Steering wheel help

S

silver4est

New member
I replaced my steering wheel/shaft assembly with a lower mileage unit I found at junk yard. My original wheel was pretty much exactly straight. The new wheel is 15°+ off center. Can I remove just the wheel and try to center it or do I have to take the whole thing apart again?

I removed the 2 6mm bolts on the sides that the tilt wheel hinges on and pulled the shaft assembly out. Leaving the housing/ignition in the dash.

The assembly I installed bmhad been rotated outside of the car. I counted the complete turns back and forth and tried to center the clock spring.
I know the steering shafts only fit together one way, teeth only line up one way. Wheel must have turned when I was lining up the splines.

Alignment was good before this, assume it should still be.
 
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The steering wheel can be corrected by rotating the outer tie rods on the steering rack. The full procedure is explained in the FSM. If you were to take your 4Runner into a dealership or to a mechanic and have a service done which has the wheels aligned as well as the steering wheel, they adjust at the outer tire rods.

It's a very simple process that only involves loosening one nut on each side. Can be done in 15 minutes.
 
gamefreakgc said:
The steering wheel can be corrected by rotating the outer tie rods on the steering rack. The full procedure is explained in the FSM. If you were to take your 4Runner into a dealership or to a mechanic and have a service done which has the wheels aligned as well as the steering wheel, they adjust at the outer tire rods.

It's a very simple process that only involves loosening one nut on each side. Can be done in 15 minutes.
Click to expand...
If the alignment was good before the steering wheel swap, the steering wheel needs to be fixed, not the alignment...

-Charlie
 
gamefreakgc said:
Adjusting the outer tie rods in unison does not affect alignment, only the rotation of the steering wheel.
Click to expand...
In theory, yes - but good luck getting it right if you aren't on an alignment machine or measuring with good tools.

Oh, and you want the steering rack centered in its available travel (so L/R tie rod adjustments are similar) for multiple reasons. If the rack is off center, you can have mis-matched turning radius and bump steer while travelling straight.

-Charlie
 
phattyduck said:
In theory, yes - but good luck getting it right if you aren't on an alignment machine or measuring with good tools.

Oh, and you want the steering rack centered in its available travel (so L/R tie rod adjustments are similar) for multiple reasons. If the rack is off center, you can have mis-matched turning radius and bump steer while travelling straight.

-Charlie
Click to expand...

It's very small adjustments as long as the wheel isn't way off, like say 90* or something extreme. Then I wouldn't advise it and instead take it to a shop.

When I adjusted the 10 degrees or so my steering wheel was off this way, it was very simple. I marked with a pen the starting position of the OTRE, loosened the nut, rotated each side about 3/4 of one turn (one side clockwise, the other counter-clockwise since it's mirrored on the rack), then tightened. Worked perfectly and didn't affect my alignment at all that I had just had done a few months prior.

Attached is the page for the FSM if it helps for future searching & other members.
 

Attachments

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^^^ That .pdf has exactly the info in it that I'm talking about. You are allowed to adjust up to 12* discrepancy at the steering wheel - which is about 1 spline on the steering hub... also, only 1.5mm difference in adjustment L/R on the tie rods is 'allowed'. So, the general rule here is get it as close as you can with the splines of the wheel to the steering shaft, then do final fine adjustments as part of a normal alignment.

-Charlie
 
If you didn't allow your steering shaft to spin while doing the steering wheel swap and your wheels were pointed straight ahead when doing the job, you can do exactly what others have said and pull the steering wheel back off, and getting it back on straight this time.

I would not mess with the outer tie rods unless you are planning on getting an alignment anyway. It's true you can make adjustments with the tie rods but why risk screwing up your alignment toe? Yes, you can do a driveway alignment. I did this and was within spec by using a tape measure on my 1985 4runner. But, you can only be sure your alignment is perfect when you get it to an alignment shop and they get it up on their alignment rack.

This video will help those interested in swapping out a steering wheel.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-kByS-4puf0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
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