pruney81

Sooooo...back in September I got into an accident and bent the front passenger side frame in my truck. I took it to a friend of a friend's shop and they pulled it out for 200 bucks. He told me they aligned it but apparently they did not, as my two front tires wore out in 6k miles. I bought some used tires and rims and put them on and took it in for an alignment today. It was waaayyyyy out of spec and the mech. spent about two hours getting it aligned. Now my steering wheel is off at a 90 degree angle to the left. It seems to drive better but the steering wheel is bugging the hell out me. They wanted more money to take the steering wheel off and center it again so I just gave up and left. Should I leave it how it is or could someone tell me how to take it off and center it? Also, if I take it off and put it back where it's supposed to be will it affect my turning radius at all? The shop who just did the alignment was claiming I should just leave it because it will affect my turning radius. It's a 95 4Runner Limited 4X4 with no drivers side airbags, or they at least told me it had no airbags. Thanks, Paul

SR5

ya you should try to get someone smart to come over to your house and help you take it off because you dont want to drive around with a bent steering wheel

and as far as the turning radius, im sure, but i should have no effect on it

ewong

Unless somethign was totaly out of wack - they didnt do the alignment right.

Step ONE is usually CENTER THE STEERING WHEEL.

Then start adjusting tie rods to get it right.

On older MKII VWs this was an issue becuase the factory supplied a NON ADJUSTABLE tie rod on one side. In ONE CASE the shop (who knew me VERY well) gave me an impact socket to recenter the wheel. This was becuase they didnt want to R&R the non adjustable tie rod (to convert it to an adjustable one). (they were in a hurry, I was in a hurry etc...)

The Toyota 85-96 era IFS does NOT HAVE THIS ISSUE.

Its possible that a tie rod was bent - if so they should have told you and replaced it.
Its possible the relay rod was bent. Again - they should tell you.

Pulling it off and recentering the wheel if the steering box is not centered MAY in fact screw up your turning radius if you set the wheel up straight but the box is off centerd (akak you have no more turn left on one side and too much trun on the other side).

Get an alignment shop that knows what they are doing.

pruney81

I have new a new steering rod and new tie rods. It drove straight before but according to their prinout it was pretty far out of spec. I want to go back but I could use some more info first. Like I said the frame was bent adn pulled out. The alignment spec seem fine now but the wheel is 90 degrees to the left like I said.

pruney81

I went back and talked to them and they said they would pull the wheel and center it then re-align it. I made sure to emphasize that I would not be paying for it. I'm going in at 8 tomorrow morning, hopefully it works out.

ewong

ummm...

First they should center the center link.
THEN check the steerting wheel and see it it needs to be pulled.

dijlop

never pay for nuffin. fight the world.

pruney81

Sorry for the noob-esque question, but what's the center link? They spent about two hours adjusting the front end and it's all within spec but now my steering wheel is way off. I'm hoping if they pull the wheel and then re-align it it should be fine. It's drives fine now it's just that the steering wheel is 90 degrees off kilter. I'm leaning towards just leaving it how it is. Any suggestions?

ewong

um... the center like controls the tie rods on each side and links the steerign box to the idler arm.. it spans the center of the truck.

When the center link is "centered" the steerign wheel should be straight.
This is the way it comes from the factory.
The relationhsip between the center link and the steerign wheel should NEVER CHANGE - EVER EVER EVER.... Unless.... something was BENT (like say an accident).

Im not there.
I havent seen the frame damage.
If, when the pulled the frame - they DIDNT straighten the center link.. then the center link is bent or the idler arm is bent (very possible as hard four wheeling will bend the idler arm)..

The alignment shop should have noted this and basically refused to align the vechicle until bent parts were replaced... or you said you wanted to continue to use bent parts.

If they are pulling the steering wheel.. the SOMEHTING BENT.
Its also possible that the frame has not been pulled back to OEM spec.. that would cause the wheel to be off like that...

pruney81

Well, I went back this morning and they fixed it without having to pull the steering wheel off. They had a different guy work on it today and he was done in about 30 minutes. I think the guy yesterday just didn't know what he was doing.

ewong

I'll say...

pruney81

HAHAHA...yeah. I was actually starting to think something was seriously wrong with my truck too.