Hot Rods Aligning a steering wheel?

On my newly aquired 47 Chevy with a late 70's Camaro subframe and steering column, the steering wheel is not correctly aligned when you are going straight down the road. I tried removing the steering wheel hoping I could just move it over a number of teeth, but that wont work as it only goes on one way. Then I dropped the pitman arm hoping again to move it over a number of teeth but there again it only goes on one way. Do you think if I disconnected the rag joint I would be able to move it over a number of teeth or does that only connect oneway? Thank you

 

You need to center the steering box and set the toe.

 

A front end alignment will usually do it, depending on how far out your wheel is.

 

You need to find a better alignment shop.

 

Where you at in Chicago area, Herr Otto? I know a few good places that can do it.

 

The guy who built the car should have set it up so the wheels were straight ahead, when the steering box is centered, and the steering wheel is centered. If there is something misaligned, then you can sort of fix it by adjusting the tie rods so the steering wheel points straight when the wheels are straight...hopefully the steering box will be centered at that position, too.

 

You center the steering wheel by adjusting the tie rods when setting the toe in.

 

If the toe is correct, and the steering wheel is off center, you adjust both tierods so the road wheels turn toward the way the steering wheel is turning.
Mark both tie rod sleeves, turn one a half turn, so the road wheel turns the correct way, turn the other sleeve a half turn also, so its wheel turns in the same direction.
This keeps the toe the same and brings the steering wheel back to center.
You may need more or less: half, three quarter, etc.

 

the fun part is when the steering column was cobbled together at the wrong angle...hopefully that's not the cause of your problem.

 

IF the steering box then goes to 'neutral' when the wheels are straight ahead. However:
If the steering box isn't centered, the 'straight ahead' position of the sector will be to one side (or the other) of the high point, when adjusted is felt the slight 'drag'...
If not centered, any unbalance will be wont to 'shimmy', as in loose or worn parts in the linkage.

 

i've had clods do alignments and neglect to center the wheel--they tried to convince me that "no one does that anymore"!

 

That's the first thing you do. Center the steering box while up on the rack, lock the steering wheel & brake pedal.

 

Currently the spokes of the steering wheel are going north and south, they need to go east and west. Is there usually enough adjustments in the tie rods to correct the steering wheel that much?

 

Herr Otto, just to help see things more quickly about of what Jim said first about steering box being centered. With your steering wheel as it currently is positioned. Turn it straight to your desired position and look at both the pitman arm and idler arm to see if they both point forward and parallel with CL of the car. If not then as pointed out above adjust tie rods. It seems by your wording your wheel is off by 1/4 turn or less ?

 

The pitman arm and idler are parallel with each other but are not parallel with the center line of the car when the steering wheel is in the desired position. So I guess the tie rods need to be adjusted equally, I'm just confused as to which way to turn them.

 

make one longer, make the other shorter. If you turn the adjuster sleeve the same number of turns, it should keep the toe in close to right.

look at the threads, one is left, one is right, on each tie rod.

 

Pay attention to what Mike and others said here.

Basicly, before you worry about anything else, steering wheel position, front wheels being turned left or right, or anything else...you need to determine if the steering BOX itself is centered.
With the front up on stands or the car on a lift, rotate the steering wheel all the way to the left, and then count the turns it takes to go all the way to the right.
I think I would even drop the pitman arm joint just to make sure you are getting all available box movement.
Once you determine how many turns the box makes in total, turn the wheel back half that number to get the box on its center spot.
THATS where the box and pitman arm must be. Period.
Now you can determine if the steering wheel placement is actually correct or wrong.
If its right...you need to adjust your tierod ends to have the car go straight with the box in that centered position.
If its wrong...you need to fix the column/steering wheel relationship to the box.
The box MUST remain centered. Period.

You cannot adjust out a poorly made steering column hash-up by fiddling with the tierod ends.
If you do...you are moving the box off its centered position while the car is being driven and thats a big mistake that will result in sloppy straight ahead handling and potential for wobble because the box is off the tight center spot.
Boxes are all designed with a tight dead center spot to be precise in straight line driving and also to allow for adjustment without having the steering bind up.

