Steering wheel alignment

Hey there....new to the thread....question about alignment of steering wheel....i just totally rebuilt a 2000 tundra....from the frame up....old frame...rusted out broke in half....bought new to me frame from junk yard, cleaned up and repurposed....original vehicle only had 60,000 miles on it....so ....i decided to take on the project...everything went great....until i got to the end....front end was re aligned with all new parts...but....the steering wheel is off center with wheels straight ahead?? i can raise the body....again...and pull steering shaft out but really dont want to....any other ideas??

Thanks

 

The shop or person that did your front end alignment did not finish the job, the wheel needs to be adjusted and that should have happened when it was aligned. Its adjusted with tie rods.

 

The steering wheel rod thingy disconnects under the truck. I had the same issue. If the alignment is correct that's probably your issue.

See this thread for pictures.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/diy-steering-shaft-seal.48664/

 

whoa damn...when i took the body off the original i only pulled the shaft straight out...did not remove the bottom shaft seal...hmmm...i may have to take a look at that....the truck drives fine....alignment is perfect....it sticks to the ground is very responsive to steering....thanks for the info..

 

As @frichco228 stated you can allign the steering wheel by adjusting both tie rods the same distance. As long as it's possible to move them the same distance then that's the way to go. Otherwise just pull the steering wheel off and allign it. I'd go back to the place that aligned it.

 

if i adjust tie rods wont that throw it out of alignment?? since i replaced the entire front end onto a new frame thats what i thought the prudent thing to do...get it aligned professionally....take the steering wheel off?? have not looked into that...any hints on that process??

 

On nearly all vehicles I've worked on - mind you I'm normally a pre-2000s kinda guy, and ideally pre-80s - there's usually a male splined interface on your steering box, and the steering shaft/intermediate shaft goes over it. Most sane people will make a mark on the joint before disassembly so they can line things up correctly on reassembly, just to get the position back in the ballpark so things can be dialed in easily, or be generally on-point.

If the 2000-2006 is same as virtually everything else I've touched, and you're counting roughly the same number of threads exposed on the tie rods for both sides, this could just be a matter of straightening the wheels, popping the steering shaft off the splined gearbox, rotate the wheel to straight nd hold it there while reinstalling the shaft onto its splined mate. That should get you at least 95% of the way there, or better if you take your time.

I don't deal with many vehicles that have a steering rack, so maybe these trucks are different. But I can't imagine anything not using a splined mate somewhere along the shaft to allow this super-common adjustment.

 

I already mentioned that. There are pictures in my link above.

 

Welcome from NY.

 

You never realize how much you gauge who is commenting based on their forum avatar/picture until everyone decides to use the same image.

I'm having to double and triple take now to figure out who is who. Solidarity is great, but my ignorant ass is floundering as a result

 

Yes....there is a splined shaft and i did tie off the steering wheel when i removed the body....but....had to take the entire steering system out to put onto new frame...rack and pinion....so...when i put the new front end together and it was taken in for alignment....it came out with the steering wheel off center....so....was hoping i could just take the steering out somehow and turn to the left or right without having to jack the body up again....thanks

 

As @FirstGenVol said, the instructions are in the thread he linked. If the rack was properly centered on install, and the tie rods are roughly the same thread count on both sides, the problem is the shaft not being properly centered on the rack splines. Popping off using those directions, straightening the wheels, locking/holding the steering wheel to the right straight-ahead position, and reinstalling on the splines should do it.

 

I have the same trouble, and I can't tell what posts are mine either. I'm dumb enough without adding confusion, but I want to show my support. Small price to pay.

 

If you can't get the steering wheel shifted by using the "one tooth over on the steering rack spline" method you can correct it by the factory service manual method.

Say your steering wheel is canted towards the passenger side while going straight. Loosen passenger side outer tie rod and spin it off 1 full 360* rotation, then spin the driver's side outer tie rod in 1 full 360* rotation. Doing this accounts for a 12* change in steering wheel angle towards the driver's side.