Steering wobble after alignment and balance.

I'm not sure. I thought adjusting the tie rod ends to center the steering wheel was wrong. Maybe its ok for a small adjustment but not a large one. Idk.. Maybe I misunderstood him. I think he was mostly worried about that clock spring thing. But the steering wheel wasn't turned around or anything. Was off maybe by like 45°. But anyways they did adjust the rag joint (as well as toe that was off too, Probly due to some variance in the new rack) and all seems to be in order so far. I'll have to jack it up and take a closer look. I may have to adjust the steering wheel again. Think it's still a lil bit off. Not sure yet just drove it home right quick.

But VIBES ARE GONE! WOOHOO!

 

Was way more work than I was expecting. And for those of you wondering, all that work was not done just chasing the wobble. Although some of it may have contributed to it. A lot of it was issues that popped up upon further inspection because of it. And other work was just preventative maintenance while I was in there, like the bearings, which were about to go out anyways...

I'm still not sure what the cause was. I dont think it was bearings tho. I wanna say it was that slug adapter being loose in the spindle. But it could have just been the wheels too. They seem to be really picky about being torqued down juuuuuust right.

 

Hmm

 

With an unknown history or major component replacement, center the steering column/wheel/spiral cable (cable first), center the rack, connect rack to column, set toe and fine tune steering wheel position with ITRs.

Fun facts.
Rack (control valve shaft) has 36 splines, each spline = 10 deg of steering wheel position, any of the 36 positions can be used.
ITRs should be equal, with in one thread of each other. Not always possible if there are slightly bent parts/frame or aftermarket components.
One full turn of both ITRs in the same direction will change steering wheel position around an inch/12 degrees at the circumference without changing toe. 1/6 turn (one flat of the hex) will noticeably move the wheel.

 

Cool thats about what I thought.

But what about centering the rack? If outer tie rod ends were put back on in same position/same thread lengths, then the rack should be easy to center while on vehicle right? Just turn the wheels and rack together to center, then adjust steering wheel and attach to input shaft right?

But if its off center by a lot, then the tie rod ends can be removed and rack centered. The entire Rack doesnt need to be removed right? Just mark the shaft and count the turns? Or can you just measure the lengths of each side and center?

 

No the rack doesn't need to be removed. It only goes on in one position. You can turn the wheel all the way one direction till it stops. Note were the wheel is positioned. Then turn all the way to the stop the other way R & L it should stop in the same location respectively left and right. If it doesn't then something isn't timed correctly in the steering shaft.

 

Right. Ok so I'm still on the right track then with my thought process. Ha.. I still need to double check things and make sure they adjusted it right. When I did it, after buttoning it up, for a quick check before alignment, I noticed one side wasnt turning to full lock quite all the way so I then made an adjustment with the rag joint. But after the shop adjusted it I'm Still hearing a lil resistance in the power steering right before I get to full lock in one direction. So it may still be out of wack. I'll report back.

 

Does the wheel rub before you hit lock in one direction only?

 

Not rub. But before when I tried to adjust it myself I saw that the stop on the ball joint bracket on one side would lock and stop. But the other side when turning it back the opposite direction, would not touch. Like an inch away from locking maybe. Then the rack would flex and strain to get it to lock. But I havent checked it since the shop adjusted it. It sounds like its doing the same thing. Maybe all they did was adjust the steering wheel. Idk.

 

I'm also wondering if it may be some slight differences between the 4runner spindle and mine. If it is in fact adjusted and aligned properly.

 

You can also look at how many threads are showing on the tie rod ends were it adjust. They should be pretty close to even. As far as spindle differences. Compare the gap between the tire and the steering arm of the knuckle. They should be the same.
spindle=knuckle, potato=potatO

 

Ah that makes sense for figuring the differences in the spindles. Was wondering about that. Sweet thanks so much for the help through all this guys. I appreciate it. I'll check some stuff out and report back then.

 

Expanded version. This is a "process" from start to finish. Altering the process at any point "could" screw up the final result.

