centering steering wheel

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I had a front end alignment (terrable job by the way) Now my steering wheel is 1/2 turn off.
How do I turn it to make it centered again? Took wheel off but clock spring only goes on one way so old school way of centering wheel will not work.
Thanks in Advance for any help
 

kennythewelder

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Well, the alignment shop should have centered the wheel from the get go. It can be done with the front end tie rod end adjustment. That being said, you can cheat it with the steering shaft. If you loosen the lock down nut, where the steering shaft goes into the rag joint, you can turn the steering shaft without turning the steering box. Here is a pic of the rag joint coupler.
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93chevyluvr

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Just got back from the shop and they charged me 230 for the tail light fix. They tried their best but couldn’t get the backup lights to work. Next Wednesday morning I’ll bring it there and they will re wire it which will be around 5-600 bucks plus this
 

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Well, the alignment shop should have centered the wheel from the get go. It can be done with the front end tie rod end adjustment. That being said, you can cheat it with the steering shaft. If you loosen the lock down nut, where the steering shaft goes into the rag joint, you can turn the steering shaft without turning the steering box. Here is a pic of the rag joint coupler.
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Perfect Thanks a lot
 

Schurkey

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The FIRST thing you need to do is figure out where the steering box center point (High point) is, in relation to the steering wheel. "Center point" on the box, dead-centered steering wheel, and "straight down the road" all need to coincide. Two out of three isn't good enough.

The SECOND thing you need to do is to make the alignment shop fix this, free of charge, and give you an apology for wasting your time.
 

kenh

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The FIRST thing you need to do is figure out where the steering box center point (High point) is, in relation to the steering wheel. "Center point" on the box, dead-centered steering wheel, and "straight down the road" all need to coincide. Two out of three isn't good enough.

The SECOND thing you need to do is to make the alignment shop fix this, free of charge, and give you an apology for wasting your time.

YUP! Absolutely!! Without a doubt!! What Schurkey said!!!!!!!!! DAMN poor shop that did that kind of work. I'd be damned if I let them do any rewiring of my truck.
 

Erik the Awful

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Sorry that I'm late to the party on this one. I haven't finished putting Way Cool Jr back together, but when I do, I plan on shooting a video on how to do a string alignment in your driveway. We do it at the racetrack fairly often, and it works. You only need about $20 worth of metal, trinkets, fishing line, and a metric ruler.
 

eran tomer

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Well, the alignment shop should have centered the wheel from the get go. It can be done with the front end tie rod end adjustment. That being said, you can cheat it with the steering shaft. If you loosen the lock down nut, where the steering shaft goes into the rag joint, you can turn the steering shaft without turning the steering box. Here is a pic of the rag joint coupler.
You must be registered for see images attach
but the steering shaft can go only one way on the box shaft, can't it? cos they have a flat side.
 
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