03_AP1

My alignment is perfect in terms of tire wear and car balance (no pulling in any direction) but my steering wheel is crooked by 2-3 degrees.

Being the perfectionist that I am, I'd like to re-centre it.

Has anyone tackled this before? I have the service manual and it seems pretty straight forward - all I need to buy is a steering wheel puller.

Comments? Suggestions?

Thanks
*EDIT* THanks Russler - read your article, very informative

xviper

Don't pull the steering wheel. That's a lot of work. Try to uncouple the steering column at the U-joint in the engine bay. Then couple it back up but shifting it one spline at a time till the steering wheel is where you like it.

moparacker

Take it to an alignment shop and get the steering wheel centered using the tie rod ends. That's the proper way to straighten the wheel.

03_AP1

i agree with the non-alignment option.

I've already had this thing on the rack 3 times trying to solve a tire wear issue, and I don't feel like messing it up over a crooked wheel.

Now you guys have presented two options:

1) Remove and re-centre the wheel

2) Undo the U-joint and re-centre it from there.

A quick pop of the hood indicates to me that I have to jack the car up? Has anyone done this before? I had a look in the service manual, but I couldn't really nail down the procedure. XViper, your input would be appreciated.

Asura

Adjust from the tie-rod ends. This is what a good alignment shop should do anyway. A shop that uses the Hunter laser device should center the wheel before adjusting the toe and camber.

Did you recently hit something that may have bent part of the suspension components?

03_AP1

Not at all....

My car was driving straight, wheel was straight, never pulled, but went thru a set of rear tires in 5 months/7000 kms.

So I took it in for an alignment after new tires were put on. Took a lot of toe out of the rear, and the guy tweaked the front a bit, but now the wheel is crooked, even though the car drives straight and doesn't pull.

I just don't feel like taking it back AGAIN for the 4th time, and hoping there was an easier DIY solution.

Asura

If you adjust the toelinks proportionally from each side, it will not throw the camber or toe out and only adjust the steering position.

moparacker

I assume the people suggesting the wheel/column trick have ever removed a steering shaft or steering wheel from a modern car. If you have, you'd know that it has a master spline allowing it to only go one one way. Plus, those splines are about 10 degrees apart, so you'd end up with a wheel 7 degrees in the other direction if you could even do that.

03_AP1

I see Mopar - I was under the assumption that the splines were pretty fine, like a gear almost, and that you could adjust the alignment millimeters at a time....

03_AP1

I was just reading the FAQ article on steering wheel removal/replacement and it had a few pics like this



It looks like the splines are pretty fine to me?