the great him
Elite Member
thats more work than is needed, it would be easier to disconnect the shaft from the rack and straighten it that way
Steering Rack Replaced now Steering wheel off, Please help!
- Thread starter 4Runner4TW
- Start date
thats more work than is needed, it would be easier to disconnect the shaft from the rack and straighten it that way
4Runner4TW
New member
I straightened the steering wheel by disconnecting the steering shaft. I might have turned it the wrong way. Full lock clock wise is fine, but full lock counter-clock wise I hear what sounds like a little spring in the steering wheel. I turned it counter-clock wise to straighten the wheel. I may have to get under there and turn it one full turn clockwise to fix it.
Any thoughts?
Any thoughts?
Rushthezeppelin
New member
Necroing this thread because I did something similar although not as drastic. Replaced my rack I didn't quite read the instructions I was following thoroughly enough. When I took out the old rack I followed the instructions saying to disconnect the lower rag from the upper rag. However I missed the part about not just putting the lower rag back on the input shaft of the new rack before install. I think the instructions were having you split the rag in order to deal with the fact that the lower rag is likely rusted to the input shaft (which mine was). Anways putting it back together with the lower rag on the input shaft I think I must have spun the input shaft boot that had the factory match marks. Didn't realize it at the time so I took it back apart and clocked the lower rag again.
Long story short when I got back on the road my steering wheel was 45 off. Ended up having to do 3 turns each side on the tie rods and got it back to straight (and I think got it a slight bit toed in). Seems to drive fine but I would love to get the tie rod adjustments even on both sides again so the alignment shop hopefully doesn't run out of adjustment when they get the caster and camber all setup. Currently there are only 2-2.5 threads showing on the outer on the passenger side. Basically my questions comes down to if I can get the rag off the input shaft without having to take the rack out again. I think that upper collar on the steering shaft should slide up enough to clear the lower collar off the rack input shaft? I never really touched the upper collar in the job because of the way I kind of messed this up (I think my real mistake was second guessing myself) and it's probably going to take some PB to slide it up as I'm sure it's as rusted the same as the lower collar was. After that I would simply get my tie rod adjustments recentered, center the rack, center the wheel and slide the collar back down onto the input shaft right?
Is this something an alignment shop would do anyway and I shouldn't even bother? I'm taking it to a shop that specifically deals with lifted vehicles (I'm a little under 2" lift in the front).
Long story short when I got back on the road my steering wheel was 45 off. Ended up having to do 3 turns each side on the tie rods and got it back to straight (and I think got it a slight bit toed in). Seems to drive fine but I would love to get the tie rod adjustments even on both sides again so the alignment shop hopefully doesn't run out of adjustment when they get the caster and camber all setup. Currently there are only 2-2.5 threads showing on the outer on the passenger side. Basically my questions comes down to if I can get the rag off the input shaft without having to take the rack out again. I think that upper collar on the steering shaft should slide up enough to clear the lower collar off the rack input shaft? I never really touched the upper collar in the job because of the way I kind of messed this up (I think my real mistake was second guessing myself) and it's probably going to take some PB to slide it up as I'm sure it's as rusted the same as the lower collar was. After that I would simply get my tie rod adjustments recentered, center the rack, center the wheel and slide the collar back down onto the input shaft right?
Is this something an alignment shop would do anyway and I shouldn't even bother? I'm taking it to a shop that specifically deals with lifted vehicles (I'm a little under 2" lift in the front).
No idea if the upper will slide enough to get you the clearance you need, but I can tell you that it’s definitely not something an alignment shop will do during an alignment. Most places don’t care about having an even amount of threads on either side and then clocking the steering wheel to be level. Most vehicles I’ve dealt with the steering wheel is keyed to where it only goes on one way.
Rushthezeppelin
New member
I actually called the shop and asked them if I need to try and get this fixed up before taking it in. They said it's no problem and they could easily take care of that in the process of doing the alignment for me. Once again this is a specialty shop that deals in modified 4x4s so I'm not surprised that this is out of the ordinary. I'm just hoping my cam bolts aren't seized to the bushings on my LCAs lol, just hit em with a healthy dose of PB in preparation for tomorrow.
Eexposed parts all look relatively rust free so I'm hopeful, plus this is a lifetime CO vehicle and I've mostly found very little rust on her so far, only with substandard aftermarket stuff..
