Hit pothole. Steering wheel not straight

Actually in a middle of a road trip. Hit a pothole going about 20mph. Steering wheel is way to the driver side. Truck still drives straight but having the steering wheel like that bugs me. Is there a way I can straighten it out? I will take to alignment shop when I get back home. Did visual inspection and nothing looks abnormal . 2006 taco 4x4.

 

With rack and pinion steering there is not much you can do on the trail/road.

 

Had a ball joint on my drivers side UCA slip on me just the other day and caused the same issue. I would assume it’s something of that nature, a bent tie rod can cause the same issue. If both of those parts check out, I’d let an alignment shop deal with it. Either way definitely needs an alignment

 

Nope. Alignment when yinz gets home

 

DO NOT attempt to straighten the wheel. the computer system will go bananas ans the steering will pull to which ever side it is pointing to now.

alignment and steering angle reset is the only way.

sorry,

one of the down falls of "tech"

 

Why wait ? Only a couple hours out of your day.

I'd say get it on a lift and have someone look at it ASAP. Must have been a heck of a whackin' !

I've been hitting major potholes at greater speeds almost every day throughout my entire driving career.... Nothing like that has happened to any of mine ?

 

can't offer help, but my suggestion is find a firestone and get the lifetime alignment. pays for itself quick.

 

Had this happen in a 2005 Ford F-350 while we were ditch jumping chasing deer. Park the truck on a dike in a way that we could crank the steering wheel back and have it "push" against the dike. We got it straight, and it drove just fine, and straight after. Is this the right way? Probably not, I wouldn't do it to my taco. But it was just a farm truck haha

 

I have the life time alignment from Firestone so I'll wait till I get home. Drove 200miles with no hiccups. I was actually steering away from another pothole when I drove into this one. It was hiding under some leafs. Sucks that this is day one of 5.

 

After your next alignment, note what position your caster adjusters are in. Mark them with a paint pen and/or take a pic.

Whenever I take a big hit and notice the steering is off, I get out, look at the adjusters and correct them of needed. If that doesn't completely fix it, I adjust the tierods.

Caster bolts are 19mm or 3/4". Then use a crescent for the adjuster. Tierod lock nut is 7/8". Use crescent to spin tierod.

A small 6ft tape measure is handy for toe adjustment. I adjust to about 1/8" inward at front of tire. Just make sure you measure front and back with the same system. Tread knob to tread knob.

 

Echo everything said here.

It happened to me wheeling in Big Bend, hit an off-camber rut and bang! Drove home ~500 miles with a crooked steering wheel. I don't trust myself enough to screw with the alignment OTR. It's irritating but if the truck doesn't pull to one side, live with it until you get to the alignment shop.

It's good to mark everything with a paint pen but if a tie rod is tweaked (which is the usual suspect) it probably won't do you too much good.

 

Before you get your alignment re-done, crawl under there and make sure you didn't flatten one of your alignment cam tabs.... real easy to do on these trucks.

 

this is how i always fixed alignment on my bikes. find a nice tall curb or a wall and whack the shit out of it until it lines up again. pretty solid fix. should be much easier with power steering. what could possibly go wrong???

 

So errr.... What was the outcome here ?

 

No broken parts. Allingmnet was just off. @Frito

 

Same thing just happened to me. Did you happen to see the alignment sheet and what was off/corrected?

 

Here is the factory procedure.

This procedure is primarily for when a tie rod has been bent thus throwing the steering wheel off. This can also be used following an alignment where the truck was given back to you with a crooked steering wheel. Although that should not happen by a tech who knows what they are doing.

First inspect to determine if the cam tabs (fences) on the LCA have not been bent, sheared or flattened. Check for other damage needing addressed.

Steering Wheel Skewed to the Left
- If the steering wheel is skewed to the left, lengthen the tie rod end of the left front wheel and shorten the tie rod end of the right front wheel.

Steering Wheel Skewed to the Right
- If the steering wheel is skewed to the right, lengthen the tie rod end of the right front wheel and shorten the tie rod end of the left front wheel.

>>Make sure to turn the tie rod ends equal amounts but in opposite directions.<<

04400.pdf

 

If something is bent enough to warrant changing the toe at each side I would want to find that bent component before driving it too much further.

 

Yes.