centering steering rack on vehicle?

Can I bypass this step? Not sure I want to mess with the toe.

 

Not sure what you mean. How the tie rods are adjusted determines the toe setting. You can't really "skip" it. You could "eyeball" it till the tires are pointing more or less straight ahead just to get it to an alignment shop if you can't do it yourself.

 

If you're doing all this you're pretty much going to have to anyway or at least bring it back for a (hopefully) free re-alignment wherever you had it done. Most places guarantee it for a certain amount of miles.

This method is easy - I did it with a couple jack stands, a tape measure, and some twine and got super close to having both sides in spec. Definitely close enough to drive it to a shop. One thing you should watch for is ending up with toe out (duck footed) and driving in the rain. Never try that - ask me how I know lol

 

ahhhh - ok, yeah I thought you were referring to the camber. My bad - confusion on my end is running rampant trying to track this down.

 

At home laser alignment gear.

 

Does it come with a user's manual?

 

Get the wheels pointing straight ahead. Pull the steering wheel. Follow what somebody suggested above with the outer tie rods giving one turn in on the long side and then one turn out on the short side. When you have equal threads showing on the outer tie rods or very close to it, stop. Now check your clock spring. When the clock spring is centered, you'll get 2 1/2 turns to the right and left. Now put your steering wheel back on. And finally, go get an alignment.

Here's a video that will help you with pulling the steering wheel and resetting the clock spring.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/-kByS-4puf0

 

Not tonight.

 

Some day hopefully lol

 

Thanks everyone - going to review both of those vids and start referencing the FSM. Will update as soon as I have some movement on this. Thanks!

oh one more item - when should I do the inner ties? just do it now before moving on or hold off and resolve this then tackle it after? leaning toward now since everything is essentially apart and I'm going to have to mess with the outers anyway.

 

So another update, juggling my free time and since I have a backup vehicle this job is dragging on

Anyway, inner tie rods have been replaced.

Using what you all have suggested here as well as referencing this thread
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...er-rack-alignment.452922/page-2#post-13311670

Having a little trouble here:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...er-rack-alignment.452922/page-2#post-13348233

Damn thing just doesn't want to budge. Suggestions? Thanks again - know I am really close to wrapping this up.

 

Make match Mark and un bolt

 

Update -

Ended up confirming rack was definitely off by a full turn. Not sure when or how that occurred but now that its sorted, I have equalized the outer ties and wheels are really close. Left is still inward just a little but ran out of time today so wont be able to adjust until tomorrow. Once I've made my adjustments, I'll head in for an alignment. Will end up using a different shop or maybe just say screw it and pay the stealership to do the alignment. Still deciding. Once aligned, I'll update again with results.

Thanks to all for their help. Really appreciate the support and sharing of knowledge.

 

"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."

I'm going to throw something else into the mix... and could also be playing a part in your "drift". Good news is if you do have the problem it's solvable with an hour worth of work or so (and a welder).

Get on your driver side floor board. Look at the metal rod connecting to your steering wheel. Twist and turn it. If it has any play or "clicks" then you have another problem that was causing me a lot of problems similar to yours.

 

So a final update, all is well. Put everything back together this morning (steering wheel was off ) and dropped it off at the dealership service dept for an alignment. According to the tech, camber was slightly off as well. Odd? Oh well, not going to complain. Even with the craziness I ran into, still feeling a bit proud that I replaced my steering rack bushings, outer and inner ties as well as zeroed the rack and got it back together without anything more than the steering wheel being slightly off.

FWIW, this was a good reference in addition to the previously mentioned videos.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/steering-wheel-off-after-rack-alignment.452922/

Thanks!