Centering and holding the Steering Rack

[William Miller]

After renewing the suspension on my 81 SC, I'm almost finished doing the ride height and alignment.
I was fairly careful centering the rack and the tie rod ends (turbo type) before reinstalling the rack back into the car.
What I don't know for sure is if the sterring wheel was perfectly centered when I slipped the shaft splines into the coupler.

I know there is only a limites amount that it could be off because of the flat spot in the shaft where the bolt goes. I guess it could be off a few splines.

Test driving the car (eyeball alignment only) The steering wheel was off to the left (On a clock the center was probably at about 11:55)

I've read in several threads here that it's important to have the rack centered before setting toe so that the tires don't rub and you get even lock on both sides.

How close does it need to be?
How do I get it centered at this point?
The car is on a lift,set up simular to a 4 post or alignment rack so I can easily get underneath.
I can't see and points where I could easily measure to get it even.

Also, once I get it centered are there any good methods to hold it in place without buying some fancy and expensive tool.
Thanks!

[North Coast Cab]

When yoiu say "center the rack" I'm not exactly sure what you are saying. There are two bolts that hold the rack in place and there isn't much flexibility there.

If you replaced the tie rod ends, changed the ride height or removed the a-arms you need to invest in an alignment.

To fix the wheel you can pull and move over a few splines, and then fine tune by turning the tie rods on both sides the same amount so you don't change the toe, but rotate the steering wheel.

[William Miller]

I guess I need to add some clarity.
I'm doing the alignment myself. The rack is installed in the normal way.
Before fine tuning the toe, I want to make sure the ends of the rack are equil distance from the center of the car. (Meaning the inner part of the rack that the tie rods screw into.)

If this is not centered when you adjust the toe, the wheels could turn further in one direction than the other. Once the toe is set, then I'll go back and center the steering wheel.

Most of the procedures I've read state to center the rack and hold it so it won't move while adjusting the tie rods.

Is it possible that the lock on the column is supposed to hold the wheel straight while the rack is centered. Mine holds it locked off to one side or the other.

I might be close enough now, but I don't want to have to do it over again because I missed this step.

[jbrand540]

When I reinstalled my rack I unbolted the steering wheel and then got under the car with a tape measure. I had someone else turn the wheel until I was even on both sides of the rack and then had them put the steering wheel on straight. to the shaft.

Another way I have done it on other vehicles is to make sure your tie rods are exact equal length and then find a common measure point on the car to measure to the front or back of the break calipers. If the measurement is even you should be pretty close straight. I say pretty close because you will have some give in the tie-rods. You can push on the back of of both rotors to pick up the slack in the tie-rods.

Both methods are fairly crude but without expensive alignment equipment its going to be.

[William Miller]

I wish I'd measured before putting the pan back in place. I did/do however have the ends equil distance from the rack itself. I think I might find the center of the belly pan and measure from there out to where the threads for the ends start. Part of the complexity is that when on the car and the car is on the wheels, the tie rods don't stick straight out. They angle back and up slightly.

I think this will work. The brake calipers are up front and possibly hard to measure. (I'll take a look.)

Now what's a good method to hold the wheel / rack (once centered) in place while I adjust the toe. (I want the wheels to move not the steering wheel!
Thanks!

[jbrand540]

I have not had a problem with the steering wheel moving. Are you adjusting the toe with the car on the ground? I do not see how the steering rack would move under the adjustment. The wheels should move much easier then the rack.

[jbrand540]

Also be careful with the belly pan as that could easily be off center. Might want to pick a point on it and measure out to a static point on the body. Such as the jack points at the back of each of the front wheel wells or perhaps the torsion bar mounts. Anything location that you know should be the same per side so that you can get dead center.

[William Miller]

I just got finished.
I measured from the ends of the aluminum cross member using a 12" square. I backed the lock nuts all the way back to the ends of the threads and used that as a reference.
I used the column lock to hold it in place. It's off center a bit, but I got the toe perfect this way but still need to drive it around to get everything settled. Now that all wheels are close to where I want the the next go round will be fine tuning.

The car is on 2x12's on the lift. The 2x12's have 2x6 cross braces and they are bolted to the feet on the lift. I used screw jacks to level each corner perfectly using a water level. I leveled to the axle centers which takes out errors with tire pressures and tire diameters etc. I also used the water level and a jig to set ride height using the top of the torsion bar covers. The factory specs call for using the centers, but with a little measuring and some math this setup is very precise and repeatable.
I made a jig simular to the smart camber tool and another that replicates the smart strings. The whole setup (besides the lift which I already have cost about $200-300. Sooner or later I'll get some scales and I have plans to make slip plates from some granite tiles with grease between them.

This first go arround was more of a process of making the tools and learning the alignment process.

Thanks for the help. I'd still like more ideas on the rack centering because there is probably a better and more repetable way then the way I did it.

[toddu]

When I did mine, thanks to advice from Tim Hancock, I just rotated from lock to lock and then divided that by .5, and rotated back that much. Came out perfect.

Todd