Steering Relay Arm

[Scoop]

Hi,
I've replaced the ball joints on the relay arm and not sure how to refit/adjust. Its all together but steering wheel is off centre. Presumably with the front wheels off the ground and the clamps loosened I can re centre by twisting the arm with a pair of Stilsons whilst the ends are held steady in the knuckle at one end and the pitman arm at the other. Because one end is LH thread and the other RH, this action should simply shorten or lengthen the relay rod and move the steering wheel in relation to the road wheel??
Is this right or is there a proper way?

 

[Chris]

Scoop, I'd suggest taking it to a garage where they do laser wheel alignment. It's not just about having the steering wheel in the straight ahead position.

Also drop by the intro section please and post a bit about you and your truck.

Ta

 

[t1pper]

I did the front wheel alignment on my 100 with the string method, set the steering wheel straight ahead and adjust the front wheels accordingly.
I have covered 35K miles now and apart from rotating the wheels to different locations on the truck the tyres have worn tremendously even, the steering wheel is perfectly centered and it will track straight without steering inputs.
See YouTube for plenty of videos, it really does work.

 

[Chris]

Does make you wonder just why these garages waste that much money on kit doesn't it. Can't be cheap.

 

[Scoop]

Scoop, I'd suggest taking it to a garage where they do laser wheel alignment. It's not just about having the steering wheel in the straight ahead position.

Also drop by the intro section please and post a bit about you and your truck.

Ta

So what is the relationship between the track rod and the relay rod.? I assumed wheel alignment was purely down to track rod adjustment.
Also Ill go to intro section as requested

 

[Chris]

Scoop, you can centre your steering by winding the rod yes, but the problem is hitting it just right. On the drive, it might look straight but as you drive down the road, but you'll most likely need another adjustment, then another. It's just all messing around you know? For a few quid, I just roll mine into the local place and they can turn the wheels back and forth on the turntables and get it right first time The other point is that you want your steering box centred when the wheel is dead ahead. If you wind the rod and mess with other stuff, you can end up with more turns to full lock one way that the other ie the steering box isn't centred. Not saying you will have, but just imagine. Disconnect the rod. Put a turn on the steering, now wind the rod out to meet the steering arm. All centred, but the box isn't.

As you are new, we don't yet know your mechanical abilities. You do, but we don't. When someone comes on here looking for heal we don't know if you're a rocket ship designer or a completer cluster-flop you see. That's why we always ask for an intro so we don't give you the wrong level of advice.

 

[Scoop]

Scoop, you can centre your steering by winding the rod yes, but the problem is hitting it just right. On the drive, it might look straight but as you drive down the road, but you'll most likely need another adjustment, then another. It's just all messing around you know? For a few quid, I just roll mine into the local place and they can turn the wheels back and forth on the turntables and get it right first time The other point is that you want your steering box centred when the wheel is dead ahead. If you wind the rod and mess with other stuff, you can end up with more turns to full lock one way that the other ie the steering box isn't centred. Not saying you will have, but just imagine. Disconnect the rod. Put a turn on the steering, now wind the rod out to meet the steering arm. All centred, but the box isn't.

As you are new, we don't yet know your mechanical abilities. You do, but we don't. When someone comes on here looking for heal we don't know if you're a rocket ship designer or a completer cluster-flop you see. That's why we always ask for an intro so we don't give you the wrong level of advice.

Cool, I've filled in some details in my profile.

 

[frank rabbets]

First thing to do is make sure there are the same number of turns anti clockwise and clockwise (lock to lock) on the steering wheel. That makes sure it's correctly positioned on the splines. Next is to adjust the tracking by making sure both front wheels are pointing dead ahead or in slightly 0-2mm on tyre wall. Then the rod from box to steering pivot is adjusted to bring steering wheel back to centre.

All this expensive equipment is totally unneccesary and is just a good investment for the garage to foil and charge customers.

I've done tracking on all my cars since 1959 and have never taken them to have the tracking done. I've never had steering error tyre wear. If you need to use the equipment you should not be working on steering adjustment but then they are employees.

String method is adequate for the 80. The front tyre walls are marked up on their outer sides dead centre with the hubs on just their fronts. Tracking is done with string and then the wheels rotated so the tyre marks are 180 degrees moved. This is to take into account discrepancies in the rims and tyres.

