My car must be possessed, I’ve removed the steering wheel 6 times and adjusted it to straight. Next day it’s off center again. I’ve even tried to adjust it with it not bolted to the shaft and driving the car while adjusting it. It’s fine until I drive the car the next day and it’s off again. Anyone have any suggestions on what is going on? I’m thinking about have an Exorcist stop by.
Popee
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Hey guys, it sounds like the clamp on the pitman arm to me. What do y'all think?
@Popee, the pitman arm is held to the shaft by a bolt that has to be reeeeeeally tight to remove all lay from that connection. If not, it can shift enough to be noticeable in the steering wheel position. One minute straight ahead is perfect and the next it's off to one side or the other, depending on the direction of the last turn you took. It's unnerving, to say the least.
To fix it you need to get access to the bolt in the pitman arm and, using long bar to give you a lot of leverage, tighten it just a bit. Even one flat on the bolt can solve your problem. I fought this issue for two years before Leon Chupp told me what to do.
Lane has sound advice ........ also may be in the steering box, tie rods etc. a complete inspection of the suspension and steering components is needed.
I’ll try tightening that bolt. 🤞🙏hope that’s the issue.
Thanks guys,
Popee
@Popee posted:My car must be possessed, I’ve removed the steering wheel 6 times and adjusted it to straight. Next day it’s off center again. I’ve even tried to adjust it with it not bolted to the shaft and driving the car while adjusting it. It’s fine until I drive the car the next day and it’s off again. Anyone have any suggestions on what is going on? I’m thinking about have an Exorcist stop by.
Popee
Interesting.....does it keep on skewing after every trip you take it on? Just wondering...Good info on the Pitman arm.
It could be many things. A steering box adjustment is one other possibility, and that is not a trifling thing either.
It also could be the crown of the road...
How MUCH is it off each time? Just saying it's off doesn't mean anything to me.
It’s off a slight amount. Took the steering wheel off again and got it perfectly straight again. Took it out twice for a 10 minute drive around many turns, still perfect. We’ll see what tomorrow brings 🤞. See picture of how the steering was.
Removing the wheel to center it is NOT the way to straighten it. Your pitman arm is most positively NOT dead center now when the wheels are straight ahead. And it should be.
You're supposed to center the pitman arm and the wheel goes on straight then. After that, you adjust the tie-rods to make it track straight and have the correct toe-in.
Steering boxes are adjusted at ONE spot for minimum play. That spot is dead center, and only dead center. Moving the wheel a couple splines and then using that as center is NOT the way to do this.
Check the Bentley manual if you don't believe me.
I’ll suggest something that is probably silly, and very likely not your issue. But your last photo reminded me of something that happened to me during one (or was it two?) steering wheel reinstallations as part of a horn button upgrade.
As it turns out with my setup, there was more than one way to line up the holes in mating parts to mount the steering wheel - one was correct, one was clocked just a little bit off. I apparently hadn’t noticed that the steering wheel was not at 12:00 when I pulled it off (I must have nudged my steering wheel one way or the other near the end of my latest garage entry) but I was able to mount it pretty close to 12:00 as my car sat. When I drove it next, I didn’t notice anything akilter until after I backed out of my garage and was driving forward in a straight line.
You have experienced this several times, so it’s hard to imagine my cause has anything to do with your problem, but I do wonder - when you are sitting in your garage installing the steering wheel “straight”, what are using as a reference to know it starts out actually straight?
OK, time for me to head back to my 5th percentile corner of the tent.
Carry on.
There is another possibility of looseness. The clamp that holds the steering box to the beam could be loose. And also, REALLY check that rag joint.
When your checking the rag joint, check to see if you have a crush cage on the steering shaft.
Good one Carlos, yeah, check that crush cage(if you have one) They FAIL after 50 to 60 years, especially if the shaft has side pressure on it due to steering box angle.
@DannyP posted:Good one Carlos, yeah, check that crush cage(if you have one) They FAIL after 50 to 60 years, especially if the shaft has side pressure on it due to steering box angle.
Crush cages need to be very carefully inspected by removing all paint sanding then cleaning well to inspect for even for the slightest hairline crack or what appears to bea simple indentation. I've discovered' two, once driving on to a trailer and it snaped at the stout factory weld, the second time was after a highly spirited drive and pulling into my driveway the crush cage deformed and snapped. Lucky both times... Personally I now "steer" away from crush cage columns on project builds.
@Alan Merklin, I was glad to see that you now steer away from crush cage columns. I don't have a crush cage and have wondered from time to time if I should have one.
@Popee So what's da scoop? Did ya fix it or still tryin'?
Have to find time to tighten pitman bolt, and check mounting bolts on the steering box. Sometimes you run out of time when you retire, go figure. Hope this week. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for checking up.
@Popee wrote: "Sometimes you run out of time when you retire, go figure."
Yeah, I know. All those Pickle Ball games keep getting in the way. 🙄
And Tennis.
@Gordon Nichols posted:@Popee wrote: "Sometimes you run out of time when you retire, go figure."
Yeah, I know. All those Pickle Ball games keep getting in the way. 🙄
Hey Gordon, Pickleball takes up about 1/2 my free time!
