Hey guys!
so I recently had the pitman and idler arm replaced along with 2 new front rotors and 2 new front calipers.
long story short, I noticed that my steering wheel is off to the left by a couple inches with a little bit of play but it does drive straight for the most part.
Now I plan to get an alignment but only after I get new tires. For now I just want a straight tight steering wheel until I can get the funds for new tires.
Any suggestions, tips, tricks or hacks would be appreciated!
Clayton

 

Assuming the toe-in is correct right now (a big assumption), you need to turn both tie rods an equal amount in the same direction until the steering wheel is straight. In other words, you want to move both of the front wheels slightly to the left until their position matches the steering wheel. If you turn the adjusters the smae number of turns, it won't affect the toe adjustment (which is probably off, anyway).

If you get it aligned now, it should still be aligned after you replace the tires, as long as you don't drastically change tire size, wheel offset, etc. So, I would recommend you do that if you're planning to replace the tires in the near future.

 

I'd suggest first double checking that the steering gear is centered. Turn on the motor and then count the number of turns of the steering wheel from full left to full right followed by re-centering the steering wheel by turning it back halfway.

If the at the mid-point of the travel of the steering gear the steering wheel is not centered, then the steering shaft is engaged in the wrong splines on the steering gear input shaft. It then needs to be removed and reinstalled. If this is what you have, it could have occurred if the steering gear was removed to install the pitman arm. If you do have to realign the steering wheel shaft to the steering gear, now would be a good time to replace the "rag-joint", the coupler between the steering wheel shaft and the steering gear.

If at the middle of the steering gear travel the steering wheel is centered, then I would think the tie-rods need to be adjusted.