steering wheel adjustment

[Gez]

Hi, my 182 sterring wheel sits slightly off centre. last owner said it had a new wheel as last one had melted.
Now the car drives perfectly straight and doesnt pull either way.
Question is, how is the wheel located onto the collum? by multiple splines or a single hex shape?

 

[Struggler]

pretty sure its splines m8,
but id defs double check the tracking,
if somebody has the knowhow to change a steering wheel,
i think theyd manage to get it straight,

previous owner may have sprung a porkie to avoid telling you he planted it into a kurb,
hope not tho.

 

[f0xy]

multiple splines yes for definate.

 

[Beef-Mc]

Yep definetly splines, tracking must be out.

 

[dzm]

Tracking can be OK and wheel off-centre. Need a savvy mechanic to wind one track rod out very slightly and the other track rod in the same amount (usually 1/4 turns) until wheel is straight ahead. This keeps the geometry correct - just needs a quick final tracking check to make sure. I had this on my last car and it took about 20 minutes to sort out - to speed things up he just steered the front wheels to full lock to access and tweak track rods rather than jack the car up.

 

[Gez]

alignment is perfect, and has no uneven wear on tyres. ill move it round 1 spline tonight. thanks for the help guys.

 

[wallop]

Check its the steering wheel thats out & not the tracking mate.....

Simplest way to check is to get steering wheel 'straight', then turn to full lock one way, note wheel position, then turn to full lock the other way and again note wheel position, if its the same both ways then its the tracking thats out, if it differs then its the steering wheel position thats out....

Its not uncommon for garages to sort tracking with steering wheel off centre....You should always ensure they use a steering wheel clamp when setting tracking because its vital the steering rack is central in the straight ahead position to avoid geometry issues when cornering....

 

[caister]

alignment is perfect, and has no uneven wear on tyres. ill move it round 1 spline tonight. thanks for the help guys.

IIRC the wheel has large spline on the top so you can't just move it round as the large spline wont fit into the smaller ones.

 

[iimushroomzii]

You cant move the wheel because it has a locating spline? Needs tracking adjusting like Darren said.

 

[Gez]

ahh ok. thats that plan out the window, will get the rack adjusted.

 

[.J.a.m.e.s.]

just opened a thread about this! lol

i need to adjust mine as i dicked it into a curb!

how do you do it??