Steering Wheel @ 1:00 O'Clock

...I believe that the adjustment you discribed can be achieved TO A POINT. You can 'get away' with a 'little' side to side; adding/subtracting the exact amount of turns to the tie-rod ends, to maintain whatever toe-in adjustment accuracy you may have. IDEALLY, you would want the 'Rack' exactly centered; and you would 'horizontal' the steering wheel by disengageing the splined steering column shaft or shafts and shifting it by one, two or maybe three splines from the 1:00 O'Clock to the 12:00 O'Clock. This is My opinion. I know it is an added pleasure to cruise down the FreeWay with both hands on the wheel, and that wheel is perfectly straight! Good-Luck with it!

Thanks Marlin. What's the procedure for pulling out the steering spline and shifting the teeth over one or two notches on the rack to center the steering wheel? Are we talking regular hand tools and a few hours wrenching?

If the tie rod ends just stay tight and as they are, my toe-in won't change, if I do it the IDEAL, or really the RIGHT WAY. I'll be happy to accomplish this slick little project after work or next weekend. If you think I can figure it out, then I'm going to do it. A little prep talk will be much appreciated though.

I sort of plan projects so when I'm under the car again, I just do all the projects in that area all at once. Like I'm going to add an extra set of hose clamps on all the water tubes, despite the fact they may cause a little pitting, I want extra reliability. That's a little thing I decided to do next time it's up on jack stands.

Yes, it's nice to have a perfectly centered steering wheel. I also like to have confidence no problems will happen. I'd like to have confidence no tickets will happen, but I can't see a 100% way to guarantee that, but for a track or closed highway event.

Oops, really shouldn't digress. Nice little details, how involved is the rack teeth readjustment procedure? No special tools, eh? It's going to get done so I stop thinking about it while driving it. My rack was rebuilt when I got the Pantera, musta been when they didn't tend to this detail, or could have been a by-product of the bump steer kit, already installed when purchased. Thanks again.

I recently did mine. Pull the steering wheel. Remove the outter wheel hub, you'll find a large nut holding the steering wheel to the post inside. Take the nut off, use a gear puller and remove the wheel, reposition it, press it back down then tighten the nut to take it the rest of the way down until it's tight. No big deal Ron.
Mark the wheel first on the inside where it is before pulling the wheel off the spines so you know how much to move it. Takes less than an hour to do.

...Ron, Cozs' fix is the best plan! I completely forgot that you can realign the steering wheel just by pulling its' hub and repositioning the hub on the splined steering shaft. Much easier, and cleaner than getting under the car and trying to work where there is barely room for your hands and a couple of wrenches. Your question; starting with the Rack & Pinion adjustment, 'threw me'! Sorry!...

Thanks Coz and Marlin, I've pulled the steering wheel in the past, to work on the turn signal indicator switch, and probably repositioned it at 1:00 O'clock myself since I didn't mark it with a punch. Thanks guys, I made this task much more complicated than it had to be, but since I asked the question, you guys made it simple for me. I already have the steering wheel puller too, so it's really an easy task. It'll be nice to have that nice little detail fixed again.

The question is... how did it get to 1:00 in the first place. Is the steering and alignment correct? Was the steering wheel at 1:00 since you've had the car or did something change - like when you drifted wide and smacked the curbing with your right front on a fast left sweeper?

Questions and stories.
Questions:
It came to be at 1:00 O'clock when I pulled the steering wheel off to investigate the turn signal switch. The turn signal switch has the high low beam function on it, and I wasn't getting high beams, so I pulled the steering wheel off and found the loose connection for the high beams. But I didn't pull into my garage exactly straight, running from the cops and all, so the wheels weren't straight forward. When I put the steering wheel back on, it became tilted to the 1:00 O'clock position, being straight up with turned front wheels.

