justy75
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| posted on 11/7/13 at 09:06 PM |
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Steering wheel alignment
Hi all,
My car steers and tracks absolutely fine, and stays nice and straight on a flat road, but........
The flat bottomed steering wheel is not straight. It has a yellow straight line on it that should be at say 12 o'clock, however it is at around
11 o'clock.
I took the steering wheel off to see whether it was just put on the wrong holes, and to see whether I could move it around to the next one along. No.
They were not spaced the same and the steering wheel bolts would not line up. Looking at the holes there was one hole at about 5 o'clock that
had a triangle icon above it. I noticed that the wheels bolts aligned up to these holes ok. Should the triangle indicate that it should be at 12
o'clock and that is the reference point for the steering wheel?
How do I go about levelling up the steering wheel?
Thanks
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mark chandler
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| posted on 11/7/13 at 09:21 PM |
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First thing is make sure the wheel is centred on the rack, count how many turns between full lock each way then wind back to half way, if not centred
then get as close as you can by moving on the UJ spines at the top of the rack (as you do not seem to be able to adjust the steering wheel on the
column).
Now lock the steering wheel in place, ie centred using a strap, leather belt or something, you then adjust the wheels using the tie rods so they both
point forward in a line with the centre of the car.
As it already tracks correctly its just a case of winding both track rod ends the same amount each side so you do not lose the tracking adjustment.
********* make sure there is plenty of thread in the track rod ends, i.e. do not adjust so one is nearly hanging out ************
Regards Mark
[Edited on 11/7/13 by mark chandler]
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justy75
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| posted on 11/7/13 at 09:28 PM |
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Thanks Mark,
Apologies if this sounds stupid, but as I am pretty inexperienced in this sort of thing, where are the UJ splines and how do I get to them?
I spotted the blue bolt underneath the steering wheel, sat on top of some bearings. Do I need to undo this?
Is this generally easy to do? And do I need any specific tools?
Thanks again.
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pmc_3
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| posted on 11/7/13 at 09:43 PM |
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Can you not just undo the big nut on the steering wheel boss take it off and move it round a couple of splines? or is it not that sort of column
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justy75
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| posted on 11/7/13 at 09:54 PM |
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PMC:
I expect that that is exactly the way to sort it, but I am unsure of what leads to what, and as I have to drive the thing a fair distance next week, I
was hesitant as I didnt want to brake something.
If I undo the blue bolt, will that free boss? And if so will it pull off and show the splines? As far as I can see its just a standard Sierra steering
column so I hadnt thought there was any removeable boss, I had just assumed that the aftermarket steering wheel bolted straight on to the sierra
column!
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pmc_3
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| posted on 11/7/13 at 10:20 PM |
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The sierra wheel wouldn't have had a boss the wheel would have just slid on to the splines and bolted on with the one big nut. You should be
able to take the centre cap off your current wheel and just undo the nut with a socket and pull the wheel and boss off together showing the splines,
turn it round a fraction push it back on and bolt back up.
[Edited on 11/7/13 by pmc_3]
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adithorp
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| posted on 11/7/13 at 10:26 PM |
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Your steering wheel will be bolted to a boss that is then held onto the column with the "big blue bolt" however being a Sierra column
it'll be on a hexagonal fitting so moving one flat on that will be too much.
At the bottom of the column, it'll have an extension piece with two UJ's (universal joint) that attaches to the column to the rack via a
splined fitting. Remove the pinch bolt and slide the column off the splines, turn one spline (or more if required) and refit. It may need the
triangular connector undoing at the join between column and extension to get the splined bit off.
If that won't achieve a perfect alignment then you can adjust via the track rod ends the last bit. It's not ideal but in reality for the
last little bit, will be fine. To move from 11 toward 12noon, turn the n/side one out and the o/side one in.
"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire
http://jpsc.org.uk/forum/
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adithorp
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| posted on 11/7/13 at 10:27 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by pmc_3
The sierra wheel wouldn't have had a boss the wheel would have just slid on to the splined and bolted on with the one big nut. You should be
able to take the centre cap off your current wheel and just undo the nut with a socket and pull the wheel and boss off together showing the splines,
turn it round a fraction push it back on and bolt back up.
Sierra has a hexagonal fitting not splines.
"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire
http://jpsc.org.uk/forum/
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justy75
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| posted on 11/7/13 at 10:30 PM |
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PMC:
Thats what I was expecting to do, but like I said, to get the wheel off it just has the 5 bolts around the centre of the steering wheel (surrounding
the centre push horn).Once these were undone the wheel comes straight off. Underneath this about 3" down is a big blue bolt that sits on top of
some bearings. Are you saying undo this blue bolt, assumingly remove the bearings and the splines are underneath this?
Sorry to keep going over it but just want to be sure before I start disassembling the steering column by mistake!
Thanks
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pmc_3
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| posted on 11/7/13 at 10:30 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by adithorp
quote:
Originally posted by pmc_3
The sierra wheel wouldn't have had a boss the wheel would have just slid on to the splined and bolted on with the one big nut. You should be
able to take the centre cap off your current wheel and just undo the nut with a socket and pull the wheel and boss off together showing the splines,
turn it round a fraction push it back on and bolt back up.
Sierra has a hexagonal fitting not splines.
Apologies was unaware of that!
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justy75
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| posted on 11/7/13 at 10:41 PM |
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Thanks Adithorp,
That clears that up! It sounds a bit more complicated than I initially hoped! I cant really get under the car at the moment, but I assume that I will
need to be under the car to get to the UJs?
Sorry for all these newbie questions but as you can gather, I didnt build it, I just own it! And I am learning a lot already!!!!
Thanks again.
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loggyboy
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| posted on 11/7/13 at 11:49 PM |
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Heres a typical column routing showing the knuckles.
The procedure is this.
Turn the steering wheel left then right, counting no of turns, turn the steering wheel exactly half the turns and ignore the position of the wheel.
This centres the rack. Loosen one (any) of the knuckle joints and position the steering wheel dead straight. Tighten the knuckle. This still may lead
to the wheels pointing slightly the wrong way compared to the steering, so you will need to adjust the track rod ends. What ever you adjust on one
side you must do the opposite to the otherside, if you do this right you should keep the toe the same, but its definitely worth getting this
professionally checked.
Mistral Motorsport
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