Steering wheel alignment

[Rototerrier]

Any way to center the wheel without an alignment. Took mine to dealer to get an alignment because the wheel was off-center, left biased. Got it back, but now off center biased right. It's not pulling, before or after the alignment. Drives great, I just hate having the wheel off center.

Any suggestions, or do I keep going back for alignments and playing whack a mole unit they get it right?

I've struggled with this for years with all vehicles. Seems like there would be a simple adjustment somewhere that can just be made to the wheel itself to center things up. Wishful thinking?

 

[VaderRebel]

Agreed. I've always been sensitive to dead center of the steering wheel and I'm terrified they're going to mess up my new steering wheel install next week.

Sorry, I haven't researched steering wheel adjustments for the Ram yet... but it might be in my "to do list" if they screw up the new one.

I hate going to the dealer for small stuff.

 

[Rototerrier]

I feel like a person could just adjust the tie rods coming off the power steering unit, equally in the proper direction and offset the steering wheel. That's how I do it with my Kawasaki mule. It has the same kind of electric power steering... But I fear the ram might have more smarts and I don't want to dork it up.

 

[Jp306]

Just came across this video. Might be work checking out.

 

[mikeru82]

Just came across this video. Might be work checking out.

This method is basically just adjusting the toe, using a "redneck" method (no offense to rednecks everywhere, including me). But it's just a band-aid, and doesn't address the root of the problem. It's also too easy for someone to mess up their alignment if they make a mistake. And it's not very precise. Especially if you need to make several adjustments. Not to mention that you're just empowering shops to continue to do poor work, which is the root cause of the problem. I used to do alignments in the late 70's and early 80's, and we were very careful about getting that right. I mean, it's the one visual cue that the alignment is correct. Shops just aren't being as careful about the details as they used to be. I'm all for do-it-yourself fixes, but in these instances, customers need to just take it back and make them do it until the shop gets it right. I guarantee you they'll be forced to improve after having to do several free alignments. If they refuse to fix it don't use that shop anymore. There is no excuse for shoddy work, and if they're being this lazy about something as simple as centering the steering wheel, what else are they being lazy about?

 

[Big White RAM]

Secure steering wheel in "center" position, then adjust Caster, Camber, Toe; in that order for a perfect alignment.
It's normal for a steering wheel to be slightly off center depending on the crown of the road; Right crown / wheel off to the Left, and Left Crown / wheel off to the Right. This can, and sometimes is, compensated by technechions per vehicle owners, but it's best to leave it "centered" as per specs, and live with the wheel being off at times. To check if the wheel is in fact "centered"; find a straight desolate road with equal crowns and drive down the center. The truck should then drive straight for at least 100 or so feet with the wheel staying centered. This coming from a seasoned alignment guy, who's a bit OCD about things being done correctly. Lol