Alignment and Steering Wheel Question

[96TrailSurfer]

Just finished installing new suspension and lift, including new front shocks, springs, adjustable panhard, and steering stabilizer, and now my alignment is (obviously) way off, including the steering wheel being about 130 degree off center (wheels face forward, steering wheel is almost a full half turn off).

I understand that alignment on the 80 is pretty easy to do, but what about addressing the steering wheel issue. Is that mostly a matter of adjusting the steering arm and the drag link?

 

[landtank]

Installing caster correction will take a lot of that out.

 

[96TrailSurfer]

Installing caster correction will take a lot of that out.

I already have drop brackets for the radius arms, so my caster shouldn't be _that_ bad (although somewhat off of course), and I centered the axle to the body with the adjustable panhard

 

[77mustard40]

I understand that alignment on the 80 is pretty easy to do, but what about addressing the steering wheel issue. Is that mostly a matter of adjusting the steering arm and the drag link?

Re-centering the steering wheel is done by adjusting the length of the drag link (relay rod in FSM) which runs from the pitman arm to the front of the PS knuckle. Loosen the clamps, rotate the bar, test drive, fine tune and tighten everything back up.

Edit: Sounds like you will need to length the rod to center the steering wheel.

 

[COYS]

Re-centering the steering wheel is done by adjusting the length of the drag link (relay rod in FSM) which runs from the pitman arm to the front of the PS knuckle. Loosen the clamps, rotate the bar, test drive, fine tune and tighten everything back up.

Edit: Sounds like you will need to length the rod to center the steering wheel.

Handier way to look at it is to roll or rotate the bar toward the front to rotate the steering wheel left. Roll or turn the bar clockwise toward rear of 80 to rotate the steering wheel right.

Hopefully this saves someone a little bit of time. Not sure if it works differently on a non LH 80.

Gl!

 

[77mustard40]

Handier way to look at it is to roll or rotate the bar toward the front to rotate the steering wheel left. Roll or turn the bar clockwise toward rear of 80 to rotate the steering wheel right.

Hopefully this saves someone a little bit of time. Not sure if it works differently on a non LH 80.

Gl!

Excellent advice! Us semi-dyslexic left-handers don't have it that easy... we lay under the truck focusing on the left tie rod which is reverse threaded and do the normal righty-tighty which is actually left-loosy, which lengths the rod and moves the wheel to the right.

I would think RHD would be the same, longer rod would move the wheel to the right.

 

[COYS]

Excellent advice! Us semi-dyslexic left-handers don't have it that easy... we lay under the truck focusing on the left tie rod which is reverse threaded and do the normal righty-tighty which is actually left-loosy, which lengths the rod and moves the wheel to the right.

I would think RHD would be the same, longer rod would move the wheel to the right.

Yes, thus the rotate to front or rear of truck reference.

 

[96TrailSurfer]

Handier way to look at it is to roll or rotate the bar toward the front to rotate the steering wheel left. Roll or turn the bar clockwise toward rear of 80 to rotate the steering wheel right.

I have an RHD and I rotated the bar towards the back, which lengthened the rod and turned the wheel left (which makes sense, since lengthening the rod pushes put the left wheel, and which of course drags the right one with it)

 

[FIDO96]

I need to do a slight adjustment. My steering wheel is at the 11o’clock position when driving straight down the highway. I started to do the relay rod adjustment today, but ran into some tension and wanted the groups input. Is it ok to bare-down on the relay rod once it rotates fully in the ball joints, or do I need to put a wrench on the tie rods and try to hold those while rotating the relay rod? Am I just over thinking this? The 17mm bolts were easy to loosen and the clamp will spin around the relay rod. I may need to PB Blast the threads on the ends to unlock them because I was using significant pressure to turn the relay rod and after the initial rotation in the ball joints I was unsure if I would damage those by keeping adding pressure. I never got the relay rod to move, but I also held off on applying max pressure with the pipe wrench.

 

[FIDO96]

Bump for the weekday crowd

 

[77mustard40]

Mine was like that when I got the truck. First I soaked the ends in penetrating oil several times over a week or so. Next I measured the length of the rod installed and then put a pipe wrench and cheater on it and removed it. Next I cleaned the threads with a shotgun cleaning kit to wire brush the inside of the rod ends to get the threads clean. They were a little rusty and seemed to have some sand in there, my truck lived its full life in the desert southwest. Once clean I used some thread grease and reassembled to the old length and did the final adjustment to center the wheel last.

 

[Malleus]

You are thinking correctly. The relay rod and tie rod have to work together. If you shorten one, you have to lengthen the other, however, you should try to match the dimensions in the service manual. I say try, because when I replaced my rod ends, I wasn't able to get the tie rod to run in enough. I had the alignment checked before I replaced the ties rod ends, and matched the thread engagement, but it came out long. By a lot.

Don't overtighten the clamps:

BTW, I also have an off camber steering wheel by about 5°. I was going to wait to chase it down until after I resealed my power steering gearbox, because after 30 years, I'm pretty sure it needs new seals.

