[RUNnWYLD]

It looks like when an alignment was done, the steering wheel was not centered. How can I fix this? I know its a simple adjustment but I've never done it before.

Thanks in advance.

Rob

 

[CougarCJ]

Take your horn pad off and verify that your steering wheel is has the dots lined up. (one on the wheel, and one on the shaft)

If they are lined up, the alignment shop needs to do a do-over.

 

[RUNnWYLD]

Can I not just unbolt the steering shaft, turn the wheel and bolt it back up? I remember having this done with another car.....

 

[dmac]

Not sure about older fords but chevys only go on one way, they need to be indexed and slide on

 

[RUNnWYLD]

Take your horn pad off and verify that your steering wheel is has the dots lined up. (one on the wheel, and one on the shaft)

If they are lined up, the alignment shop needs to do a do-over.

Im just assuming this was caused by an alignment as i bought the car this way. I took the cover off and didnt see the markings your talking about. Its a 71 with a rim blow.

 

[yeloxr7]

If it was OK prior to the alignment, take it back and have the alignment shop fix it. If it was one of those shops with the "high-tech" electronic gear, take it to a real alignment shop.

 

[Cedar Rapids Ia]

Don't know anything about the "dots" thingy... sounds like a CHEVY problem to me...on my '70 XR7 mine was off a little bit, so I took the center pad off the wheel, put my steering wheel puller on it and got it loose, then put the nut back on to lightly hold it in place, got out on our frontage road drove it straight, stopped and put the steering wheel where it belonged and tightened it up. Good as new.

 

[1969XR7Vert]

On 69/70 (and probably other years too), there is no spline indexing, so the wheel can go on however you choose, but I would not recommend it. Also, I have not seen dots, but I have seen (and have) a thin index line on the top of the steering shaft and a small groove in the wheel that the nut covers up when in place, these are used to index the wheel to the shaft.

If you are confident that the wheel alignment (besides the wheel center position) is good, you can loosen the tie rod sleeves and turn one one way and the other an equal amount in the opposite direction thereby maintaining the toe setting but moving the position of the wheel at center.

If the wheel is off to the right, you lengthen the DS tie rod/sleeve assembly and shorten the PS one. If off to the left, the opposite of above.

Depending on how far the wheel is off will determine how much to move the sleeves. Mine was only off a little bit (maybe 1 inch from horizontal on the spokes at the edge by the wheel rim), about 1/2 turn on the sleeves was all that was needed to adjust this out.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Bob

 

[doctordesoto]

i would drop the centerlink to pitman arm first---turn all the way to the right and then turn all the way to the left , counting the turns---rotate back 1/2 the # of turns lock to lock---this is gearbox center--the wheel should be level here and the tierods adjusted to this point
doctordesoto