i have now nicly lowered my steering column. one problem the s/wheel now does not sit 'straight and level' and by that i mean it acts as if the tracking is way out, i followed the instructions to the letter!
why is my steering wheel not straight when my wheels are, they were fine before, im not sure but there also seems to be a lack of feel as well but that could be because my hands are in i different position
Column Woes!
Started by
mini-mad-dan
, Aug 30 2007 10:09 PM
6 replies to this topic
#2
Big_Adam
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Crazy About Mini's
Posted 30 August 2007 - 10:12 PM
You loosen the rack when you put in the drop bracket?
#4
icklemini
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Up Into Fourth
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Posted 31 August 2007 - 02:16 PM
ensure that all the bolts are tight and either move the wheel the very small fraction it would need, or get the alignment redone...
#5
Scruffs
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Mini Mad
Posted 31 August 2007 - 04:53 PM
yes i did
Did you try and turn the wheels before you did the U-bolts back up? To a degree, the rack is free to slide left-to-right and it sounds like your rack moved towards one side. I recently did a front end rebuild and the steering rack was a bugger to get centralised. As I couldn't be bothered to take the cones out and measure bump-steer left to right I just left it (it's a road car...).
If it was me, I'd drive in a straight line on a flat bit of car park, letting the steering wheel settle where it wants . Undo the rack bolts (stopping first of course!) and turn the wheel back straight ahead again. The idea being to move the steering rack and not turn the wheels. Do the U-bolts back up and repeat as necessary.
Check if the steering wheel is central to the steering rack. (ie from straight ahead, does it do the same amount of turns to full left lock as it does to full right?) If it is central, I'd spend the time getting the rack back where it should be, as the car has likely been set up properly. If the steering wheel isn't central then bugger it...pull it off, turn it and put it back on straight...
Hope this helps
al
#6
Dan
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Posted 31 August 2007 - 08:31 PM
Centralising the steering rack on a Mini is dead easy, pull back the passenger side carpet and remove the rubber grommet from the LHD steering column hole. Under this is a plug in the rack, undo that and there is a centering lock for the rack. Stick a 1/4" or 6.5mm drill bit (blunt end) into this hole, turning the rack a little until the bit drops right into the hole and locks the steering. The rack is now centered. The steering column can only fit the rack one way round so if the rack is centered and the wheel is not pointing dead ahead then something is wrong in one of three places, either the wheel is on the wrong spline or the tracking is out or as said above the outer rack has shifted on the car slightly. From there you should be able to fix everything.
#7
Scruffs
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Mini Mad
Posted 02 September 2007 - 10:44 AM
Centralising the steering rack on a Mini is dead easy, pull back the passenger side carpet and remove the rubber grommet from the LHD steering column hole. Under this is a plug in the rack, undo that and there is a centering lock for the rack. Stick a 1/4" or 6.5mm drill bit (blunt end) into this hole, turning the rack a little until the bit drops right into the hole and locks the steering. The rack is now centered. The steering column can only fit the rack one way round so if the rack is centered and the wheel is not pointing dead ahead then something is wrong in one of three places, either the wheel is on the wrong spline or the tracking is out or as said above the outer rack has shifted on the car slightly. From there you should be able to fix everything.
Thanks for that man that will help loads when tracking up the car, don't need the missus sat in it holding the wheel straight now!
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