Need some advanced steering help

[phenomic]

Thanks in advance for your help and reading this, you can skip most of it if you want but basically, my steering wheel is 1/8 to the right due to a run in with a ditch. I fixed what was bad and had it aligned and they could only do it with the wheel offset.

Long version:
I drove my car into a ditch during a rainstorm a few weeks ago. I broke my rim on something and bent an lca. I took it to a few collision shops and had my uncle look it over (retired mechanic who's always been helpful). The collision shops had different things in their estimate and neither one actually looked at the car. MY uncle said to change the lca which was obviously bent and go from there. We changed the lca and i got a new rim. I went in for an alignment at SEARS.

Since this is my daily driver, i needed it fixed and i talked with the mechanics there. It passed their front end inspection and they told me i probably had some minor bendage in a few places but said i didnt have to change anything else. I had them align it and they were having trouble at first. They said my steering rack was probably jarred a few teeth sideways during the impact with the ditch. They told me they could align it if i could deal with my steering wheel offset. I decided it would have to do. So, they minimized wear angles and made sure it wouldnt pull either direction. But my steering wheel is turned 1/8 left.

I have a 97 z28 camaro and i want to know how to fix this problem. Is it hard to take apart the rack or can
it even be done, what are my options to straightening the steering wheel. Is there anyway i can remove it and put it on the correct way? Is there anyway i can take apart the rack and move it over to the original place without wrecking my alignment.

At my regular camaro forum, i didnt get much help and they only flamed me for driving my car in its current state. You have to understand i havent had any problems for 1000 miles, im working on fixing things still, it drives even better now because i think the lca was bad in the first place and was squeeking before the accident.
Instead of flaming me, help me out.

Thanks a ton

 

[srivett]

Look into pulling the steering wheel off and putting it back on properly. If the alignment is right I wouldn't do anything else on the suspension, etc.

Steve

 

[eljefino]

If your subframe was bent in a bit on side A the tie rod length needs to be reduced the same on Side A. The car could have been toed wrong and fixed by shortening a tie rod on either side but the proper mix of adjustments should bring your steering wheel straight.... Unless things are so bent you've run out of adjustment room (unlikely, and that should be fixed if that's the case.)

Go back to sears and get it fixed right. They're lazy and only felt like dealing with one side. Don't swallow whatever tripe they try to feed you. If they can't fix it get your money back and go to a different alignment guy; they're not all the same.

DON'T mess with removing the steering wheel and repositioning it; it will stretch your airbag clockspring and make bad news worse.

Racks aren't internally serviceable; if the impact jar was enough to slip something inside you would not have reliable steering and should not be on the road.

 

[MAJA]

If I understand correctly, everything has been aligned, except the steering wheel is rotated slighly. This is only for looks, I would assume, as the vehicle drives ok, right? It wouldnt have to be fixed, from what I am understanding. It sounds as if the alignment shop did a good job in aligning it, and should not have sent it out without replacing bent/broken parts, especially on the suspension. Go to a different alignment shop to verify if you are worried.
As far as fixing it, the correct fix on a non-airbag steering wheel would be to remove the wheel and put back on in the correct spot. I have no knowledge of removing a steering wheel on a airbag wheel. I guess the tie rods could be adjusted, left and right, to center it, but this would create unequal lock to lock turns of the steering wheel, with one side being able to turn slightly sharper than the other side. The steering rack would also be "off center". If it was my vehicle, I would drive it as is, and get it rechecked whenever I would get new tires.

 

[ikeepmychevytoo]

I doubt steering wheel could be removed and put any desired angle for correction, even on a non-airbag car. Some cars have one position key-lock slot.

Some shops fixes the steering wheel position at 12 o'clock with some gizmo then proceeds to the alignment... at that position left and right toes must rergister the same. If then again it can not be adjusted they should be able to give a diagnosis.

 

[T-Keith]

I've removed several GM steering wheels. If I remember right you could simply turn the wheel on the splined shaft, the steering lock shouldn't have anything to do with it.

-T

 

[Gary Allan]

Loosen tie rod lock nuts ...shorten one side ...note approximate arch of movement ...lengthen other side the same amount of movement. Which side? If steering wheel is to the right ...shorten left side ..lengthen right.

Unless Sears didn't have a tie-rod end in stock and needed the alignment rack, they should have had no trouble getting this right. That is, only a effed up tie-rod (bent so it couldn't be adjusted) would no allow them to have the wheel straight...or so I reason.

 

[ted s]

1) with an air bag removing this is amatuer hour.

2) must wheels only fit on one way.

3) sounds like something is bent or broken in the rack, if you value your life replace the rack.

quote:

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Originally posted by srivett:
Look into pulling the steering wheel off and putting it back on properly. If the alignment is right I wouldn't do anything else on the suspension, etc.

Steve

---

 

[JDP]

Never fix a steering wheel centering concern by removing and repositioning the wheel. The steering gear is designed to operate at the mid point of travel when the vehicle is moving straight ahead. If you move the wheel, the gear is operating in a location where there is excessive clearance and extra wear will result.


Verify the center position of the wheel by turning the wheel lock to lock and counting the exact turns. Turn the wheel back exactly half the lock to lock amount then drive slowly forward. From your description, it sounds like you will make a slow turn.

You could have shifted the rack or pushed one of the wheel locations back when you came to the sudden stop.

The alignment shop should have given you a sheet with the settings that were achieved by the alignment adjustment. That will tell the story. Look at the thrust angle and setback readings.

If those were out of wack far enough to prevent centering the wheel, the car shouldn't be on the road.

Otherwise you had a lazy technician working on your car!!! (Number one reason for an off center steering wheel)

Another check you can do is have someone follow you as you drive down the road. They should look to see if the vehicle is tracking straight OR you could drive the 4 wheels straight ahead through a puddle in a paved parkinglot onto dry pavement and then examine the tracks to see if the rear wheels follow the fronts. Not too scientific but gives an indication.

JD

 

[punisher]

This whole scenario leaves me scratching my head.

You have something bent or shifted, there is no question about that. It could be the rack/subframe has shifted or the subframe/spindle/tie rod itself is bent. It might be something like a shifted/loose steering coupler from the steering column to the rack, or even a shifted collapsable column where the outer coulumn has slipped/twisted over the inner.

A rack cannot "jump teeth" from an impact, that cannot happen. If it did your rack would be in one or more pieces when the housing broke.

After checking the caster and camber, the tech should have locked the steering wheel straight ahead and set the toe according to spec. If the wheel could not be centered by adjusting the tie rod ends (while leaving the required thread engagement), then the problem should have been found and fixed.

Try another shop.

 

[Fuelrod]

Punisher is correct. If the wheel can not be centered by adjusting the tie-rods, something is seriously bent. DO NOT Mess with the wheel.

Sears is NOT the place to deal with problems like this...Sears is where you buy underware. A "Wheel, Frame & Axle Shop" is where you to take this car...

 

[phenomic]

Hey guys, i just wanted to follow up. Is it likely that the steering is perfectly fine and the spindle is bent makeing them run out of alignment? Im thinkin about doing an ls1 brake swap so i could fix that problem but im worried about running into an unalignable state afterwards. Do you think that just by changing the knuckle i could solve the problem? I don't believe my frame is bent, I don't really think the steering column is bad because its not sloppy or loose and doesnt skip or anything. I did hit run into a curb right before the ditch, the lca was bent pretty bad so im guessing the spindle could ahve went too because its a thin metal piece and its connected.
I have pretty much come to the conclusion that my steering column is fine because if it was damaged, it would have way more problems.

Would i benefit at all from changing the spindle?