Trueing 09’ LC200 Steering Wheel (1 Viewer)

[LR LC200]

All- Need some advice. Think my wife may have been too aggressive going over curbs (I’ve Overlanded it, so save the soccer mom comments...). As a result the steering wheel is 2-3 deg off from center, which is hugely annoying when going down the street...
Put 2020 LC200 Heritage wheels on it a month ago and changed rubber to Grabber ATX at the same time. Took the opportunity to have an alignment done. Hope was that the steering wheel angle would be corrected as part of that. It was not
So question becomes: Is the steering wheel itself splined to the steering column? If so would think I can remove it and correct the clocking by a couple of splines. Does this approach check-out? Don’t want to mess with the alignment on the bottom end. It was corrected significantly and at some expense...
Please Advise and Thanks!

 

[bloc]

Removing and reattaching steering wheel is not the correct way to go about this, as well as being a lot more difficult than the correct process. Imagine you kept doing that, 1-2 splines at a time.. eventually you'd run out of steering rack travel in one direction, and have 2x normal in the other direction. This is a hypothetical to make a point, for the record.

The correct way is to loosen the jam nuts on your tie rod ends and perform equal adjustments to the tie rods to center the wheel. Because they are on the front of the knuckle vs the rear, you will need to extend the driver's side tie rod (unscrew), and shorten the passenger side, and if you do it equal amounts on each side it keeps your toe as it was when the shop aligned it. There are flats on the tie rod where it goes into the tie rod end, and the best method here is to keep track of how many flats you dial into each. I'd start with 3 flats on each side (out on driver's side, in on passenger), see if that gets you far enough, or too far, and dial in more or less as needed.

For the record you will need some pretty big wrenches to do this.. the hardware on our trucks is huge. Also it is common for the ball joint in the tie rod end to be turned one direction or the other, vs neutral. I like to center these before adjusting tie rods to make the flat count as even as possible through adjusting and snugging everything up.

This is a decent video of the procedure, though you don't need to mess with using the jam nut to track how far you adjust things.. just count the number of flats on the tie rod that you dial in, then tighten the jam nut up to hold things true. I usually back the jam nut out a couple turns to make sure it doesn't interfere with dialing in the tie rods when I do it.

 

[LR LC200]

Understood- Makes sense. Kind of pissed that the alignment guys didn’t do this when I mentioned wheel centering. Is procedure you outline considered part of an alignment or beyond? Worst case it’s an excuse to by big tools...

 

[TimCFJ40]

Bloc's spot on. A good alignment Tech would have adjusted center as well if that feedback got back to him. It's possible that the service writer just put "Alignment" on the ticket, and the alignment tech didn't bother checking center (as all of the other measurements are taken outside the vehicle. I'd personally take it back and ask them to adjust the toe. If they're any good, they should do it free of charge. If they're not, you're better off doing it yourself as shown above.

 

[Sandroad]

Understood- Makes sense. Kind of pissed that the alignment guys didn’t do this when I mentioned wheel centering. Is procedure you outline considered part of an alignment or beyond? Worst case it’s an excuse to by big tools...

It definitely is considered part of an alignment job. Whoever did the alignment should have centered the steering wheel. They were just being lazy or missed it. My dealer took 3 tries on alignment before they finally took the time to use the @bloc method and centered the wheel.

 

[Tommy Dwyer]

It definitely is considered part of an alignment job. Whoever did the alignment should have centered the steering wheel. They were just being lazy or missed it. My dealer took 3 tries on alignment before they finally took the time to use the @bloc method and centered the wheel.

This. I would go back to the place that performed the alignment and have it corrected.

 

[LR LC200]

Thanks to All. I’m with you, attention to detail and relationships have been the hallmark of my military career and now in industry after retirement. If they won’t fix this, it goes against the relationship....

 

[bloc]

I'm different. I don't trust most shops to hit my standard of work, so I have them do the part I can't (including the $70k alignment rig) then minimize the damage they do by tweaking the things I can to make it perfect. It taking four trips to the dealer to get a simple alignment right is a great example, and not at all atypical. I don't have time to deal with their terrible service.

Yes, the shop should have done it. But this is the exact kind of attention to detail that they will miss. All the other parameters will be green or red (go or no go) on their alignment machine screen.. without green/red for steering wheel center they won't pay attention to it. They are supposed to go drive the vehicle to verify wheel center but if there is a crown in the road or.. they don't pay attention to detail.. it won't get done.

I'll get it perfect at home, and this is actually quite easy to do. Don't even have to jack up the truck.

