Steering wheel spun during rack replacement

There are a zillion threads on steering but I didn't see one that quite addressed this, apologies if I missed it.

I'm doing steering rack R&R this week on a 02 TRD. The previous owner was launching fishing boats into brackish water, and boy does it show. The steering rag / intermediate joint was seized up pretty hard, and while I was working on getting that free I unlocked the steering wheel to make it easier to get different angles on the bolts. A calculated risk, so I thought.

At some point during all the manhandling the steering column became detached under the dash without me noticing -- I guess the pinch bolt was loose -- so when I eventually reached inside to give the steering column a little spin for a better angle on the rag joint, the friggin thing spun freely an unknown number of times. All the way around at least once, probably not more than three. Sadly, I don't even remember which direction it turned -- I was not expecting trouble inside the dash, and had my full attention on the rack when this happened.

So now I've got a steering wheel / spiral cable / clock spring in a completely unknown condition. Is there a good way to get back to neutral cable wrap before putting this thing back on the road? I've seen plenty of threads on what to do *after* connectors get pulled loose or cables get damaged, but none so far on how to catch it in advance and back it out before there's any damage.

Many thanks!

 

Least risky thing to do I could imagine would be completely disassemble your steering wheel assembly to inspect the clockspring. @mechanicjon would probably have insight on this matter.

 

Welcome aboard new member

 

Super simple. Remove the airbag and steering wheel bolt. Once you get the bolt off Mark the bolt and position of the steering wheel. Remove the wheel with the clock spring, rotate it in either direction till it can’t be rotated any further. Now count the amount of rotations in the other direction and divide by two. That will be the amount of rotations to reach center.

 

Oh man, thank you. Turns out it was even easier than that, the spiral cable housing had centering instructs printed right on it.

I appreciate the push in the right direction. This was not a place where I wanted to be guessing.