Steering wheel crooked after removal and replacement.

[Super77]

Pulled my steering wheel to R&R the leather. The truck was up on jack stands at the time, front suspension unloaded. Steering was centered at the time, always been dead perfect when driving. I marked hash marks on the spline hub to ensure it went on same way it came off. Reinstalled the wheel, now it’s off by a few degrees.

Before you say “it’s off by a spline,” I tried that. Rotating by one spline gets me a few degrees too much CW or CCW. The “right” spot is between splines.

What’s going on? I did nothing to the steering and suspension, and the wheel is a solid part with no adjustment possible. With the suspension unloaded, I did rotate the splined hub just a bit when reattaching the wheel, but the steering wheel was already on and aligned to the hash marks. Clockspring, airbag, etc are all good.

Is there a way to fine tune this without messing up the alignment? IIRC there’s no drag link on IFS, so I’d have adjust toe on each wheel?

 

[Eyedaho]

Is this on an LX with VGRS?

 

[Super77]

Is this on an LX with VGRS?

99LC

 

[Eyedaho]

99LC

Well then I got nothin'.

 

[Super77]

The best I can scrape together is that the issue is in the loaded/unloaded suspension. Possibly, if you remove in one state and reinstall in another, it “recenters” the linkage to the steering rack by a couple degrees. Only way to correct is with a tie rod fine-tune.

But I don’t quite understand the logic with that.

 

[Eyedaho]

The best I can scrape together is that the issue is in the loaded/unloaded suspension. Possibly, if you remove in one state and reinstall in another, it “recenters” the linkage to the steering rack by a couple degrees. Only way to correct is with a tie rod fine-tune.

But I don’t quite understand the logic with that.

Nor do I. It's all fixed linkages on our rigs ('99 LC for me) so it shouldn't be possible to move by a little bit?

 

[Trunk Monkey]

I know you said you tried, but it's fine spline and looks one spline off to me, maybe you just couldn't get it to seat.

 

[vipergrhd]

Is there a master spline? meaning it can only go back one way. if not, i would do what @Trunk Monkey suggested.

 

[Super77]

I know you said you tried, but it's fine spline and looks one spline off to me, maybe you just couldn't get it to seat.

Splines are 10° apart, per the FSM. Wheel is off by about 3-4°. Jumping over by one puts it at about the same angle, but opposite from center.

 

[Super77]

Is there a master spline? meaning it can only go back one way. if not, i would do what @Trunk Monkey suggested.

No master spline on mine.

 

[Super77]

The Steering section of the FSM suggests that toe in/out is the way to adjust an off-kilter steering wheel when re-splining won’t.

I’ve done that with other cars, so no big deal, but how the hell do you get this jam nut (in blue) loosen?

Are you supposed to grab the lands on the tie Rod end and just haul on that nut? Or is that not a nut but actually the end of the tie rod end?

I did check the threads to make sure I’m turning the right way. I believe one (US passenger side?) is a left hand thread.

 

[Super77]

By the way, that page from the FSM has a handy way of converting steering wheel angle into # of turns of tie rod adjustment.

tl:dr 1 full turn of the tie rod adjustment screw = 12° of steering wheel angle.

 

[Bisho]

The Steering section of the FSM suggests that toe in/out is the way to adjust an off-kilter steering wheel when re-splining won’t.

View attachment 3947864
I’ve done that with other cars, so no big deal, but how the hell do you get this jam nut (in blue) loosen?

View attachment 3947867
Are you supposed to grab the lands on the tie Rod end and just haul on that nut? Or is that not a nut but actually the end of the tie rod end?

I did check the threads to make sure I’m turning the right way. I believe one (US passenger side?) is a left hand thread.

That is a jam nut.

 

[Super77]

That is a jam nut.

Yeah well it’s definitely jammed. PB Blaster won’t stay put horizontally so I grabbed some foam rubber pipe insulation and made a couple of “cozies” for them to marinate in. Hopefully that’s working smart, not hard.

 

[David310]

Use the longest 25mm wrench for the tie rod and 27mm for the jam nut available. If PB Blaster doesn’t help, take a torch to it.

 

[delz05]

Come across "jambed" jamb nut frequently when doing alignments.... low, slow heat with a torch almost always works.

Use an extended wrench on the jamb nut (some times a pipe extension is needed) and a second pair of hands to hold the
tie rod in place. I have had to use an air hammer a few times to "bang" the jamb nut loose...

 

[vipergrhd]

Once you break it lose apply a small amount of anti-seize on the threads, you can also use brake fluid if PB is not available just let it sit and it works.