ajcarson11

Good Morning All,

When adding the new tires and lift last month I had the alignment shop straighten the steering wheel and remove extra play. I didn't pay much attention till recently, but it looks like the steering wheel isn't straight when going straight down the road. It was originally off by 20-30 degrees to the right before the alignment, and now it is off 10-15 degrees to the left. It's not a big problem as I've got the alignment sheet specifying before and after alignment specs, and it appears that everything is dead on except the straightness of the wheel.

Is there a way to correct the position of the steering wheel? I've heard about a bolt that runs through a joint in the steering column? Does anyone have more info about how to adjust it?

I was originally skeptical of the alignment but it seems its all good. Any thoughts? If i'd had the alignment done very recently i'd just take it back to the shop, but it's been a little while. So before I head back over there for such a trivial issue I thought i'd give it a shot myself if possible.

fltdriver

There are some videos on youtube about doing alignments at home, in a few of them they reference a couple different ways of straightening out the steering wheel. Been a while since I had mine off but I think it was evenly splined so in theory you could actually just park with wheels straight, pull the steering wheel, then install it as close as possible to the home/straight position. This would require disconnecting the battery, pulling the air bag and clockspring but would allow you to accomplish the adjustment without messing with any of the alignment/steering components.

ajcarson11

FLT -- Interesting. I was under the impression that the wheel wasn't splined and only fit on one way. If I could just remove the wheel and re position that would be ideal (i don't mind putting in the work and effort) but I'll need to do more research and confirm that its indeed splined.

It seemed that on some vehicles (4x4, beefier f250s, Jeeps) you could just adjust the drag link, but on my truck the drag link is a solid non-adjustable rod.

I have to remind myself each day that the truck is 20 years old, with 20 year old technology. Small potatoes, in the scheme of things I suppose.

David Young

I think i've seen a youtube video showing how to do this. Search 'youtube', thats what i do when i need to see how something is done. (most of the time )

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

That's done with the adjusting sleeves. As long as you lengthen one side and shorten the other side (by loosening and then turning the adjusting sleeves) the exact same number of turns, your wheel will turn one way or the other, depending on which one you lengthen and which one you shorten.
It's fairly simple and the only thing you can mess up is your toe - in, which is not a big deal to fix. Caster and camber are very hard to adjust at home, but you won't be touching anything that has anything to do with them.
Basically, if your wheel is sitting to the left, if you put it straight going down the road, your truck would go to the right. That means that your right one needs to be shortened and your left one lengthened. Try going exactly one full turn each to start and see where that puts you - you can fine tune from there.
It's really not hard at all once you get to understand it. The special adjuster sleeve wrench makes it easier.
Even after a shop alignment, I always set my own toe-in after to get it to where the truck feels comfortable to steer. 20 year old trucks set to original factory specs is not the best way to get down the road in a straight line.
Having the front of the tires 1/4" closer together than the back of the tires seems to work real well for me.

ajcarson11

Chris -- Fair enough. I've adjusted the sleeves in the past but figured i'd end up throwing out the toe too much. I've heard several say that the TIB will eat tires if the alignment isn't perfect. But its probably easiest to just go ahead and try adjusting the sleeves.

I usually use a pipe wrench to get a good hold on the sleeves. I assume the left (drivers side) outer tie rod has left hand threads? So i would want to turn the sleeve clockwise to lengthen it (should i be moving the wrench up or down if i'm adjusting on the ground underneath the bumper?)

And the right (passenger side) outer tie ride has right hand threads, so I would want to turn the sleeve clockwise as well, to shorten it?

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

Clean up the threads and examine them real close to figure out which way to turn them.
The tool for the sleeves isn't real expensive. I've used a pipe wrench too, but the tool works 500% better. And you get to keep it for next time.
Just keep your turns exact side to side.

Crownman

One way to do it.

lift the front end and put jack stands under the I beams. Turn the steering wheel so that its straight and find a way to hold it in place. Get under the truck and put a line from each sleeve on to the tie rods. This will give you a reference to know exactly where 1 full turn of the sleeve is. Now loosen the sleeves and turn them both the exact same number of times until the wheels are straight. Tighten the sleeves and test drive it.

ajcarson11

OK fellas -- Took a stab at adjusting the sleeves this weekend. Getting the toe perfectly straight hasn't made a difference in the steering.

However -- Something new and interesting has come to light.

While the truck was up on the lift I noticed that the left rear tie spins freely in neutral when I give it a spin. There is little to no resistance and the tire will continue to spin for a period of time. On the right rear however, there is a lot of resistance. I have to physically grab a piece of tread and pull down with both hands to the get the tire to spin and the tire will not maintain momentum. When I put my ear to the diff cover and listen, there is some slight popping that I can hear inside of the diff when I force the right rear tire to spin.

So here is my question -- Because there is more resistance in the right rear compared to left rear, would this throw off my steering wheel, causing me to over-correct the steering to compensate for the left rear, which is most likely receiving more power?

If so, it sounds like this could be an inner bearing? I took off the drum brake cover and it doesn't seem to be a brake dragging, but i'm not 100% sure.

SeanMichael

1) Jack up front end
2) Pull pitman arm from gearbox
3) Straighten wheel to center (2 revs from either lock)
4) Physically straighten wheels by hand.
5) Reinstall pitman arm to gearbox