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1998 Saab 9000 CSE 5 speed 217,000 miles
Car was pulling to the right, steering wheel turned to the left.
I asked my indy, he said use a piece of string from rear wheel forward to observe orientation of front wheel...before I did that, I just eyeballed the tire from the front (after making sure the steering wheel was centered), and I noticed the passenger side wheel was "toed out" compared to the driver side wheel (using the wheel-well and/or bumper as visual guidelines).
Previously had removed all passenger side wheel components, so I knew I could get to the tie rod connector easily. The key point here is to loosen the locknut before removing the tie rod from the steering knuckle. I used a massive adjustable wrench (think the locknut is 22mm, did not have that large open end wrench in my toolkit) and PB Blaster. Once the locknut is loose, you can remove the tie rod from the steering knuckle. If you dont have the specific tool, this can be done by loosening the locknut of the connector where it attaches to the steering knuckle, then backing the locknut down so that it protects the end of the bolt (eg the nut is flush with the end of the bolt). Now you can carefully use a small sledgehammer to push the bolt up through the hole it inserts into (that connects the tie rod to the steering knuckle). Once it is loose, finish removing the nut and the tie rod lifts out.
Careful: at this point, make sure to measure the distance that the tie rod end is from the start of the threads (this is the first locknut you loosened before removing the tie rod from the knuckle...). I used a pair of calipers to measure the distance from the locknut to the start of the threads. My final adjustment turned out to be only several thousandths of an inch, or approximately 3/4 turn of the tie rod end. In my case I had to toe the wheel in, which means lengthening the tie rod...you will know what I mean once you see it. My first adjustment was too far, the steering wheel went past neutral and the car pulled a bit left! So I took it apart again (easier the second time...) and got it dead straight.
Why do I say quick and dirty? Well, I don't really know if both wheels are actually straight. They could both be "toed in" or "toed out" and the steering would still be neutral with no pull. I suppose I could still use a piece of string or even a laser pointer as my indy suggested. Or I could wait to see if the tires wear unevenly. Or I could pay for a professional alignment. But to be honest, I am just so happy the car drives straight, the steering wheel is straight, with no handling issues even at highway speeds, I am not going to worry about it!
posted by 68.189.24...
, Wed, 2 Apr 2014 15:19:04
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