hi guys just overhauled the top part of my engine, now i'm getting to the bullcrap items to do.

today i had the brakes adjusted and had the brake system bled with all new fluid, brakes are excellent now.

also got an alignment because i felt it needed one, and the steering wheel was always in the 10 o'clock position.

here's the problem, got the alignment and the guy told me he put the steering wheel back to the 12'o'clock position but, when you turn
the steering wheel right it returns back to the 12:30 position and when you go left it returns to the 11:30 position. when driving it's sometimes straight and can return straight if you give it a quick jerk opposite of what ever direction it's in....never experienced this before. The guy told me all the front end parts are good. Lastly it could have always been this way and i just never noticed it being the steering wheel was at 10 o'clock position or there abouts.....

any ideas? any quick fixes? cures? anyone experience this??

 

bad box??

 

Are you speaking of a Mopar? WOW! Is the K member tight? Steering box bolts tight? He may have not tightened the alignment adjustment bolts enough.

 

We need much more detail

First, what do you mean by "10 o clock" position? Do you mean that the wheel was never centered?

Second, do have power or manual steering?

What do you mean by your description of returning?

Are you saying that at different times, when you make different turns, and get the car straight down the road, that the wheel ends up in different positions?

If so, this indicates something SERIOUSLY loose, and there "should" be (with this fault) a considerable amount of play in the wheel, IE you would have to turn the wheel a large amount to cause the car to turn.

Or do you mean that it only returns "so far" and then you have to MANUALLY change the wheel position to straighten out the car?

If that is the case, there could be several causes

Bad bearings and other wear in the column, causing friction and drag

The box being out of adjustment, IE too tight, or even worn

There exists some pretty poor designs nowadays, in front end components including idler arms. I just REMOVED an idler of this nature. The way it was built, if you overtightened the frame mounting, it would cause drag in the idler bearing. It now has a NOS Moog on the car.

You might get some idea if this is manul steering, by jacking the front wheels off the ground, and turning the wheels by hand.

 

before the alignment , yes 10 o'clock was the position of the steering wheel to drive straight so in other words it faced left. As long as i owned the car it was like this. was always working on something else.

i have power steering.

also without the car running there is an 1/8 turn of play before any steering will happen. to be clear, turn the wheel 1/8 of a turn then the wheels turn.

when i say returning, i am say after making a left or a right and then proceeding straight the steering wheel ends up as such... a right the steering wheel stays a bit to the right when you drive straight, make a left the steering wheel ends up a bit to the left while going straight.

Are you saying that at different times, when you make different turns, and get the car straight down the road, that the wheel ends up in different positions? yes!!!

If so, this indicates something SERIOUSLY loose, and there "should" be (with this fault) a considerable amount of play in the wheel, IE you would have to turn the wheel a large amount to cause the car to turn.
this is NOT the case.

Or do you mean that it only returns "so far" and then you have to MANUALLY change the wheel position to straighten out the car?

no after a turn left or right the steering wheel stays off center left or right when going straight. if i do a quick pull on the wheel in the opposite direction the wheel will then be straight when driving straight.

never noticed this when the steering wheel was in the 10 o'clock position because there was no reference point to judge, so it could have been happening all the time.

 

I would get some one to turn the wheel firmly back and forth (10:00-2:00) while laying down and looking at every component and joint. Look at the steering shaft from the firewall through to the box and the steering arm. This should show slack somewhere.

 

You have something loose, or a problem in the box. As above, get someone to move the wheel and watch.............watch the steering coupler from the column to the box, watch the pitman arm, and watch for up / down movement at the idler. Watch for ANY slop in any mechanical component.

 

honestly ill bet the guy never aligned the car nor checked it. he simply took the steering wheel off and adjusted it to 12 o clock. it sounds like u have play at the tierods once again if this is true the man never checked a thing. did he give yiu a printout of the alignment specs after he was done?

 

Agreed.
The steering coupler may be the culprit with these symptoms. When he has to "Jerk" the wheel to straighten it out, this may be where the movement is....

 

I would crank the wheel hard to the left or right to the stop and see if the steering wheel or coupler are stripped.. the most common way to center a steering wheel is to move it to 12 oclock.. It is not the right way to do it but affective none the less.. And save alot of time..The proper way is on the alignment rack by adjusting the tie rods.. Also some guys adjust the steer ahead by moving the pitman arm..It sound like he left something loose... If you find that it is loose take pictures and return to the place where it was done and get or money back...Bill

 

hi thanks for the advice, I'm going to have it checked out.
in any event, the guy did an alignment there is no dispute about that.

The steering wheel is no longer in the 10 'oclock position.
Like i said it could have been that way before the alignment and i just did not know. no reference when the steering wheel is at 10'oclock for movemet.

Also, to whoever claims the steering wheel was just taken off and adjusted,
That is impossible to do. The dart steering wheels can only go on one way. and if he forced it on he would have been slamming it with a hammer to do it.
That is a fact.

 

was just thinking. Has the steering column been out? Could be binding? I would loosen the bolts under the dash and on the floorboard, shake it & then re tighten the bolts

 

Never had the column out, but i did have the dash bolts loose to get the speedometer out.

 

Spooky, I had an 01 ram that did that. The steering box was worn out. Not saying that's your particular issue, just throwing it out there. Let us know what you find, I'm very curious.

 

You need to stop driving this until you figure this out. This SHOULD be pretty simple, if you or somebody you get on it knows what to look for.

Wiggle the wheel back and forth, and look for play, from the point the column ends the engine bay, to the pitman, to all the linkage and the idler.

You may have something broken / damaged in the coupler, or the box worn out, hard to say. Should not take 15 minutes of looking with two people to find the "slop." Fixing it might be another matter.

 

ok here is what i did and found out, i pushed the car sideways from the fenders and i heard a clunking sound from the wheels, I had new front wheel bearings on hand so i put them in, no more wheel clunk. now that's fixed. drums all around.

I had my wife turn the steering wheel back and forth while I was under the car.
everything is tight no slack no binding nothing....

So i pop the hood and have her continue. Wow, every time the wheel is turned to make the wheels right, the steering unit rises about an inch, like a rising roll, best way to describe it is like a broken motor mount where the engine rises when you add thrust from one side. standing in the front it rises from the left when the wheel is turned right then drops back into place when it is turned to the left...... so any ideas? lose bolts? do the steering units have mounts that might break or wear out?

I tried to tight up what ever i could but it's real hard to get to so i would say i missed bolts. so what ever i did had no effect.

it's a dart with a 273 with power steering.

 

Get a bright light and mirror and find out why it's moving.

 

Problem resolved jacked up the car and made sure the steering box was flat on mounting holes and wheels straight, torqued down the bolts and sure enough problem resolved. all the bolts were loose!!! in all my years i have never seen or had that problem. Steering wheel is 12 o'clock and comes back to same position!!!!! Party time!!! thanks for all you help!!!1

 

Glad you found the culprit. I wonder where the steering gear was resting when the alignment was performed. Think your guy would put it up on the rack and double check it now that it's all anchored? Maybe I'm being **** here, I dunno.

 

The box always went back to the original position when turned to the left
And yes going to have it re-checked tomorrow.