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Steering wheel misalignment

G

GPCharlie

New member
I noticed after having my state inspection done to the vehicle that the steering wheel is now misaligned. The car steers straight down the road but the steering wheel is now cocked about 30-40 degrees. WTF?:th_angry-teeth:
 


If your inspections are similar to our inspections, your mis-aligned steering wheel could not happen during an inspection.


Signed,
Ex Vehicle Inspector.
 
So Bronco Boy you're saying it happened out of the blue? I don't think so. I've contacted him and he said to bring it back. He used a floor jack to jack up one side of the car at time to inspect the front wheels for loose ball joints etc. He left the motor running while he did this. I noticed the issue with the steering while shortly after I left there. So, you still think he had nothing to do with it? The car has less than 68,000 miles on it. I have maintenance performed before items become due. I stay on top of things. No, this just did not happen out of the blue. I'm asking here trying to get an idea of what may have caused this and what to look for.
 
Inspectors here jack them up by the drip edge.

I'd like to hear how he got the jack on an inner tie rod considering how the frame and control are are in the way. Plus..one tie rod would make it steer badly.

Most likely.. you didn't happen to notice it was slightly off before.
 


GPCharlie said:
So Bronco Boy you're saying it happened out of the blue? I don't think so. I've contacted him and he said to bring it back. He used a floor jack to jack up one side of the car at time to inspect the front wheels for loose ball joints etc. He left the motor running while he did this. I noticed the issue with the steering while shortly after I left there. So, you still think he had nothing to do with it? The car has less than 68,000 miles on it. I have maintenance performed before items become due. I stay on top of things. No, this just did not happen out of the blue. I'm asking here trying to get an idea of what may have caused this and what to look for.
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Out of the blue? No. By a guy inspecting your vehicle? Unlikely. Think of what is involved to get the wheel that far off. Unless the inspector did something stupid, he wouldn't have done anything to effect the wheel this much. I've been doing inspections on and off for almost 30 years, and have yet to have a story like yours be the fault of the inspector. See coincidence.

One time I helped a customer by topping up his power steering fluid that he bought from me. Two days later he is back blaming me for breaking his power steering pump. See coincidence.



HighOctaneRacing said:
The inspector probably jacked it up by the inner tie rod
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Definitely a possibilty.



BillBoost37 said:
Most likely.. you didn't happen to notice it was slightly off before.
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^ This gets my vote.
 
GPCharlie said:
I'm asking here trying to get an idea of what may have caused this and what to look for.
Click to expand...
Like HighOctaneRacing said,the inspector may have jacked it up by the inner tie rod.

Or he removed the wheel and put it back in the wrong position.

Or he disconnected the steering at the rack and put it back in the wrong position.

The first one is the only one that I can see as being possible. But unlikely as you never mentioned the car was pulling to one side or dragging.
 
Bronco Boy said:
Like HighOctaneRacing said,the inspector may have jacked it up by the inner tie rod.

Or he removed the wheel and put it back in the wrong position.

Or he disconnected the steering at the rack and put it back in the wrong position.

The first one is the only one that I can see as being possible. But unlikely as you never mentioned the car was pulling to one side or dragging.
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none of this is possible. id like to see how a jack gets past the sway bar and hits the tie rod.
 


Inspectors in MA don't remove wheels and if you go try to jack up your inner tie rod with a wheel on.. I give you kudos if you can catch it with a jack.

The subframe and control arm and sway bar are all in the way of you catching it.
 


I'm sure that I would have noticed it starting to happen. I pay attention to details like that. Kind of anal in that regard. If the inspection did not cause this then what can? Just trying to understand why it happened and what I need to do to fix it.
 
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