centering steering rack on vehicle?

My alignment was way off (attached alignment report) - Had it aligned and noticed some pretty severe drifting to the left. Also now have rubbing at full left lock but I now know this is the 2nd gen rims and now that the alignment is within spec it's the rims causing the slight rub.

May have to take it back to re-do the alignment since the drifting definitely is not acceptable. Tires were rotated from back <-----> front just before alignment and I'm noticing a slight outside shoulder wear on the driver side.

Question is, I noticed that on the tie rods that more threads were visible on the passenger side than on the driver side... is that typical or should they be fairly even?

Can one of you front suspension experts chime in on the tie rod threads?

Thanks!

 

no thoughts on the threads? is it okay for them to be so different or should they be about even? Thx!

 

Are those outer tie rods the same brand? They look a little different, could just be the photos.

No, all things being equal the threading should be nearly the same.

Could be compensating for a steering rack that's off. Ever had front end damage? Does it drift with the steering wheel straight or does the wheel rotate when you let go

 

Thanks for the reply. Did have a front end collision. I dont recall the rack being replaced or any other suspension component, so I believe they are original.

The drift is when the steering wheel is straight and it will intermittently veer off to left or slowly drift to left if steering is let go. No real rotation when letting go.
So the guy I go to for jobs that are beyond my scope (one of those ASE certified master tech's who just happens to be my neighbor) suggested evening out the rods, zeroing the steering rack and then once done throwing it back up on the alignment machine. He also suggested replacing the steering rack mount bushings.

For something like this, I am almost tempted to take it back to the stealership techs and pay them to do it.

 

If your rack was ever disconnected from the steering column, that may be the culprit of the off center tie rods. There won't be much play in a 1st gen steering rack due to the way it's mounted. New rack bushings may help some with stability, and it's a fairly easy job to do. There shouldn't be a problem with having more thread on one tie rod than another, but zeroing the rack is a good idea. You will need to realign the suspension after doing any of that work.

 

if you've had front end damage there could be lots of things leading to the issue.

what your guy is suggesting might help, but it's a big might.

tires are all inflated properly? also, are you a pretty big dude? that could contribute.

the sometimes veering, sometimes wandering makes me think it's more than just a rack misalignment.

 

Time to revive with an update. Finally took the time to replace the steering rack bushings and the outer ties. Ran into a problem however -

When I put everything together, the passenger side is fine but the driver side has literally no threads showing. Before I started, wheels were straight, steering wheel locked. Counted the turns to take the tie rods off and when I replaced them, counted back same amount of turns. So now what?

The rack is definitely not centered. Trying to figure out exactly is the next step to center it. Questions i'm trying to answer -

- Is it possible to center the rack without removing the rack from the vehicle? If so, best process for doing so?

- Once the rack is centered, I need to equalize the amount of threads on the outer ties and then get it into an alignment shop immediately - or is there another step I am missing?

Hopefully an alignment guru can chime in here. Thanks!

oh and a side note, the inner ties are a little floppy so I've ordered replacements from Low Range OR. Will be here in a couple of days.

 

tie steering wheel in place so it doesnt move
disconnect rack from steering shaft
loosen lock nuts on tie rods
adjust tie rods one at a time, going one complete turn, then alternating to the other side until tie rods are even. Important that you only do one turn at a time each, evenly.
once even, reconnect steering shaft and tighten everything up.

 

Sounds like good advice. Why do you say only do one turn at a time per side? Are you trying to preserve the toe adjustment that way?

 

Keep the wheels in the same position so that when the steering shaft gets re attached, it's still strait and you retain the best alignment possible. I'd still recommend taking it in and getting it on the rack.

 

Yeah I was going to say that too. I've gotten it in spec with the string method on one side and one hundredth of a degree out of spec on the other which would probably take longer than just making one turn at a time, but it's worth going back and getting it re-aligned for sure.

 

Appreciate the input, thanks - This wont center the rack though, right? What I was wondering is if there is enough clearance to center the rack after disconnecting the shaft? If the rack has to come off the vehicle so be it - just want to do it right. no matter what I do, truck is going in the shop for a proper alignment immediately following the tie issue so I don't mind if its off a bit. Just want to resolve the outer tie thread issue.

 

Those four bolts that hold the rack to a 1st gen really don't give it a whole lot of movement to position the actual rack. Only thing you can really do is center the steering output shaft after the rack is in place.

 

Ok so what about this and please remember this is all new to me so forgive the 'FNG thinking'

Remove both outer ties, turn wheel to left until it stops. Turn back right counting each full turn until it stops. Then turn back to left, counting each full turn until it stops to verify number of turns. Divide by 2 and then turn back that number of turns. This should give me the center. Granted the steering wheel will be completely out of whack but the rack should now be zeroed out/centered.

When I initially started out, the outer ties were (DRIVER SIDE) 22 turns to remove, (PASSENGER SIDE) 16 turns to remove. Could I not just start off with 19 turns in on both sides, then do a visual eyeball check on wheels looking for approximate centering? Thereafter if needed, 1 turn on side looking off and then immediate drive to the alignment shop to have them finish up - pulling steering wheel and centering it or whatever.

Just throwing it out there - make sense and if not please do chime in and let me know I'm screwing it up more... lol? Thanks all.

 

If you turn the steering wheel too far, you'll damage the clock spring. You can remove the steering shaft from the rack and turn the output shaft with some vice grips. Just make a match Mark to help you count. But you may find yourself back at square one again, so that's why I suggested my method to get you centered.

 

OK - thanks for the warning Tex and I'll forget that plan of mine. Last thing I want is to do damage here. So damn frustrating. Need a youtube vid I can watch to get me out of this mess.

 

Honestly this is a good thing since it's the last time you'll be stumped by a steering problem - I'm not trying to be "that guy" either, I'm telling myself that about the truck I bought over a year ago and haven't taken on a single trip yet

 

If you got anymore questions or concerns, let me know, I'd be happy to help.

 

Thanks and ok, so I did not do what I was proposing but I did put the key in and release the steering wheel lock to let me move the driver side out so I could remove that outer tie. Removed the outer tie, passenger still connected and I have now locked the steering wheel again but now its really off. Nearly 15-20 degrees to the right. Thinking I just made things worse (not damaging but just making it that more difficult to get it back to spec).

On a positive note (i think lol) - Inner tie rods showed up from Low Range OR today. I haven't lost my nerve, I think I can still change them out but before I do - what should I do if anything to keep the whole rack/steering wheel from getting worse?

I don't want to give up here and have the truck towed to the stealership serv dept to have them fix my mess.

 

Centering the steering is a process, from one end to the other. Rack center and steering column/spiral cable center must be in sync.

In a nutshell.
Separate the rack from the steering column.
Center the column/wheel/spiral cable as a unit. Observe precautions, just turn till slight resistance is felt, should be about 5 total turns (2.5 turns to center). Secure column/steering wheel, don't let it turn at all.
Center the rack from hard stop to hard stop.
Connect rack and column.
Start with equal tie rod threads showing and set toe.
Fine tune final steering wheel position (with in a few degrees) by turning both tie rods exactly equal in the same direction.
If nothing is bent or worn you should end up with equal threads showing give or take one thread.

Arrows below represent fine tuning steering wheel position in a clockwise direction. Reverse arrow direction for counter clockwise. Round disk represents steering wheel/column.


Outer tie rod threads are the same direction.