Steering wheel,notch now with pic

by Dead Man Sun Nov 04, 2012 8:23 pm

Im gonna be removing my 73 chevelle steering wheel, and I notice that both the male and female parts to the steering wheel have a little line cut into the metal. like the column stud will have this cut into it as well as the steering wheel, are those suppose to line up when re installing ?.

by pila Sun Nov 04, 2012 8:34 pm

If you are describing what I think you are, the empty space in the spline is designed so that the wheel goes on only in one position. It keeps the steering shaft, intermediate shaft etc, lined up with the steering box, in the center steering position.

by Dead Man Sun Nov 04, 2012 8:37 pm

I dont think thats it, this is apart from the actual teeth/gears. the reason I ask this is because my car drives super straight when I let go of the steering wheel but the steering wheel is not centered, so I was gonna take it off and move it a tooth or 2 over, but then I noticed that those lines are matched up making me think the wheel is where it should be.

by Dead Man Mon Nov 05, 2012 2:13 am

anyone ?,going by this is my steering wheel out of whack

by JiMi_DRiX Mon Nov 05, 2012 2:42 am

I think I know what you're talking about, it looks like a "line", not really a big notch? If its what I think it is, and if I remember correctly from when I did mine a while back, they are suppose to line up together.

by JiMi_DRiX Mon Nov 05, 2012 2:43 am

73ssbb wrote:I dont think thats it, this is apart from the actual teeth/gears. the reason I ask this is because my car drives super straight when I let go of the steering wheel but the steering wheel is not centered, so I was gonna take it off and move it a tooth or 2 over, but then I noticed that those lines are matched up making me think the wheel is where it should be.

If you know that your front end alignment is correct, that would also help. If AFTER you adjusted the steering wheel and those lines are now matching up, and now the wheel is straight, well then I think you answered your own question and have already fixed the problem Smile

by davesr_7 Mon Nov 05, 2012 8:15 am

if the person who is doing the alingment doesn't center the steering wheel 1st and then do the alinegment you have that problem. i ran into some of that when i use to do them the alinegment will be right but it will be set at the steering wheel turned

by Dead Man Mon Nov 05, 2012 11:24 am

well when i first got the car a few months ago, the gears in the switch was bad so my grandfather pulled the steering wheel off to fix it all, the car if you let go of the steering wheel while going down the road its as straight as can be,so i thought the wheel was just put back on wrong so i was gonna center it but then i saw those lines are matching up, so if those lines are suppose to match up then the wheel must be correct and its something else.

by Dead Man Mon Nov 05, 2012 11:42 am

by JiMi_DRiX Mon Nov 05, 2012 11:55 am

Yes as far as I know those should line up. Mine do.

by Dead Man Mon Nov 05, 2012 11:57 am

ugh that means something must be off with the alignment, thanks man

by 77mali Mon Nov 05, 2012 6:48 pm

There is a connection right at the top of the steering shaft w/ a bolt by the firewall & break booster. You may be able to undo it & manipulate the steering wheel independent of the shaft so that the steering wheel lines up "straight" without affecting the front end alignment.

The nut & bolt are hidden behind the booster in this pic but I'm sure you can figure it out. If memory serves me, there are no alignment notches when you re-connect the steering column.

Steering wheel,notch now with pic Dsc01530

Steering wheel,notch now with pic Dsc01530

by Mcarlo77 Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:37 pm

I always remember my dad telling me to make sure to tell the guys at the alignment shop to center the steering wheel when I'd drop off one of our cars. Never really knew what that entailed.

Mali might be onto something. Since that connection is splined, I don't see why a guy couldn't adjust it at that point.

by 77mali Mon Nov 05, 2012 8:11 pm

That connection is at the end of the steering column & joins @ the steering shaft, I think all you'd have to do is disconnect it & manipulate the steering wheel portion of it to get it straight.

by pila Mon Nov 05, 2012 9:48 pm

In order to have the car go straight, and the wheel centered, the tie rods need to be adjusted while the wheel and the gear box are centered. I just went through that. I bought my '92 Chev pickup new, and just had it aligned ( first time) Only thing that was off, after replacing the idler arm, was that the wheel was not centered, and I told the guy that it was that way since new ! So he adjusted the tie rods to bring the wheel straight. 266 K miles with the wheel not centered ! Not a big deal to me, but we have it right now ! Very Happy

by Mcarlo77 Mon Nov 05, 2012 10:03 pm

Kinda figured centering the steering wheel had something to do with adjusting the tie rods when aligning the frontend.

by bigredlaguna Tue Nov 06, 2012 12:47 am

If your alignment is good, this is an easy thing to do.

1) Mark your tie rod/adjusting knuckle/inner tie rod with a sharpie or paint pen so you keep the parts in correct alignment.

2) Loosen the adjusting knuckle clamp for only the outer tie rods.

3) Disconnect outer tie rods from spindle.

4) The direction you need to move the wheel determines which way you turn the tie rods. Whichever way you turn them, turn them the same direction and the same number of turns. The adjusting knuckle should not turn, use the marks to verify this.

5) Re-assemble and check wheel position.

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