused when they have the steering wheel locked when they do the alignment so not straight then they do the alignment

 

I just fixed this on mine. Easy fix. Check out video below - takes about 5 min with the right tools. As others said they didn’t have the wheel straight when they did the alignment.

https://youtu.be/YVdgWLD41Wc

 

Sounds good thanks for the info!

 

So basically from my alignment sheet, the trucks technically aligned, but the steering wheel is crooked?

 

That's what he is saying. Does your truck track straight when you let go of the steering wheel? If it goes straight than it's what he said.

 

Mine has been that way since new. Drives me nuts so I drive my other vehicles, mostly. Lol. I know it’s fixable but who’s got time for that?

 

It literally takes 5 min in your driveway with a few wrenches...takes less time to fix it than to complain about it! See the video above.

 

Would this method mess with the alignment shouldn't you start with steering wheel straight them do the alignment? Looks like hes adjusting to get it straight.

 

I don’t guess I complained. I answered a question posed by the OP. I don’t believe you’ll find a single post from me regarding it on the forum, anywhere. I have other drivable options.

 

Yes you should start with the steering wheel straight and then so the alignment. In my case, the alignment was done and vehicle tracked straight on the road but the steering wheel was off center about 5°. This method keeps the alignment but just adjusts the tie rods equally ever so slightly to return the steering wheel to center.
Now my truck drives straight as an arrow with the steering wheel dead center.

 

If you don’t want to drive the Tundra - might consider selling it. Resale values on Tundras right now are sky high you could probably get more than you paid for it

 

In my mind i cant see how could be correct since the alignment was in cocked eyed position to start when i went to alignment shop the dealer had everything green when they showed me the before numbers was way off..

 

I like it and drive it occasionally (7k miles in 25 months), mostly for trips, but it sometimes drives me nuts. I could get more than I paid but will keep it. Eventually it’ll be corrected. Until then, it’ll keep.

 

The Total Toe of 0.24* is perfect. The Total Toe is the sum of both left and right individual toe readings. You front readings are set up perfectly. The rear is not adjustable. The tech did not test drive the truck after doing the alignment to verify the truck tracks straight and that the steering wheel was straight. I would have taken it back and have them fix it.
The answer to the other question, the truck was aligned to the spec. and the spec is displayed on the bar graph, so adjusting to zero will put it out of spec.

 

Mine was like that brand new. Toyota fixed it

 

Did you recently do a tire rotation? You mentioned it has been like that since you bought it, then mentioned you had a spacer lift installed and realigned and it was fine, then started giving you trouble.

Tires can do weird things to how your truck drives, even just uneven air pressure between the two fronts can cause a drag pull.

My toe was way out when I bought the truck brand new (7 miles on it). Pulled to the right and steering wheel was off center a few degrees. Took it in a few weeks later to get the blinker recall done and had them realign it. Drove perfect after that. At the 5K service they rotated the tires and the pull and off center came back. Weird. Took it back and had them realign it and verify it was within spec. It was, but it still pulled. They tried for a while to figure it out, but in the end they decided it was a bad tire and put them back like they were before the rotation. Toyota just does front->rear rotations. I should have done a test drive with the tech or service writer but it was late and I figured they were done messing with it and I wanted my truck back for the next day.
Drove it for a day and it was OK but not perfect like it was before. I cross rotated the tires in my driveway (fronts straight back, rears crossed over to front) just to troubleshoot the bad tire suspicion, and since that was quicker easier than going back to the dealership.
Drives dead straight now, so it very likely was a tire issue.

 

Take it from a guy that does alignment for a living. You will never be able to adjust the left and right tie rods exactly the same on the left and right. You may be able to get the wheel straight after a few tries but your toe will be out.

 

Good info. I called and had the shop re check my toe afterwards and it’s well within spec at 0.15° total toe after (they told it would be fine and were reluctant until I made a big deal about it). I only adjusted my tie rods a half turn each and my truck drives straight as an arrow, and steering wheel is dead center.

 

The challenge is getting both sides turned exactly half a turn. There's no way to measure it. Just to give you an idea on how exact it is. Tightening the jam nut will change your readings and you have to compensate for it as you tighten.

 

bingo. they should lock the steering wheel