Steering Wheel Question

[Andyf3854]

My wife had an issue with the steering on her Rav (54 plate XT3) that has now been sorted except for the fact the steering wheel is slightly off to the right when the car drives straight. Is the steering wheel on 'splines' so it could be taken off then moved a couple of splines to the left then put back on or is there only one position the steering wheel can go in?

The steering was horrendous, it pulled left and would 'squirm' while driving Mr T did a 4 wheel alingment but it still pulled left. They then swapped the wheels over and it pulled right, so they put the fronts on the back and it is now fine except for the wheel being slightly off centre.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[anchorman]

You can move the steering wheel Andy. What I do is on a straight road note the position when travelling straight. In the workshop set the wheel in that position then remove the wheel. Take car about the following. Disconnect the Battery and have a brew while the capacitors discharge. Mark the wheel/nut so you can see where it came from. Undo the centre nut but leave it on the threads to stop the wheel flying off and breaking your teeth! The pdf shows a puller but I do it by putting my knees under the wheel and push up hard towards you then use both palms to bump the upper part of the wheel towards you (opposite where your knees are pushing). When it eventually breaks free you can reposition the wheel. Take great care with that spiral cable.

steering_wheel_remove.pdf

[bothwell_buyer]

Cheaper fix - take the lens out of her specs - try the left one first and if she finds it worse replace it and remove the right lens.

[Andyf3854]

That's good to know, thanks for the advice (not sure about the specs thing though!)

[Jamesbelfast]

If the steering wheel isn't sitting central then there is something amiss with the tracking. Looks very much like the steering geometry is squew whiff. Let's be honest unless the steering wheel has been removed and replaced incorrectly there is no reason to belive it has suddenly moved on its own so why move it as some other aspect of the system has changed.

Moving the steering wheel is only fixing the symptom and not the cause. I would recommend the car steering geometry be checked a 4 wheel aligmnent system where the steering wheel is set central and all measurements are taken in that position.

For more technical info., see the link below.:)

http://www.familycar.com/alignment.htm

[anchorman]

It often happens where an adjustment is made on one tracking arm and not equally on both as it should be. If the wheel is a mile out then you really need to get it sorted as the lock angles etc would be out but if it is only a bit then I think it is OK to move it a spline or two. It could be expensive to get the vehicle re-aligned whereas if the wheel will come off there will be no real harm done.

Don't get me wrong James - I know what you are suggesting is correct and if the wheel won't budge he may end up doing that anyway. The risks are damaging the spiral cable or getting a smack in the mouth with the airbag.

[Andyf3854]

It has already had a 4 wheel alignment at a Toyota dealership and the camber was out and so was the tow in IIRC. Now it drives fine but the wheel is off centre by a few degrees, nothing major just enough to annoy me! As we are the 3rd owners of the car I have no idea what it has had done in the past and could have had the wheel off at some point. Luckily the garage we got it from are paying the bill from Mr T as the steering was wrong on the test drive and they said it was the tracking. They tried 3 times to sort it but couldn't so we told them we would take it to Toyota. luckily they said it was the alignment and the tyres so I told the garage I wanted them to pay for it as it was tracking related which they did. I will now use the guide provided (and my neighbour who is a BMW mechanic!) to adjust the wheel.

[bothwell_buyer]

It has already had a 4 wheel alignment at a Toyota dealership and the camber was out and so was the tow in IIRC. Now it drives fine but the wheel is off centre by a few degrees, nothing major just enough to annoy me! As we are the 3rd owners of the car I have no idea what it has had done in the past and could have had the wheel off at some point. Luckily the garage we got it from are paying the bill from Mr T as the steering was wrong on the test drive and they said it was the tracking. They tried 3 times to sort it but couldn't so we told them we would take it to Toyota. luckily they said it was the alignment and the tyres so I told the garage I wanted them to pay for it as it was tracking related which they did. I will now use the guide provided (and my neighbour who is a BMW mechanic!) to adjust the wheel.

My guess is the same as said before - that the tracking has been adjusted unequally and affected the steering wheel position. I personally wouldn't go near a T dealer, and get all my garage work done at a Jap car specialist who has the latest tools, and uses laser alignment for the tracking etc. Using the laser method, and mechanics who are trained well to use it (my guys do race car sets ups so are pretty spot-on cos they have to be!) then they should be able to bring wheel back to position.

The position can change following an engine out job as well... quite common I think... and its perhaps the front steering was put back skew. In that case doing what ancs suggests will rectify it.