Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 09:19:00 +0100 From: Grunff <grunffnopsam.com> Subject: Re: Centering steering wheel
davehinznopsamcop.net wrote: > Agreed. Something is out of whack, and unless the steering wheel has > been recently pulled, the chances are good that you've got something out of > adjustment; hit a curb or something most likely. > > If you run it for too long and it's out of adjustment, all sorts of things can > start wearing that you don't want to deal with - inner tie rod ends for > one. If those wear out, you're replacing the whole rack. > > I'd take it in for an alignment check - can't see it being too expensive, > and if it's not a problem, *then* pull the steering wheel. When a new rack is fitted, or new track rod ends, it's perfectly possible to align the wheels perfectly, but end up with the steering wheel a few degrees off-center. All it takes is to be off by half a turn or so on each track rod end. This will result in 'full lock' one way being ever so slightly more than 'full lock' the other way. By a minute amount. But the angle between the wheels (what is set when you align them) will be spot on. The unequal track rods will make *no* difference whatsoever to the rest of the setup. In this type of situation, rather than spending a *lot* of time fiddling with the track rods to try to center the steering wheel, it is much easier, and perfectly acceptable, to pull the wheel off and put it back on straight. Bear in mind that a car straight out of the factory won't have perfectly equal track rods - it's very common for them to be a turn or two out. It simply doesn't make any difference. It's the overall length of the rack + track rods that counts. Having set the length, they simply put the wheel on straight. -- Grunff
