Steering wheel off center - checked archives

[ptmacp]

OK, like many stories I read in the archive, I ended an aggressive day at Ketemcy and noticed that my steering wheel was 45 deg to the left when driving straight. No damage to anything I can see, including sector shaft, drag link, connecting rod. I was unable to adjust the drag link on the rig and now it's clamped to my workbench. One TRE will not budge. PB Blaster, propane, pipe wrench with 6 ft of cheater pipe on it, cursing, nothing. Almost ripped the vise off the bench.

Anyway, my question is this: what would cause the steering wheel to move, relative to the wheels? I've studied all the U-joints, the rag joint, etc and everything looks like it should. No evidence of stripping, play, etc

Also, if I straighten it via the drag link method, wont the steering box be then off center, and the rig prone to pull to one side as the box attempts to return to what it thinks is center?

Thanks!

Pete in Pegram
1993 FJ80, 188K

 

[topend yobbo]

Left hand TRE's are left hand thread , are you turning it the right way?

 

[ptmacp]

Clear on the threads - it just flat out won't budge either direction. The other end finally succumbed to propane and a BFH but it had the damper post ear which gave the clamp something to hold on to.

Pete

 

[Project FJ80]

I dont know if it helps, but I jumped a curb when my S2000 spun out last month, and it also left the stearing wheel to a 45 deg. tilt.. took it in for an alignment and found it was way out, cause I ran over the curb.. $80 later the stearing wheel was back to normal..
My 96 landCruiser also has the wheel tilted just the same.. It happened after I installed slees 6" lift. I think it might have something to do with the removal/installation of the stearing dampener, but I donno know... havent had the chance to bring it in for an alignment

 

[CJF]

Also, if I straighten it via the drag link method, wont the steering box be then off center, and the rig prone to pull to one side as the box attempts to return to what it thinks is center?

Nope. Doesn't work that way; AFAIK, the steering box doesn't have a "center". (Does have a "midpoint" though, if that makes any sense.) What worries me is maybe you jumped a gear in the steering box. In and of itself shouldn't cause a problem, since supposedly the box has plenty of extra travel in each direction. But if it happened once, seems like it's more likely to happen again...

Hopefully others will check the above paragraph for BS, since in no way am I an expert on this.

'Course, the two bit fix is to pull and rotate the steering wheel...;p

Curtis

 

[Darwood]

My guess would be that the drag link is slightly bent. I can't remember which direction the wheel goes when the drag link is shortened but I think it is to the left. A bend in the drag link will effectively shorten it.

You should never need to pull and rotate the wheel to center it. The drag link is all that needs to be adjusted. Also since the 80 series has a solid front axle, there is no way to adjust a pull or induce a pull via the steering adjustment. If you have a pull it's because of the tires or because something is bent like the axle housing or spindle.

As far as the TRE goes, keep at it or you could give up and replace the parts.

 

[Mickldo]

How do you know it's not a sector shaft? The 80 sector shaft is made of licorice. I've bent mine 5 or 6 times and it is very hard to pick that it is twisted. Sometimes you can see the splines running at a slight angle and sometimes the twist is higher along the shaft up inside the box. When I twisted it the first time I replaced it at AU$768 (IIRC) just for the shaft plus AU$115 for a seal kit plus fluid plus my labour. Those were trade prices too. Two weeks after fitting it I twisted it again and since then have twisted it backwards and forewards several times. I have a theory that excessively offset rims cause this problem. I think the extra leverage puts extra stress on the sector shaft. Since I have replaced my deep offset 15 x 8 rims with OEM 16 x 8 rims I haven't bent my shaft.

When I replaced the sector shaft I had to use my hydraulic press to remove the shaft as it was twisted and bent up inside the PS box. The new shaft dropped straight in, as it should. I still have the old sector shaft down in the shed if anyone wants pics.

BTW, CJF there is no way to jump a gear in the PS box due to the design of the box. If it were to happen there would probably be a dirty great big hole in the side of the box!

 

[ptmacp]

Thanks for all the responses. I know that it's not a bent drag link because to straighted the steering wheel I'll need to shorten the link. If I was off center to the right it would be from a bent link.

And it doesn't pull at all. Drives straight and true. Just off by 45 deg to the left.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

As others have said, just adjust your drag link and forget about it assuming there are no other steering issues. If the threads are rusted solid, it may be time for a heavy duty drag link from the boys at Slee.

 

[ptmacp]

Cool. My fear was that something inside the PS box was jimmyjohned.

 

[spartan]

Soak it with Kroll oil if it's stuck....

 

[Darwood]

When I replaced the sector shaft I had to use my hydraulic press to remove the shaft as it was twisted and bent up inside the PS box. The new shaft dropped straight in, as it should. I still have the old sector shaft down in the shed if anyone wants pics.

I would love to see pictures of this. Please post some.

Thanks for all the responses. I know that it's not a bent drag link because to straighted the steering wheel I'll need to shorten the link. If I was off center to the right it would be from a bent link.

So my guess would be that Mickldo probably has the best answer to what might have happened. Either that or something at the knuckle is bent.

 

[CJF]

there is no way to jump a gear in the PS box due to the design of the box.

Well, ok; like I said I'm no expert. The reason I brought it up in the first place was that we had a guy on the 3FE list (this was in a 62 series) who, during a hard day of wheeling (coincidentally also at Katemcy, I believe), found that if his front wheels were wedged in an obstacle he could actually turn the steering wheel several rotations without the front wheels turning! He reported that, "Once I got back to normal driving on the freeway, etc., everything seemed fine." Needless to say, we all figured he better take a good look at the steering box, and I know he ended up having it rebuilt.

Regardless, I'm curious as to what the resolution of ptmacp's troubles will be. Good luck!

Curtis

 

[Kaderabek]

I think about 4 hours at Tellico would cure your problem. That is if you could stay off your top.

Take it to that dude up the street who has the big tools. The guy who got my 55's steering apart. bury?

TJK

 

[RavenTai]

I have seen two 80 seies with bent sector shafts, both you could see the splines were not perfectly straigt up and down between the bottom of the box and top of the pitman arm. one was quite obvious, the other took quite a bit of studying and comparison with a straigt edge and another vehicle to see,

the steering box does have a center and a play reduction mechanisim that only works in the middle.

 

[Darwood]

the steering box does have a center and a play reduction mechanisim that only works in the middle.

I was looking through some old posts about steering and found this from ElJefe on the play reduction:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showpost.php?p=520781&postcount=25

When I do my steering column rebuild I'm now also planning to find the center of my steering box as well as adjust the preload on the gears again. As it stands right now I don't think it's right and my steering has loosened up a bit at the box again. My truck is "special"

 

[Mickldo]

Couple of pics of my sector shaft that I removed about 18 months ago. If you look carefully at the splines in the first pic you will see where they twisted. The shaft was also bent like a banana just enough to need to be pressed out with my hydraulic press.







I know the pics aren't the best but I hope they show enough detail for you.

 

[Mickldo]

A mate of mine in town has a 80 that has been chopped to a dual cab ute and the chassis extended by 1m to give a full tray on the back. He was telling me he was travelling home one night during a storm and as he crested a hill he saw a large gum tree down across the road. He tryed braking but still hit it hard enough that his sector shaft actually sheared off at the end of the splines above the pitman arm.

 

[Darwood]

Thanks for the photos Mickldo.