Stories:
It was Deeb who told that famous story about how there's a fast left sweepr turn close to his home, that he likes to test his cat's G-loading capability. The story goes like this. One night, there's some cops at the turn and see Deeb doing the drift, awfully close to that left hand curbing he accuses me of coming in contact with.... Anywhoo, ol' Deeb JUMPS out of his Pantera, lifts the rear deck lid and tells the cops that there's this loose wire or something, maybe it was a fuel delivery issue, which just happens on fast left handers, at 5,950 rpm's, so he tells the cops he waited until dark, and no traffic, so's it'll be safe to try and diagnose this problem. Deeb asks such Officers if'n they have any such experience and can assist in his diagnosis, skillfully distracting their attention from his driving 'fact pattern' onto his 'fictitious diagnosis problem'. And WE ALL REMEMBER, it worked! Fast talking Deeb explained to us common folk how to think extremely fast, distract their attention from the proper law enforcement inquiry, onto a much more interesting topic, while showing off his engine and machinery.

Isn't that the story Deeb? The true-life story you told? Yep, it is. So, therefore, it's Deeb who is much more suspect at the allegations of smacking left hand curbing. So, now we know Deeb must likely have certain experiences with adjusting the steering wheel from 1:00 back to 12:00 O'clock. And if'n I remeber the story correctly, that must be 1:00 AM O'clock. ;-) Remember any of this Deeb? So, the question is, Deeb, did you ever fix your 1:00 O'clock AM steering problem, too?

By the way, how's that fast left hand sweeper turn doing up there in Canada these days? Getting maximum G-force loading on your neck muscles still? Getting bigger shirts with larger collar sizes from all those neck muscles that keep getting thicker and beefier from the G-force work outs to them neck muscles? Must be nice, being able to talk and think so fast and smoothly, Deeb. Successfully distracting law enforcement officers and all. A license to speed thru left hand turns and all. Careful of them curbs!

Ron,

if the Canadian "cops" were waiting at the turn, wouldn't the sideways sliding Pantera have spooked their horses? All the cops in Canada ride horses, right? And go by the name Dudley?

George

Ok Veryfast. You win. Yes, I admit it. I have come close many times, but actually touched the curb - more than once. I have polished the dings on my right front wheel enough times so instead of a few jagged shreds, they are just smooth curves undulating along the rim. Fortunatley no leaks.

These hits were VERY gentle. Not enough to yank my steering off centre. So what really happened to you? Did you just pull off the wheel and hub and put it back by looking at your front wheels?

George - the story veryfast recounts is totally true. I got away with it. That time. Other times, I sat quietly while helicopters swirled overhead and unmarked cars stopped in both directions. As they recounted detailed data re my speed clocked from every direction, including in the air, I sat quietly, said nothing and took my 13 points and fat fine silently. In most cases it is beyond fast talking - even with horses and funny hats.

GP, you know more about the Canadian Mounties and Deeb just confirmed they all go by Dudley. Down in the lower latitudes we call them Deputies or Officers, but way up there. Good afternoon Deputy Smith, you haven't caught the burglars in my neighborhood yet have you? That's what I say. Deeb says, Good evening Dudley Smith, you remembered to change your trusted steed's diaper pouch prior to this evening's shift, didn't you?

Yeah, sometimes the truth is boring. I was investigating gettin my high beams working a year ago and got the wheel back on just a tooth or two off center. Then I got started on another project and forgot about it. Then when driving it a few times, I made a note to fix it but never got around to it, with lots of road tests to see if the latest project was correctly completed. Then after 20 hours in the Pantera, to and from Vegas, the 1:00 O'clock postion of the steering wheel became a little more annoying to me, but I forgot what caused it, so I was wondering myself, thinking maybe it's the new 17" rims caused it, then Coz said how to fix it and it refreshed my memory. Boring, but better than spanking a curb.