A similar method is used in the factory manual but measuring with a simple gauge on the inner of the tyre wall. F1 teams still set their cars up with direct measurement rather than smoke and mirrors. They used string as least as late as 1980's.

I've not long done the castor angle on the drivers side on my 100. Looks like it was out from new.

VW ruined my neighbours car front tyres on one of these tracking machines. He got to Scotland from Midlands when he realised wire was sticking out of the inner aspects of the front tyres. Garage told him he had hit a kerb. Well the wheel was dead centre so he must have hit each side with exactly the same force at exactly the same time. Garage could not understand. Criminal negligence in my book. Well it would have been criminal damage if they did it on purpose and they were definitley negligent.

 

[frank rabbets]

After each adjustment roll the car back and forth 2 metres to take any spring out of the system and recheck.

 

[Chris]

I just don't have any string. So I have to use these robbing garages. I don't let them balance my tyres though. Oh no. I hammer nails into the tread until the vibrations go away.

 

[Towpack]

OK, I did just this a while ago by adjusting the rod from the arm on the steering box to the arm on the LH hub. The only issue I had was that the car pulled slightly left if you released the steering wheel on a straight road and the steering box centred itself. There were no tracking or tyre wear issues. I had to remove the arm complete with ball joints to free up and grease the threads as they were dry and (almost) seized. Back on the car adjustment was now easy but took several attempts to get right. I went out for a run with the correct spanners and a pair of stilsons. When you get close to the sweet spot it's very easy to go too far and have the car pulling the other way. Final adjustments were quite small for such a belt and braces steering setup.

 

[Gary820]

I use 4 wheel alignment gear, can track a car without it but not had a car drive poor or scrub tyres after aligned them.
Used to set up my isuzu using a tape measure and homemade camber gauges as the gear at bmw wouldn't clear the tyres.

Not applicable to the 80 but string wouldn't quite cut it when setting front and rear toe then the camber front and rear on some cars.

 

[Towpack]

I assumed from reading the OP that all he was trying to do was centre the steering and not correct any toe in/out or camber issues which obviously requires accurate measurement. If centreing is the only adjustment required then you can achieve it as I did but, as I posted above, it can be a bit of a faff. Not heard of the string method though.

 

[clivehorridge]

I'm with you TP.

I've had my geometry set up at the specialists, but after a steering box rebuild, they left it just 1" on the circumference of the steering wheel, to the left.

I climbed under with a pipe wrench and scanners, slackened it off, and only a turn and a bit, the steering wheel was straight.

I've checked that lock to lock is even, and it drives bootiful!

End of...

 

[Chris]

Can you use any sort of string or does it have to be from Toyota?

 

[frank rabbets]

Milners do string Chris.

I would not use string for the camber or castor. Did'nt mention this on the 80 as they are fixed.

 

[frank rabbets]

TP I thought the only self centreing on the steering was just the castor angle. I did not think the steering box self centres.

The hubs will self centre if the tapered rollers are worn as more wear occurs in the dead ahead position. I noticed this when I took my control arms off. If I turned the hubs by hand they would spring back to dead ahead due to the worn bearings and thier preload.

 

[Towpack]

On a straight road I had to steer slightly right to keep from drifting left. Releasing the steering wheel meant it would centre and the car would pull left. The adjustment I made means the car runs straight and true with the steering wheel centred, even with no hands on the wheel. From this I concluded that the centreing force must come from the steering box itself irrespective of front wheel position?

 

[frank rabbets]

I had a look at FWM for steering fault finding and there was none for steering pull you describe neither to left nor right. I'm still almost 100% sure that the steering box does not self centre.
I couldn't find any section on replacing the steering box though, which, if self centreing, would describe how to fit and adjust.

Most cars will pull left due to the camber of the road. That's why the steering wheel is turned subconsciously clockwise slightly. I've never driven a car that drives dead ahead on a cambered road with hands off wheel.

Near where we live there is a dead straight almost unused road with a good camber. I drive down one side 2 ft from the curb and note how far the steering wheel is off centre and that the car drifts left when hands off wheel. I then drive on the wrong side of the road and check the results are exactly opposite. The only way I can get it to drive dead ahead with hands off is to drive down the crown of the road.

I don't doubt your findings but can't explain them. I wonder if something else is going on. I've never had a car that uses anything else other than camber to centre the steering.

 

[frank rabbets]

P.S. Chris I forgot to say don't use Milners string. It's bent and when you try and straighten it it breaks.