Steering wheel off center by alot now...

Hit the mother of all pot holes today. My tie rod Dont look like they moved but not my steering wheel has to be in this position to track straight.... Since it's not the tie rods, how do I realign it?

 

You Need an Alignment..

 

Likely bent inner or outer tie rod. Or worse, other suspension parts bent.

 

Both outers looked okay. Can't see the inners b/c of the boot but i'll look at it closer when I get home

 

Probably this!

 

That front end is fubar…. You need an alignment ASAP.

 

Check the alignment cams. I bet one moved. Possibly flattened a tab as well.

Get it realigned.

 

Yeah, wasn't sure if it was like older cars and the steering shaft just needed to be adjusted with the wheel. Thought maybe since i was holding it and when it jolted it skipped a tooth on the shaft or something of that nature.

 

Not as likely as just alignment knocked out

 

Good call. I change my answer to likely this!

 

They were still tight but I don't know where they were before as I didn't mark them after the last alignment so I don't know where to set it back.

I haven't had an alignment since I changed out springs so I guess it's time. Got one scheduled for tomorrow.

Thanks everyone.

 

Mark all the alignment cams.

I blasted a huge rut dickin around in the woods a few weeks back and my wheel went to about 2 o’clock. Climbed under the truck, found one alignment cam had spun a hair because it was marked. Spun it back to the mark, re-torqued and the wheel is back to center.

 

Looking at my passenger side rear it looks like it may have shifted. I'll give this a go first and see what it looks like.

Any of you alignment guys know if turning that one counter clockwise would do the trick. I can't remember what direction turning the cam tabs affected how the LCA moved

 

One should never guess at alignment settings. Take it to a competent shop and let them make the proper adjustments or repairs.

 

So everything tracks like it did before, no bent tie rods. Just the wheel is cocked.
Looking at the shaft that goes I to the rag joint, the joint looks slight off in the direction I go when my wheel is straight in the highway. I think when it hit the hole and me gripping the wheel it skipped some splines on the shaft causing the wheel to be off center now .
You can see the splines on the shaft.
Still going to get an alignment tomorrow and I bet just adjusting the tie rods will all that is needed I hope. I'll update tomorrow afternoon.

 

If tie rods look ok and cams didnt budge I'm willing to bet your steering rack shifted. You can try to loosen the rack bolts, center your wheel then retorque them back down. Then go for an alignment if needed. These rack bolts tend to loosen up after while causing offset steering wheels especially after taking a turn or hitting something. It's a crappy design if you ask me with only 2 bolts holding it down. Older ones had 3 bolts.

 

Okay I'll look at those tomorrow. Thanks