jayanthony

I'll try to keep this a short story.
When i got my truck the steering wheel was not on it.
(Had ignition problems). Once i fixed that i just installed the wheel straight with the tires. Now I've installed some different tires and the wheel is off center. I know different tires can cause this and i am messing with used tires. Question is how can i install my wheel correctly? Or the "factory way"?
Thanks.

88xlt

I don't see how different tires, used or not, can throw the steering wheel off center.

Usually there is a notch so the steering wheel will only go on one way. The only way I know of to center the steering wheel is to adjust the adjusting sleeves by the tie rod ends, and that can get a bit tricky.

What size and what year is your Ford truck?

jayanthony

My bad its 1990 f150 4x4
It had bald 265 75 15 i just installed the oe 235 75 15 with about 50 percent tread. I dont know much about steering and suspension. Could be the different tires amplifying the problem.
When driving straight the top of the wheel is at 2 o clock and pulls very slightly to the left.
Haven't tried swapping the front tires around yet.

88xlt

If you have radial tires all the way around and they are properly inflated the truck should steer pretty well, otherwise you likely got other problems.

As far as your steering wheel being at 2 0'clock, if you can reposition the steering wheel on it's shaft that would be the easy way to correct that. Otherwise take it to an alignment shop or adjust the adjusting sleeves, you have to lengthen one and shorten the other one.

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

That would more likely be an alignment thing. You can center the wheel with the adjusting sleeves, just make sure that you turn each one the exact same amount so you don't change the toe-in. 1 sleeve gets tightened (shortened) and the other gets loosened (lengthened).

mustangGT90210

Just go get an alignment. The wheel has a notch on it, not a spline in the column, so it can only go on one way. Or possibly 180 degrees upside down, lol.

fatkidwitskillz

It could be possible that for some reason the pulled the pitman arm and turned the wheel a little bit. I dont know why they could but we accidently did it on a friends truck.

jayanthony

Thanks for all the replies.
The wheel does have a notch and it wasn't hard to set it back on about 4 teeth to the left.... I know not cool....
this truck is sort of a beater though.
If it starts chewing my tires I'll take it in after i set the steering wheel correctly of course.

mustangGT90210

It's an I-beam truck, it needs an alignment

Good luck though, hopefully it works :tup:

seschenburg

I recently contrived a way to determine what's out of line. It's amazing how simple this is....

Put the front end on jacks so you can move the wheels freely.

Then, get the pitman arm pointing exactly straight ahead. In this position your wheels should be aligned straight ahead and the steering wheel should be centered.

- If the wheels aren't pointing straight forward then it's your tie rods/drag links that are needing adjustment.

- If the steering wheel isn't centered then it's your steering wheel that needs adjustment.

- If they're all catawampus (that means positioned obliquely for you college types) then you need to adjust both.