Regarding the high beams on the turn signal switch inside the steering column, the wire's still loose, but functions to activate the high or low beams when the wire is moved with my fingers, in a back and forth motion. Now I have a tip from a guy I was talking to in the pits in Vegas. He said the wiring harness connectors have screws to anchor the wires into it, which are friction fit into the connectors with the small screws. So, when I get off the couch and do the steering wheel reposition job, I have to crawl under the dash with my flashlight and tiny jeweler's screw driver and tighten the right screw to fix the loose connection. I was going to figure it out by looking at the wiring diagram and finding the loose wire and screw by color. Me, I'm just going to tighten all the screws on the connectors and hope to get it tight like that. Why fish with a worm and hook? Just drag the stream with a net to get a fish, or all the fish, so to speak. Boring stuff, not like helicopters and a trial right there with all the Government's witnesses converging with their radar detectors and lasers locked in with 171 mph on the read-outs, to get the fact pattern sorted out, and with the local Magistrate or Judge in the helicopter or on a horse, to do the trial and assign the points right then and there.

Much more dramatic things are happening up there where Deeb's favorite turn is located. Next week, I guess it's 5,975 rpm's to see if the tries will hold with 1/2 psig less in all the tires in that now famous turn. What a life. Me, I'm always making it more perfect with a little more tweaking and fine tuning. Keeps my driving record free of points, but I'd like to try that turn at about 5,100 rpm to begin with.... Me and Deeb, side by side into that turn, then when the emergency equipment starts strobing on those Dudley vehicles, we go different directions... see what happens. Sounds like fun. Maybe we can try and convince them to get two helicopters for 26 points, 13 each.

I don't know about fines down south, as I only got stopped a couple of times, and never in the Pantera. But the cops draw guns and approach from both sides of the car. Interesting attitude. Works though. You hardly wanna get out or talk fast.

But up here in the frozen north, they politely say hello, take your papers and shortly thereafter hand you a ticket, with the fine and points loss nicely detailed in a little box. THen tell you to drive safe and have a nice day.

I don't really know what RPM I was at in that famous corner, as I never had the time or balls to take my eyes off the road. I also moved recently so it's not even part of my route anymore. Now I just pass that exit and wonder.

Deeb, you made me think again about the steering wheel position. After Vegas, she went back on jack stands to inspect my newly installed brake upgrade kit. It turns out the left front caliper had to be shimmed to center it on the rotor. The LF caliper was offset so that the inside pistons were fully retracted, yet still causing drag, and out of all the brake pads, the inside LF were the only ones showing any wear. Maybe you're right, the drag on the LF caused the 1:00 O'clock steering wheel position going down the freeway, but it didn't feel like it was pulling... however there were some cross winds I was fighting at times. And I can't remember that the steering wheel was at 1:00 O'clock prior to that project. Therefore, I need to take it off jack stands and do a little road testing before I just repostion the steering wheel. It hasn't been driven since the Vegas trip, so that's the next thing to do, what with my tear down and inspections and adjustments having been accomplished. Thanks for making me think about it. Maybe it's fixed already with the shimming of the LF caliper.

I was in Vancouver, BC, Canada, 20 years ago. It was the most clean big city I've ever been in. The people were all very friendly and would all talk to me. I was riding an elevator in Labat's or Molson's headquarters and they'd say, 'Nice day, eh?' Nobody really talks in elevators in the USA. Nobody really talks to anybody else unless theyknow each other in the USA, except for small towns. You live in a really beautiful place with nice people, including the Royal Canadian Mounties, I guess, since I never really mad the chance to encounter them.

Thanks for the responses, Deeb, George, Marlin and Coz.

Ron,

I get such a laugh from your posts, THANK YOU!

David, thanks for taking my pokes abount Canada so well (and white Panteras too).

By the way, when a Canadian sells their home & moves, do they take their igloo with them, or leave it for the new owners?

George

marlin,
I hear you have a better pilot bearing than the normal roller bearing...How can I get one from you ?
Coz
cozland@cox.net

Coz already has my mailing address. Anyone else needing a Bronze Bearing may send $28.85 (Includes the $3.85 for 2-Day Priority mail within the Continental US and Hawaii); to Marlin Jack 563 Don Carlos Court, Manteca, California 95336. OR if you are 'Hooked-Up' to PayPal you may pay to my account using the address: thejacks@starnetdial.net Thank-You!

Thank you Marlin.
The 28.85 is on the way today.