 

As stated, centre pitman arm on sector shaft so that there are the same amount of turns each way, L&R. Chances are there is a corresponding wide relief on pitman arm and sector shaft that only allows things to assemble only the right way. Your drag link should be correctly centred when straight ahead. The diagonal measurements from inner tie rod pivot to inner lower arm pivot bolt should be the same each side. Then see where your wheels are and align them via outer tie rod adjustment, leave the steering wheel till last. It might be that the intermediate shaft that connects the column to the box is not aligned correctly. Pull it back off the splines and rotate until the wheel is correctly positioned; either north south, east west or whatever. My 2 cents worth

 

Put a piece of tape on the top center of the steering wheel, with the spokes going east-west. Work the wheel both ways and end up with the spokes aligned east-west. Count the turns to a gentle lock, both ways.

The amount of turns should be close if all parts are compatible and the rag joint isn't mis-clocked. I forget if they have a master spline in them. Still quite possible that adjustment at the tierods is grossly off.

 

I've just watched numerous youtube videos on D.I.Y. front end alignments using string,jack stands and a tape measure. I know this will not be as good as a professional F.E.A. but it should be a good place to start. My questions are, do I start with my steering wheel being in the correct east west position or do I start with the tires being straight? Next question, if I need to turn the tie rod sleeve on my left wheel clockwise, do I also tun the right wheel's sleeve clockwise to keep them parallel?

 

Assuming you have the steering gear centered, then you want the steering wheel in E W position before adjusting the tie rods. Adjust both front wheels to point forward, keeping the steering wheel fixed @ E W. Once both front wheels are going in the same direction, you can toe in or out as the specs require. Usually a bit toe in, but check your specs. You should be able to get it close enough to have an expert alignment done.

 

What kind of tool fits the tie rod sleeve? No open end fits. I don t want to chew it up but maybe a flat jawed vice grip or pipe wrench?
Stu D Baker, I live in Marengo Il.

 

Youtube videos?
Hopefully you will realize that whats highlighted in blue above is the one constant you need to be sure of BEFORE any work is done.
You need to determine what the problem actually is before you start turning wrenches to fix it!!!
Any and all adjustments or corrections to tire/wheel position or steering wheel rotation must be based off that one particular point...and if you don't do it that way you are completely wasteing your time.

 

You can also use channel locks. Sometimes there's a "flat spot" on the tie rod to adjust it with a wrench. I know about where you're at. I'm almost in Indiana, just below Lake Michigan.

 

From what I've figured out, the steering gear is centered. And I just looked on the internet for a tool for the tie rod sleeve and I see there is one. Not sure if its worth me buying the tool or just paying someone to do the alignment.

 

Heres the thing.
People put complete subframes in cars...and the steering column being used must be modified 99.9% of the time. Very seldom do they mess with tierods etc because the donor car was already set up as it sits.
Therefore, it is far more likely the steering wheel issue is contained within the column and U-joints/splines etc that extend to the steering box.
Now...if you adjust tierods to center a screwed up steering COLUMN you will move the box off center. The tierods move the pitman arm, which moves the box internals, which moves the steering wheel to the correct visual position.
Unfortunately that will give you a bigger problem than simply having the steering wheel off visually.

You MUST determine if the issue actually is in the tierod area before you mess with them.

You can't fix a column issue by tierod adjustment.
You can make things LOOK right...but things won't BE right...and the cars driveability and turn radius will suffer.

 

Hackerbilt, I believe I understand what you are saying and understand the importance of knowing if the steering box is centered. I certainly am not impressed with the way this subframe was attached to the car, so I have no doubt the steering shafts and gear box may not have been assembled correctly. In any case, I get 2 3/4 revolutions of the steering wheel from stop to stop and get around 1 3/8 revolutions to what I believe to be the wheels going straight.

 

Ok...so if I read that correctly, with the box revolutions centered, the wheels are straight...BUT the steering wheel is not visually centered when you are sitting in the car?
IF thats the case, the problem is in the column hookup and not in the tie rods, so no adjustment is needed there.
You need to be looking at how the column is connected to the box, and hopefully the issue can be taken care of by reindexing a spline, or in worst case senario, by replacing a weld on U-joint/connector etc with a new one...but properly oriented.

 

Snap On makes a nice tie rod wrench, goes on a 1/2" square drive ratchet. I also have something smaller similar to Stu's post above.

 

Before I totally condemn tie rod adjustment centering the steering wheel. I will double check my work and get back to you. I will drop the pitman arm and center the revolutions and see if the wheels appear to be going straight ahead.