if you mean that the steering wheel is canted to one side or another when youre driving down a straight road, this is an easy fix. get a steering wheel puller (<$10), park your car with the front wheels straight, pull the steering wheel, line it up straight, put it back on. you might want to have your alignment checked first.
If this happened all-of-a-sudden, the alignment got whacked out somehow. Pothole, maybe, or excessive wear caused something to shift.
I don't believe you can (or SHOULD) change the position of the steering wheel. What you have to do to do it right is loosen the jamnuts on the tie rod ends, then rotate the couplings such that they both turn EXACTLY the same amount but opposite directtions. For example, if the wheel position caused the car to go left when it (the wheel) was perfectly straight ahead, you want the net result to be that each wheel is turned to the right, either by lengthening or shortening the tie rod end. In this example, you want to shorten the left (driver's) side and lengthen the passenger side. Note that you will probably need several "turn -n- tries" to get it perfect. Go 1/6 of a turn (one flat on the hex nut) at a time. Be sure to run the jamnuts tight before road-testing.
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09:19 AM
dguy Member
Posts: 2416 From: Beckwith Township, ON, Canada Registered: Jan 2003
Originally posted by lurker: if you mean that the steering wheel is canted to one side or another when youre driving down a straight road, this is an easy fix. get a steering wheel puller (<$10), park your car with the front wheels straight, pull the steering wheel, line it up straight, put it back on. you might want to have your alignment checked first.
I thought of this last summer. Dang alignment shop forgot to make certain that the steering wheel was centered, and consequently she's at about a 1/4 turn clockwise for neutral steering in a straight line.
The problem I ran in to was that one of the parts underneath the steering wheel (can't remember which), would only fit the shaft in one orientation. The steering wheel would only fit over that part in one orientation as well. In other words... I'm still stuck with it.
Not a big deal though... I'll be installing poly upper & lower control arm bushings in the next week or two. She'll need another alignment after that. This time, I'm going to remind them to center the darn wheel.
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09:26 AM
Fformula88 Member
Posts: 7891 From: Buffalo, NY Registered: Mar 2000
if you mean that the steering wheel is canted to one side or another when youre driving down a straight road, this is an easy fix. get a steering wheel puller (<$10), park your car with the front wheels straight, pull the steering wheel, line it up straight, put it back on. you might want to have your alignment checked first.
This isn't really going to work on a Fiero because of how the horn button wires into the column. The wheel will only go on one way.
Its your alignment. Although you don't want to pay for it, I would take it for an alignment, and be sure to remind them to have the steering wheel straight. You could play with the tie rods to straighten it out, but if you end up having the alignment off your going to shred your tires or not be able to drive the car well anyway.
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12:11 PM
fieromadman Member
Posts: 2217 From: Oconomowoc WI, USA Registered: Jan 2003
ive changed the position of the sterring wheel and ive changed steering wheels from the standard wheel to the gt. All that you have to do is use that sterring wheel puller and turn it to the position, line up the closest slot and you got it. I've personally changed the rotation of the steering wheel, in fact one of my cars has it slightly orr right now lol, ill go out and fix it!
------------------ That's the extent of my intellect www.geocities.com/j_depies step into the fiero kingdom
My steering wheel is crooked and I don't feel like paying an autoshop to fix it. How do I go about straightening it?
I imagine it has something to do with jacking up the front end and taking of the front wheels, but then what?
Thanks!
Well, it's not as simple as that unfortunately. In this pic:http://web2.airmail.net/jsavage1/formula/cancelcamhorncontact.jpg you can see the horn contact post coming through the lock ring. Note that the hole that it goes through isn't much bigger than the post. The lock ring can only go on one way: http://web2.airmail.net/jsavage1/formula/lockring.jpg because, you'll note, that there is a spline missing that aligns with a similar feature on the shaft: http://web2.airmail.net/jsavage1/formula/shaftsplines.jpg. Now, due to tolerances in the hole where the post goes through the lock ring and in the hole in the steering wheel hub that the post fits into, you *can* put the wheel on one tooth out either direction. Be warned that doing this will put your cancel cam post in a bind, and it will eventually break off as a result. The only proper way to center the steering wheel is by adjusting the front tie rods and performing test drives as necessary until it's properly aligned.
James
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10:04 PM
sanderson Member
Posts: 2203 From: corpus christi, texas, usa Registered: Sep 2001
This is an alignment problem. Repositioning the steering wheel is a bandaid fix. You can also adjust it yourself with equal adjustment of toe links but you risk still haveing the car out of aligment with accelerated tire wear
Here a front end alignment is only about $35. The Midas shop that now does my alignments doesn't flinch when I tell them it's not acceptable to have the steering wheel canted while driving straight on a level road. I had previous experience (even with dealers) getting the car back from alignment shop with the wheel canted. This happens if they don't do a good job of clamping the steering wheel in position prior to aligning.
Well, it's not as simple as that unfortunately. In this pic:http://web2.airmail.net/jsavage1/formula/cancelcamhorncontact.jpg you can see the horn contact post coming through the lock ring. Note that the hole that it goes through isn't much bigger than the post. The lock ring can only go on one way: http://web2.airmail.net/jsavage1/formula/lockring.jpg because, you'll note, that there is a spline missing that aligns with a similar feature on the shaft: http://web2.airmail.net/jsavage1/formula/shaftsplines.jpg. Now, due to tolerances in the hole where the post goes through the lock ring and in the hole in the steering wheel hub that the post fits into, you *can* put the wheel on one tooth out either direction. Be warned that doing this will put your cancel cam post in a bind, and it will eventually break off as a result. The only proper way to center the steering wheel is by adjusting the front tie rods and performing test drives as necessary until it's properly aligned.
