Steering Wheel Alignment?

[Gavel]

'99 Explorer Sport: My steering wheel is ****ed to the left about 2 inches from center, 8 and 1 o'clock position. I had the alignment checked and it's perfect. Is there a way to correct, center the steering wheel, without having an alignment done?

 

[yob_yeknom]

You should be able to loosen the driver's side tie rod and tighten the passenger's side to make the wheels both point left more to center the steering wheel. In theory if you loosen one the same exact amount of turns (I'm talking exact even to 1/8 of a turn) as you tighten the other, the wheels should still point straight with each other. The chances of it actually working in real life aren't quite so perfect though.

Any competant alignment shop should be able to fix your problem.

 

[VOATMJ1]

In a word...NO. If your steering is that far off the mark of center, you either hit or ran over something with a pretty good impact, (high curb)?, or hit a pot hole the size of a manhole cover.

And how could ANY decent mechanic/shop say that your vehicle is in perfect alignment, when your steering wheel is off center so far? does it track straight when you let go of the wheel when it is ****ed like that or does it pull causing you to turn it off center to keep the vehicle straight?

In any event, I would get a 4 wheen alignment, or you could start experiencing front end damage, tire damage, etc. An alignment is cheaper than replacing ball joints, tierod ends, tires, etc.

 

[yob_yeknom]

Having the steering wheel not centered doesn't have to come from an impact. An idiot at an alignment shop not taking the time to center the wheel before doing an alignment cause it to happen.

Having the front end be perfectly aligned does not mean that the steering wheel has to be sitting exactly centered.

 

[nkexplrr]

Mine's always been crooked and as long as the alignment of the tires was okay and it didn't pull I figured the fix was probly worse than the problem but thats just me.

 

[VOATMJ1]

Originally posted by yob_yeknom
Having the steering wheel not centered doesn't have to come from an impact. An idiot at an alignment shop not taking the time to center the wheel before doing an alignment cause it to happen.

Having the front end be perfectly aligned does not mean that the steering wheel has to be sitting exactly centered.

Agreed, but his wheel is so far off the mark, (8 and 1 a clock he said), that even the most incompetant mechanic would have it that far off the mark, unless he was totally blind! I still think he ran over or hit something.

 

[double_take]

I say it was just the person who performed the last alignment. I had the same issue when I had an alignment done on my BII. It was done by a student at Lincoln Tech. After he pulled the truck up on the ramps he didn't center the wheel.

So even though everything was perfect up front the wheel was off by about 1.5" If i let go it would go perfectly straight.

My opinion is if it goes straight when you let go then leave it, unless having your whell that far off drives you nuts. In which case take it somewhere and have them fix it.

Just a note if your steering wheel is off your steering gearbox is probably off too so you might have less travel one way than the other.

 

[etc]

If the alignment shop gave it to you with the wheel crooked, go back and tell them to fix it. The work should be warrantied for at least 6 months.

 

[Ford_Racing_Guy]

there may be some slack in the steering box

 

[03ExplorerSPT]

My steering wheel came from Ford with the wheel not centered. The dealer supposedly fixed it but it's still off center. I'm going to tell them to do a full fledged alignment on it this summer.

 

[jimbo74]

alignment of the toe must be used to center the wheel on explorers... on solid axles like jeeps, there is just total toe and another adjustemnt for the steering wheel.... also your alignment can be in specifications even if the wheel isnt straight... my toyota is like that right now, but hey, i did my alignment for free after work one day.... so i dont really care that its a little off, it tracks pretty straight so i dont care.... i do have 1 degree of caster on the right side though, and it somewhat drifts to the left, but it isnt enough for me to care..... my tires arent going to be jacked becuase of it, so its no biggie