Assuming caster/camber is correct and where you want it.
Center the rack exactly between lock to lock. Do this while disconnected from the column and spindles by turning the control valve shaft with a nice white mark on one of the splines as a visual aid. It will be a "hard" lock when the big end of the ITR hits the rack body. If the boots are in place they will be tightly compressed just before the "hard" lock is felt. You could slide the boots back away from the rack for a better "feel" and less chance of springing back a bit from lock, messing up your turn count. Leave rack disconnected.

Center spiral cable in its range. It will allow around 5 total turns of the steering wheel before it starts to bind. Be careful and turn only until very slight resistance is felt. You can easily damage/stress the ribbon wire with excessive force and the steering wheel provides a lot more leverage than the factory procedure below. Also keep in mind that the u-joints at the bottom of the column are going to be flopping around. If the steering wheel has never been off or the spiral cable replaced, the steering wheel should be straight within a couple degrees. If it's not, pop it off and and put it back on straight. But first while it's off you can double check the centering of the spiral cable by checking it's "centering marks". These marks allow for exact centering. Forget the last bit below about matchmarks on the wheel and shaft. To be really safe, you could start with the steering wheel off. Your call there.


Now turn the ITRs so equal threads are showing on the OTRs. In a perfect world, Toyota wants them (OE) to be within 1.5mm of each other. 1.5mm just happens to be equal to one thread. Make the total length from OTR "end to end" enough to allow the OTR studs to drop into the steering arms on the LBJs with the wheels as straight ahead as possible. Do this by turning the ITRs in opposite directions equally while holding the outers or turn the outers while holding the inners (Left Twix Right Twix). Set toe angle by your favorite means then fine tune steering wheel position by turning both ITRs the same direction (one way or the other) to center the wheel.

Give her a test drive and fine tune the steering wheel position again, usually needed in a DIY scenario to get it perfect.
Keep in mind that when all buttoned up and on the road, things like caster/camber settings, control arm bushing condition and bent things can effect when each side reaches lock. On a lifted truck, cargo/occupants weight and weight distribution can effect steering wheel position and all alignment angles much more than at stockish height.

Reward yourself with a refreshing beverage.

 

So I took a closer look underneath at the rack again. It looks like the rack was indeed not centered. But I'm not 100% sure about that. It still has what feels like a hard resistance right before full lock turning right. I can get it to lock if I force it, but It feels like its trying to compress more than it should to get the knuckle to lock. There's zero resistance to full lock (solid lock) to the left on the knuckle...

I can see by looking at the threads on the outer tie rods, that the passenger side is threaded in more than the left. Whereas before all this when I took the tie rods off to disassemble everything, the tie rods were threaded in the same length both sides. I also took some measurements and the passenger side for sure is extended more so than the driver side. You can tell just by looking at the boots that its extended more. By about 5/8". I'm not sure if thats a way to tell by measuring it like that. Or if that's enough to cause issues. But to me it appears all they did was center the steering wheel. And appears the rack is off center by a few degrees. Is that enough to make the rack not perform correctly and sound about right at the point where I'm feeling resistance right before a hard lock??

I talked to my buddy at Napa and he was kinda in agreement. But we were more worried about the binding though. As I now have a binding/creaking when turning to the right at about 3/4 to full lock. He thinks it's my uniball. But wasn't sure on that and said it might even be a bad rack. It was hard to tell where the binding was taking place and we'd have to disassemble parts to be sure... But I did notice a little more resistance on that uniball compared to the other side when I had em out and cleaning it. But not much. Maybe squeaking when they became dry in the past, but never any binding... I lubed them up real good with tri flow (like I always do) too so it's not dry... I may have even reversed the uniball's position when I put them back in, as in upside down to what they were before. But I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter and there's no right side up on those. Or maybe there was wear in the liner and reversing them has caused more resistance now that they are inverted?? Maybe I should take them back out real quick before I do anything else and invert them to see if the binding goes away. But it may just be a better idea to get new ones anyways if they are binding.

So idk, I'm going to start with ordering some new uniballs then go from there. But I don't believe the uniball resistance is playing a part in the rack resistance. If anything maybe it's the other way around and the rack is causing resistance on the uniball at that 3/4 mark to full lock and that's causing the uniball to bind as well? Trying to imagine if that would even be possible and cause resistance up there or not...

