azswede1960

My steering wheel is about at 11o'clock when driving straight ahead on flat road. I have been reading about adjusting the tie rods, but have not ventured there before. Looks like a left and right clamp needs to be loosened and both side adjuster sleeves to be rotated in same direction.
BUT which direction to get steering wheel centered, and about how much....hate to have to turn it a couple of times, take it off jack stands and go drive it more than a couple of times :reddevil

Anybody give me some tips before I venture in ??????

PRESSURERAT

I would pay an alignment shop to do it.

norvalwilhelm

You are going to want to lengthen one side and shorten the other side. Pretend to turn the wheel to 12 oclock and you find the front wheels turning to the right. To get the wheels back to straight ahead the passengers side needs to be lengthened and the drivers side shortened.
If things are put together right the outer tie rod is left hand thread and the inner right. Move the sleeves only about 1/4 turn . Think about the inner tie rod being right hand thread if you want to shorten it think about the direction it takes to shorten it or lengthen it.
It is definitely doable, just take you time, only 1/4 turn. Put a piece of masking tape on the tie rod sleeve to keep track of how much you turned it. You will get lost quickly if you just turn it without marking.
Remember the passengers side lengthend, the drivers side shortened, only 1/4 turn of the tie rod sleeve.
Good luck

Jim Shea

Norval,
Good explanation. I was never sure which thread was supposed to be on the outer tie rods. Left hand it is.

Maybe you can explain this one. Why does the AIM sheet and the shop manuals say to position the outboard adjuster tube clamps with the clamp bolt to the rear and vertical and to position the inboard adjuster tube clamps with the clamp bolt horizontal on the bottom.

I could see that possibly the assembly plant might want the clamp bolts to be in a such n' such position so that they could get their power wrenches consistently on the nuts. But that doesn't explain why the shop manual would require them to be in specific locations.

azswede1960

Sweet!! Do I loosen all 4 clamps before making any adjustments, or 1 side at a time (2clamps) ? And if I understand you right, I mark the position of the adjuster tube to the thread and turn the adjuster tube a quarter turn to lengthen the threaded part on the passenger side, and turn the adjuster tube a quarter turn to shorten the threaded part on the drivers side.
Then tighten all 4 clamps back down and try it out......????

Jim Shea

Sounds like a plan. Drive straight ahead. If your steering wheel position gets worse, you turned the adjuster sleeves the wrong way.

Yeller81

Had the same problem and took it to a Alignment shop. Might be better to let them do it and it does not cost that much. It is cheaper than wearing tires out in a hurry if you screw up.

:steering:

toyvet1

I took the easy way out and removed the steering wheel from the colum and remounted it strait up position. I've had it this way on my 79 with T&T for over a year and don't notice any problems...

azswede1960

Thanks for all the advice....took me 4 times of jacking the car up and adjusting it, but it got done in the end. Starting with 1/4 turns that did not do much, then jumped to another two full turns that went to far to the right. Then had to come back 1 turn, and ALMOST had it but being a perfectionist, jacked it up again and did 1/8 more back...... :D I bought the car to fix it up and learn about it as I go, so I am not much to take it into shops, would rather buy any necessary tools and be little wiser :)
Thanks again!

norvalwilhelm

Glad it worked for you. 2 turns is alot. From buying the bump steer kit with heim joints which are left hand threads I found out the outer tie rods are left hand and the inner is right hand. Also they sell replacement tie rods and the catalogue talks about the inner being right hand.
Jim I don't use clamps. All my tie rods have locking nuts but it makes sense what you said about being in position for the power tools.
I have 6 tie rods on the car and always make left and right in the same places.