Clock spring/steering question

Hi all,
I recently damaged my clock spring cable while replacing my steering rack so need to replace it.

When I installed the new rack I must have been off a few teeth when I reconnected my steering linkage to the rack and now my wheel is off a few degrees to the right when my wheels are straight.

My question is, instead of having to disconnect the linkage from the rack again which is a pita, can I just reinstall the steering wheel level when I do the spring or will I throw off something (sensors, steering etc.).

Cheers

 

Do you have an airbag light on or how are you determining the clockspring is dagamed?

Every vehicle I've seen with an airbag the steering wheel can only be installed one way onto the shaft.

If it's not off much (probably less than 1/8 turn) an alignment shop can center it using the tie rod adjustments on the rack, otherwise you will have to disconnect the steering shaft and center it properly.

 

I had the clock spring replaced when I purchased my 12 Tacoma base regular cab. The tech must not have been paying attention, because when I got the truck back, the steering wheel was off center to the right when going straight. I ended up taking the air bag out and pulling the steering wheel and indexing it one tooth on the shaft splines. Was perfect after that. Wasn't a tough job to do as long as you have a puller.

 

Airbag light on and loss of all steering wheel controls, seems to fit the bill. From the videos I’ve seen the steering wheel is toothed and the shaft splined. I just wasn’t sure if there were any sensors or anything that indexing the wheel over would throw off. Thanks

 

Thanks, that sounds exactly like my wheel so sounds like I can just index it a few teeth till it’s straight.

 

Thanks for the info guys

 

Yeah it's easy to do it's a 3/4 (19mm) nut for the wheel itself under the airbag and a T25 or T30 IIRC to remove the airbag retainer bolts themselves.

I've done it a few times for various reasons.

You don't need a puller just squirt a shot of PB or T9 at the splines after you get the nut off and then grab the wheel at 12 and 6 and alternate 9 and 3 while you pull/wiggle back and forth and it will come off eventually.

 

Just doing this myself, steering wheel had been one tooth off since I did my rack two years ago, then I guess I overcorrected and adjusted by two teeth when I did my clockspring last year, because it's been one tooth off in the opposite direction since then.

So, make sure to double check that your wheels are pointed straight after turning the wheel back and forth a few times, before buttoning everything up!

 

Be sure to leave the nut on a couple turns so you don't smack yourself in the face with the steering wheel.

 

Good call, thought smacking myself with truck parts and tools often seems to be something I’m good at.

 

Cool thanks. I’ll probably ride the truck right up against the curb out front of my place so the wheels are arrow straight before I do it. Cheers

 

Once you have it straight, take a marker and put a line across the end of the shaft so you always know how to line it back up...ya never know when you'll need to do it again!

 

There's a steering angle sensor that snaps to the back of the clock spring. Once the clock spring is out of the vehicle, it's easy to separate the sensor. It's indexed to lugs on the clock spring "rotor", which in turn is indexed to lugs on the back of the steering wheel.

ChrisFix has an excellent video on this (the Prius parts are very similar to the Tacoma's). The steering angle sensor is visible at 11:05:

 

Aaand... still crooked. I guess I'm half a tooth off? I'm taking it to an alignment shop so they can straighten it out at the tie rod ends. Waste of time and money I guess, but it bugs the heck out of me!

Hope yours project is a success!

 

Thanks all for the great info, gonna do this ASAP. Does anyone know the current part number for the clockspring for vehicles with cruise and steering wheel mounted audio controls etc. (mines a 2011 access cab TRD off road)?

when I did a parts search two different numbers were coming up:

8430604080
And
84306 0E010

as far as I can tell the second one is the updated version? Is that correct? Any info is much appreciated.