In either case, as far as the rack goes, I feel like I should take it back to the alignment shop. Or try and center it myself then take it in for an alignment?

Any opinions?

 

Sounds like your steering wheel was not aligned with the center of the rack. I.E. splines off. You can always unhook your tierod end from the knuckle and move the tire by hand to feel for resistance in the uniballs. That will tell you if its the rack or rack bellows causing the resistance or in the uniballs.
You need to center rack as @Dirty Pool suggested by measuring how much the inner tierod is sticking out on both sides. Center that then center your steering wheel. That will cause you steering wheel to be crooked on the way to the alignment shop. But after the alignment is corrected the rack and steering wheel will be correct.

 

I put it on stands today too but the binding as well as the resistance was non existent with it in the air. I'll jack it up tomorrow by the Lca's so theres tension on it and see what that does..

 

Well I tore the front end down a lil bit again to try and decipher where my binding was taking place. I really didn't do much, but whatever I did, seems to have fixed it.

Inspected the uniballs once more, and they seem like they're still in really good shape... I ended up swapping the uniballs from driver/passenger sides, as well as making sure they were inserted right side up. As I think I may have put them back in upside down last time to what they were previously but pretty sure it doesn't matter. But maybe one/both is (unnoticeably) worn in a specific spot that caused them to bind. Or it could have been due to the fact I didn't torque them quite enough. They're supposed to be torqued to 175, but my torque wrench maxes out at 150. I just tightened them down a lil bit more after they hit 150. But again, not sure if that could cause binding, or if it was even the uniballs at all! ha. I am terrible at diagnosing shit like this. I also noticed that my driver side uca is a lot "stiffer" trying to move it up and down, and was rubbing a tiny bit. Whereas the passenger side moves much easier and more smoothly. Not sure if I put more/less grease in one or the other (because my grease gun is garbage). Attempted to grease them more but only got a tiny bit more in until I gave up with my grease gun... I loosened and re-torqued them too but the one was still tighter. Was gonna say that uca might be a possibility too but must not be since it's state remained the same and the binding is gone.. for now at least..

So my guess is that it must be the uniball(s). Just weird because like I said, they seem to be in great shape! They spin and rotate super smooth. Doesn't appear to be any specific wear points in the liners or on the balls.. Maybe some very slight blemishes on the balls... You tell me:



(And this is with them cleaned out and not really lubed)
https://youtu.be/qKAVV8lHtFg

 

Oh and a couple side notes:

Since I just took the wheels off and back on, I now have a very slight wobble in the front end again. Last time it was non existent. So I'm now convinced it's just my wheel setup and they need to be torqued down very carefully. Which I did again this time but something must be a hair off.. I have another set of wheels and bolt on spacers (in preparation for tundra brakes) that will be going on asap, so hopefully I won't still have this problem with them. Seeing as I'm currently running those 1/4" slip on spacers, and that might be my issue. I'm tempted to just sell both wheel/tire setups right now, and get me some proper wheels, like some SCS's! Ha. I will tho if these other used wheels give me any issues. Tired of this crap.


And as far as the rack goes, I don't think I'm gonna mess with it. It still seems like there's a little resistance before hard lock right. But seems like its not as bad as it was. Especially since the binding is gone. Not sure if that was correlated to the binding or not. This alignment seems to be better than most I've had before (as I've had issues in the past but with a specific shop and have since switched) so I'm just gonna leave it. At least until I get some more poly rack bushings as those are needed again (lots of rack flex even with the new rubber bushings in it) and the whole rack needs to come out again for that. yay.. But I don't think it'll hurt even if the rack is only a tiny bit off center. I'll just be careful not to strain it at full lock when turning right until then.

 

just one note about the 1/4" slip on spacers. If your wheels are beveled on the back edge like most are, then the wheel is not sitting on the hub correctly. There is still a little play with the Mag style lug nuts as they are only meant to "hold" the wheel against the spindle/knuckle. This could cause the vibrations you are feeling?



or if they are steel wheels the inner lip is very thin and same suggestion applies, only hitting the hub to be "sort of" centered.

 

FML. Binding is back. Sigh.
Not as bad but.. UGH!!!

I dont even care anymore. Fuck it.