I'll put money on 1.5 turns not being close to enough to cause it to be off that much.
Bill Cardell TurboDog's Dad Flyin' Miata 1-800-359-6967 (sales) 970-464-5600 (tech support) www.flyinmiata.com www.fmwestfield.com ________________________________ From: Robert McElwee [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2011 3:34 PM To: Bill Cardell Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: Problems removing the steering column from the rack Yeah, I've looked for something bent but haven't found it yet. I removed 4 little screws and slide the clockspring forward just enough so I could turn the wheels without making the clockspring turn (just in case something was messed up with that). The wheels wouldn't turn any further to the right at this point so I wanted to see if by disconnecting the shaft something would turn further and indicate where the problem was. The tie rods only have a difference of 1.5 threads (one is showing 3 threads and one is showing 4.5 threads) and I didn't think that was too far off but I haven't messed enough with alignments to know if that is the case. Maybe turning each 1 turn would center everything up quite a bit. When I tried to loosen the tie rod ends it felt like a gorilla put the nuts on so I gave up at that point for the night and haven't touched it again (has been a couple of cold weeks here). Tonight is my last night shift at work so I'll finally get some time to work on it. I'll let you guys know what I find. Thanks! On Sun, Jan 16, 2011 at 1:04 PM, Bill Cardell <[email protected]> wrote: Zackly. Bolt must come completely out, there is a groove in the shaft. But isn't this the hard way to do what you're trying to do? If I'm understanding the issue correctly, you need to see what's bent or who screwed up the toe settings dramatically enough to give you this uneven steering. Bent tie rod? If nothing is bent, then I would take the steering wheel off so the column can spin without winding up the clockspring. Then you need to center the rack in its travel (same turns each direction), then adjust tie rods to get the wheels straight. As far off as yours is, you won't be able to center the rack without making fairly large tie rod adjustments first to even allow the rack to move to center. FWIW, with numbers you gave us, I think either a tie rod or control arm is bent. Bill Cardell
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