Straight Steering wheel?

[Vaughn]

When I test drove my Rebel, the steering wheel was ****ed to the left to go straight down the road. So an alignment was put in the purchase contract to straighten the wheel. So dropped it off today for that to be done along with a Line-x and Step bars installation.

When I pick it up, drive it down the road in front of the dealer and its still ****ed to the left. So I took it right back to them, and the service manager tells me these are notoriously hard to get the wheel straight.

Those of you with experience with the 5th Gen or Rebels... Is this true? Or is this a service manager covering for the tech?

BTW, The step bars and Line-x look great.

TIA for any and all replies.

 

[Richard320]

He's full of it. The last part of an alignment is to drive it. Then you can find and fix things like off-center steering wheels before you return the car.

Yes, sometimes on modern cars it is hard to get things perfect. You have to have the engine on and the slack pulled one way when the wheel gets centered. That's why the final test drive is important. I worked at Toyota but I would be very surprised if Ram is not the same. We had a chart. We'd stick some tape on the wheel and some on the collar and mark them both with the wheel perfect. Then go drive it and when it's tracking straight, mark it again. Then go back and measure the difference. If it was, say 3 mm, the chart told you to move the sleeves 1.5 nut faces -- 1/4 turn. Or whatever. I can't remember anymore. You mark tie rod and turn the sleeve so far then lock it down and do the other side the opposite. Toe-in stays the same, steering wheel is centered. Go repeat the test drive. Yes, it's a PITA to have to do this stuff when you think you're done, but alignments actually paid pretty good. There's no reason to try and shortcut. That stuff always comes back to bite you.

 

[grimreefer]

Mine is a little to the left AFTER we had it aligned. It's not bad enough to take it back, but since we have the lifetime alignment we'll tell 'em that we want the wheel straight the next time we have it done.

 

[RebelWraith]

Yup, service manager is full of it. I've had multiple suspension setups on my truck and have the dealer allign it every time. Steering wheel is always straight and only have to slightly pull the wheel to one side if there is a major crown in the road.

 

[Vaughn]

Thanks guys glad to hear it. It annoys the hell out of me when the wheel isn't straight, and being told this may be a battle to fight on every alignment is not something I wanted to hear on a brand new truck.

 

[Vaughn]

Just a quick update. Took it back to the dealer, and we now have an on center steering wheel. It only took 2 tries.