 

[LR LC200]

Rgr- Just got off the phone with shop. Manager said bring it in on Mon for adjustment... My going in is at no additional cost.... This is an Indy shop in Tampa and they’ve done me right in other areas. 1.5 miles from my house, so not that big of a deal.

You’ll see in other post that I wrench on LC200 and even more on 74’ FJ40. LC’s are a passion beyond just taking up our time. So all good.

bloc: Thanks for all the tips. I have the same type issue with the FJ40. So back to shop with 200, will wrench on 40 with your instructions.
Taking 200 to GA for Thanksgivings about 5 hours. With wheel corrected it will remind me of how good the 200 is for road trips. 2 Adults, 2 Kids, 2 Dogs, and poor fuel-economy.....
Lastly, very interesting how life works, I own the two Yotas I mentioned, a Porsche Macan S and a Carrera S. Hands down family votes for LC200 every time!

Also reminds me that these are first world problems and I’m blessed. I wish each of you a restful and hopefully enjoyable Thanksgivings despite the COVID-19 political BS!

P.S. FJ40 before and after FYE. Cheers Rick.

 

[LR LC200]

And the pics....

 

[KLF]

This type of thing is why any time I get an alignment done or tires balanced, I always wait at the vehicle for the tech that is actually doing the work to come fetch it for the job. I hand him a crisp $10 bill and ask him to take a little more time to get everything "just right", not just within allowable. Most techs are paid by the job, not the hour, at least that is how it worked when my son worked at a Sears Auto years ago. So they were always in a hurry to get the job done, and move to the next ticket. It was a tip he gave me years ago, and it's always paid off.

 

[LR LC200]

Couple more.

 

[TimCFJ40]

If you do the '40 yourself you'll just be adjusting the drag link (from the steering box pitman arm to the knuckle). The way I find easiest is to pull into the garage very straight, the wheel should be off center. Then adjust the drag link length until the wheel is centered (without moving the tires from their "very straight" position) This should get you very close in one shot, probably within the margin of slop at dead center.

 

[bloc]

And the pics....

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I REALLY like that 40.. but note that since it doesn't have rack & pinion steering, the wheel offset will be adjusted a different way. Just extending or shortening the drag link, usually.

 

[bloc]

If you do the '40 yourself you'll just be adjusting the drag link (from the steering box pitman arm to the knuckle). The way I find easiest is to pull into the garage very straight, the wheel should be off center. Then adjust the drag link length until the wheel is centered (without moving the tires from their "very straight" position" This should get you very close in one shot, probably within the margin of slop at dead center.

What he said /\

 

[LR LC200]

Excellent- Thanks and yes, different tech between 1974 and 2009

 

[afgman786]

TRD rims don't look off on the 40... I would've expected that to look bad/weird. But I dig it!

 

[LR LC200]

Thanks- Took some flack from some, but they got over it. The Grabbers with red lettering tied in well and no cost to me. Have a relationship with General. Went through the whole aftermarket thing and ended up back at TRD Pro and Heritage on the 200.

 

[Markuson]

Removing and reattaching steering wheel is not the correct way to go about this, as well as being a lot more difficult than the correct process. Imagine you kept doing that, 1-2 splines at a time.. eventually you'd run out of steering rack travel in one direction, and have 2x normal in the other direction. This is a hypothetical to make a point, for the record.

The correct way is to loosen the jam nuts on your tie rod ends and perform equal adjustments to the tie rods to center the wheel. Because they are on the front of the knuckle vs the rear, you will need to extend the driver's side tie rod (unscrew), and shorten the passenger side, and if you do it equal amounts on each side it keeps your toe as it was when the shop aligned it. There are flats on the tie rod where it goes into the tie rod end, and the best method here is to keep track of how many flats you dial into each. I'd start with 3 flats on each side (out on driver's side, in on passenger), see if that gets you far enough, or too far, and dial in more or less as needed.

For the record you will need some pretty big wrenches to do this.. the hardware on our trucks is huge. Also it is common for the ball joint in the tie rod end to be turned one direction or the other, vs neutral. I like to center these before adjusting tie rods to make the flat count as even as possible through adjusting and snugging everything up.

This is a decent video of the procedure, though you don't need to mess with using the jam nut to track how far you adjust things.. just count the number of flats on the tie rod that you dial in, then tighten the jam nut up to hold things true. I usually back the jam nut out a couple turns to make sure it doesn't interfere with dialing in the tie rods when I do it.

Great video and post.
Thank you.