Alignment issue

Just bought a 22 yesterday with 20K miles. I noticed on the freeway on the way home that the steering wheel seems to be clocked off just a bit. The truck seems to track fine, returns to center and the tires don't show any signs of uneven wear.

So is this an actual tire alignment issue or did the last tech not center the steering wheel before tightening down?

The dealer is going to look at it in a couple of hours and just want to make sure that I understand what is going on before I walk in there.

 

Probably just need to center the wheel. Can try to DIY. Mark both inner and outer tie rods. Try a 1/4 turn at a time. You adjust the wheels the same direction that the steering wheel is off. So if your steering wheel is to the right, you adjust both wheels to the right evenly. Worst case put them back to the marks you made.

 

I think it's usually not centering the wheel when aligning, but best to have them do an alignment.
Also, so you have it, ask for the before and after printout (email better to me). That way you have it, there are folks around here that can review and make suggestions. Another thing (in my pessimistic mind ) it is nicely telling them you are expecting and looking for a proper alignment. There are allowable tolerances and some don't want to spend the time.

 

Agreed, and also thinking that they can't legitimately clock the steering wheel without simultaneously doing an alignment, right?

 

Yes,after caster swing is done you level and lock the steering wheel..

 

Uh, no. The steering wheel is centered by adjusting the tie rods. One in, one out equal amounts to maintain the proper toe angle. When doing an alignment to set the toe, if the wheel is already centered, you adjust the left and right equal amounts depending on the total toe you are trying to achieve.

 

I’m not sure I’ve ever owned an automobile that had a perfectly aligned steering wheel. I might need to upgrade to a Lexus.

 

It's a delicate game, not hard. Just delicate

 

I'm not sure that I've ever had one that wasn't aligned?

Anyway, as they are wont to do, they didn't really listen the first time, checked the alignment and came back to report that all was well and it must be the tires.

So I again explained that it was tracking fine and that they needed to clock the steering wheel even if that meant pulling it off, rolling it one spline CCW and putting it back on. I don't even know if that's possible, but I assume that the wheel is connected to some shaft with splines. I knew it would send the CSR back to the tech though, which it did.

Regardless, they disappeared for a while, came back and said that they had to "reset the electronic steering" and that all is well. The receipt says "performed steer assist reset". And it seems to be fixed, but a bit early to tell from the 3 mile trip back to the office.

 

Yes..but when you do it on a Hunter alignment machine you level and lock the steering wheel first..then the adjustments are made.

 

I do alignments weekly. We have the Snap-on machine (John bean). For some reason, even though we lock the wheel centered, the steering wheel isn't always perfectly centered. So I often center the wheel by the method I stated above. Nothing wrong with centering a wheel as long as the tie rods are turned evenly. Doesn't change the toe outcome.

 

Yeah..we have a Hunter Hawk eye..every now and then one will be off a little one way or the other.

 

I wish we had a Hunter. I'd bet they are more accurate.

 

We are about to get the new Hunter..it does millimeter wave radar and multipurpose camera aiming also..

 

Happy to report that the "steering assist reset" seems to have fixed the issue.