 

[FIDO96]

I just pulled tape on my relay rods and best I can tell they are approx 43” from center of bolt to center of bolt, but I know we recently adjusted the relay rod (teeth marks are fresh from the pipe wrench). Now I think I need to back the other way to bring it back to the right.

How aggressive can I get with the relay rod once it rotates all the slack out of the relay end ball joints?

 

[77mustard40]

Don’t be afraid to give it a go, if it won’t turn you are going to need to clean up the threads. Are the tie rod end threads clean?

 

[Broski]

When you lift a 80 you need to adjust the drag link to get the steering back to center, there should be no reason to adjust the tie rod.
Those are the only two things that are adjustable
The caster can be changed but it’s not an adjustment per say. It has to be done with after market drop brackets, caster bushings/plates or custom arms.
You can adjust the relay rod/ drag link without adjusting the tie rod. If you adjust the tie rod to change the toe you may have to adjust the relay rod to get the steering wheel back to center.

 

[FIDO96]

When you lift a 80 you need to adjust the drag link to get the steering back to center, there should be no reason to adjust the tie rod.
Those are the only two things that are adjustable
The caster can be changed but it’s not an adjustment per say. It has to be done with after market drop brackets, caster bushings/plates or custom arms.
You can adjust the relay rod/ drag link without adjusting the tie rod. If you adjust the tie rod to change the toe you may have to adjust the relay rod to get the steering wheel back to center.

I think I’m misusing terminology. I’m doing zero work on the actual tie rod. All my attention has been on the relay rod (drag link). As far as I can tell there is the relay rod with female threads on each end and two ends connected to ball joints on either the PS knuckle or DS pitman arm that have male threads. They are connected with two clamps with 17mm bolts/nuts. I can loosen the clamps and put a pipe wrench on the center of the relay rod and start to rotate in the direction i need to correct the offset steering wheel. The rod “flexes” or roatates in the ball joints until they are pressed against the side of the ends, and the rubber cup that holds the grease is compressed to the point it pushes some grease out. My question to the group is do I put a wrench at the base of the male threaded ends of the relay rod and try to keep it from leaning all the away forward while I attempt to get the relay rod to spin using the pipe wrench, or are they stout enough to endure whatever force i need to get the rod to rotate and provide the proper distance between ends to correct the offset steering wheel.

No actual tie rods are touched or harmed in this experiment.

 

[Broski]

I think I’m misusing terminology. I’m doing zero work on the actual tie rod. All my attention has been on the relay rod (drag link). As far as I can tell there is the relay rod with female threads on each end and two ends connected to ball joints on either the PS knuckle or DS pitman arm that have male threads. They are connected with two clamps with 17mm bolts/nuts. I can loosen the clamps and put a pipe wrench on the center of the relay rod and start to rotate in the direction i need to correct the offset steering wheel. The rod “flexes” or roatates in the ball joints until they are pressed against the side of the ends, and the rubber cup that holds the grease is compressed to the point it pushes some grease out. My question to the group is do I put a wrench at the base of the male threaded ends of the relay rod and try to keep it from leaning all the away forward while I attempt to get the relay rod to spin using the pipe wrench, or are they stout enough to endure whatever force i need to get the rod to rotate and provide the proper distance between ends to correct the offset steering wheel.

No actual tie rods are touched or harmed in this experiment.

On mine I pulled it off the truck and put a wrench on the tie rod end to ensure that I did not damage it.
IMO it can’t be good to put that kind of pressure on it.

 

[BILT4ME]

I think I’m misusing terminology. I’m doing zero work on the actual tie rod. All my attention has been on the relay rod (drag link). As far as I can tell there is the relay rod with female threads on each end and two ends connected to ball joints on either the PS knuckle or DS pitman arm that have male threads. They are connected with two clamps with 17mm bolts/nuts. I can loosen the clamps and put a pipe wrench on the center of the relay rod and start to rotate in the direction i need to correct the offset steering wheel. The rod “flexes” or roatates in the ball joints until they are pressed against the side of the ends, and the rubber cup that holds the grease is compressed to the point it pushes some grease out. My question to the group is do I put a wrench at the base of the male threaded ends of the relay rod and try to keep it from leaning all the away forward while I attempt to get the relay rod to spin using the pipe wrench, or are they stout enough to endure whatever force i need to get the rod to rotate and provide the proper distance between ends to correct the offset steering wheel.

No actual tie rods are touched or harmed in this experiment.

Put on your pipe wrench, get a 36" cheater pipe and give it hell. If it doesn't rotate, use two hammers and on the threaded area of the tube, use medium taps with the hammers across from each other at the same time to "sandwich hit" the female threaded part to break up the rusted threads.

Definitely use PB Blaster (or ATF/acetone mix) to soak those threads.

You will not hurt the relay rod ends by torquing on the rod.

If you still cannot rotate, you may need to apply heat with a MAPP gas torch over those threaded areas to get them loose. Otherwise, remove it and donut off the truck if you have a vise and an easier place to work.

 

[Malleus]

FWIW, the relay rod is conected to the steering (pitman) arm. It "relays" the steering input to the passenger side wheel.
The tie rod is connected to both steering knuckles. It "ties" the wheels together.