The steering wheel on my ND is not centered (about 2 degrees to the right when travelling down a straight road). It has not been kerbed nor does it pull to the left, it is just misaligned, but very irritating! How easy is it to correct using the track-rod ends without altering the toe angle. Is it just a matter of screwing in one track rod and unscrewing the other by the same amount to re-align the steering wheel without affecting the toe-in angle?
Anybodies advice would be appreciated.
Yup, that’s it.
You may have to release the clip/cable tie on the rubber boot to allow the track rod to rotate
and you could mark the TRE, nut and track rod with white paint pen so you can tell how far you’ve turned it, although my method
is to clip a small Mole Grip to each of the rods at 6 o’clock and use this as pointers.
Paul G
You wont go far wrong with this method
Cheers Paul. I take it the threads on both track rods are normal right-hand threads and there is no stupidity like having a right-hand thread on one and a left-hand thread on the other. I am asking this because I tried to loosen the lock-nut on one of them and I couldn’t get it to budge. Maybe I need to get some penetrating oil on them!
Yes, that’s OK, but to correct just a couple of degress at the steering wheel, you’ll only need to move the track rods by the proverbial ‘gnat’s nadger’…probably about 15 degrees- or a maximum of one flat, and don’t overdo it, or you’ll get it out of line the opposite way!
A good way of breaking the grip on the track rod nuts is to put a snug-fitting spanner on both track rod end AND nut, then with their ends a few degrees apart, squeeze them together, so doubling the effective torque being applied to the joint. That, and a good sqirt of penetrating jollop beforehand, usually does the trick.
Works for me!
Cheers,
Aldi.
Both threads should be standard right hand threads
I had a wheel alignment last year and although the front tracking was OK, i did mention about the wheel being out of alignment.
He did exactly as mentioned, shortened one side and lengthened the other.
Why not correct it at the steering wheel itself? It’s possible that’s where the initial error was introduced.
Not so easy nowadays with steering wheel mounted controls and airbags!
And not just that , steering angle sensors as well are a big part played in steering set up as its part of the stability program etc
Gone are the days of pulling steering wheels to set them up
Mores the pity 