Steering wheel crooked after a couple suspension mods???

RSKtakR said:

So you cant correct your issue by adjusting your PHB?

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The rear axle was already centered. The relocation brackets effectively changed the length of the lower control arms. This made one wheel further forward in the wheel well than the other, instead if the more common issue of one wheel sticking out of the wheel well.

Grimace427 said:

The rear axle was already centered. The relocation brackets effectively changed the length of the lower control arms. This made one wheel further forward in the wheel well than the other, instead if the more common issue of one wheel sticking out of the wheel well.

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Doesn't make any sense to me. From what i've gathered from this thread and a couple other threads on here. Adj. LCA's SHOULD not be needed after installing relocation brackets. adj. LCA's to my knowledge ONLY adjust the pinion angle of the differential. Thats why you either use a adj. UCA OR adj. LCA's to correct the pinion angle.

Hmmmm. Im so fucking confused right. FML

Grimace427 said:

The rear axle was already centered. The relocation brackets effectively changed the length of the lower control arms. This made one wheel further forward in the wheel well than the other, instead if the more common issue of one wheel sticking out of the wheel well.

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ok that makes sense.. well wtf do you do to correct that? adjustable LCA's to make the wheels centered in the wheel well where they should be?? I think I have the same problem you have. I went out and looked and both sides of the car (tires and quarters) and neither tire sticks out further then the other.. I didnt get a chance to look at the gap that your talking about (front to back of the wheel well) but I will soon, but I THINK is the problem. I have seen what the adjustable panhard bar corrects, and that is the rear end being centered under the car and not sticking out further on one side. Am I wrong in this thinking?

ok so I lied in my previous post.. my drivers side wheel IS sticking out further then on the drivers side, and the passenger side IS set in.. so that means adj panhard bar.

I also measured the distance between my tire and the ground effect/wheel well.. the drivers side gap is 3 1/2" to the tire, and the passenger side is 2 3/4". SO how do I make the gap from the LCA's and reloc brackets the same?

my Front to rear is off 3/4" inch total. and the left to right is off probably 1/2".

There's 3/4" difference so you need to move the axle over 3/8". Remove the stock panhard bar and adjust the new bar so it is 3/8" shorter, then install it.

Sky Render said:

OK. A panhard bar centers an axle front-to-back, not left-to-right. In fact, as the rear axle moves up and down, it actually moves the axle a little bit to one side. When you lowered the car, the rear axle was now off-center (left-to-right).

Read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panhard_bar

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Please re-read you own link, unless I'm misunderstanding what you're saying.

A PBH centers the axle L-R, not F-B. And the rear axle on a PHB equipped car travels in an arc, not up and down. Lowering the car places it at a different area of the arc, so it is no longer centered.

Digital_Synapse said:

Please re-read you own link, unless I'm misunderstanding what you're saying.

A PBH centers the axle L-R, not F-B. And the rear axle on a PHB equipped car travels in an arc, not up and down. Lowering the car places it at a different area of the arc, so it is no longer centered.

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EXACTLY.. me putting in the adj PHB will get the L and R back on center, but my question is how the F do we get the front to back, back on center short of installing loud adjustable LCA's?

I had the LCA TSB done on my 11' 5.0 and I have this exact symptom (steering wheel crooked slightly going to the left. When I straighten it to 12 o clock car turns to the right). Iv'e been back to the dealer 3 times with no success. They said alignment is perfect and steering wheel has been reset...
Only my right LCA was replaced because that was the side that was producing creaking noises going over bumps.
Will replacing the other side LCA fix this?
This has been very annoying and frustrating !!!
I'll take my original creaky LCA over this thank you!

I didnt even know there was a LCA tsb.. I never had any problems with my steering wheel until I put the reloc brackets on. but now that I know the rear end is 3/4" of inch off center front to back, and probably 1/2" or 3/4" off center side to side, I just want to know what will fix the front to back centering issue. I know the adj PHB will correct my side to side miss-alignment.

UPDATE: I left the relocation brackets on the vehicle and moved the LCA's back to the factory mounting hole tonight. Steering wheel is straight again. I also re-checked my L-R axle center difference and my drivers side is 10 mm further out more than the passenger side.

As before, I should hopefully have my adj. PHB by this weekend and I will report back with results of if the adj. PHB fixes the steering wheel issue with the LCA's in the lowest hole.

If the adj. PHB doesn't fix the issue then I will be super pissed that I will have to purchase a set of adjustable LCA's to use the relocation brackets. Im also ruling out the possiblity that the brackets are slightly bent or defect. From the 3 threads I have read on here there have been quite a few people that this has happened to and from 3 different manufactors of brackets also.

-Nick

If the relocation brackets are drilled wrong, then check with the dealer from whom you purchased them about a return/exchange for new ones. Are they bolted in or welded?

ya Im not going to be happy if I have to get a set of adjustable LCA's to correct this. I passed up a damn good deal on a set because I was told by one of these vendors that I dont need them for a street application. now here I sit with my rear end all over the place.

Take some pictures to show us the problem area, maybe somebody might spot something.

Once I put on my LCA's, springs and new dampers, my steering was off to the left by about 1". It also would shake slightly with AdvanceTrac turned off. With AdvanceTrac on, no shake, but the off center was still there.

I adjusted my PHB so that the wheels are within 1mm of centered. This reduced the shake and the off center condition is now about 1/4". The ONLY other thing to do is go from non-adjustable LCA's to adjustable ones. However, my car launches straight as an arrow at the track. I can let go of the steering wheel and punch it at 60mph in 4th and the car tracks straight. I'm willing to call this good enough and just part of the modding characteristics with the car.

To some degree, you will have to make exceptions to the norm when modifying your car.

Digital_Synapse said:

Please re-read you own link, unless I'm misunderstanding what you're saying.

A PBH centers the axle L-R, not F-B. And the rear axle on a PHB equipped car travels in an arc, not up and down. Lowering the car places it at a different area of the arc, so it is no longer centered.

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If your axle is no longer centered L-R, installing different control arms will mess up the F-B balance.

skwerl said:

If the relocation brackets are drilled wrong, then check with the dealer from whom you purchased them about a return/exchange for new ones. Are they bolted in or welded?

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Mine are bolted.

I also want to note that I measured the L-R center axle length and it didnt change with the LCA's in the lowest hole on the brackets to the stock mounting holes for the LCA's.

The only thing I haven't checked yet is the front to back distance for each wheel to see if they are even or not front to back.

-Nick

I also wanted to bring up a different point.

Lets just say I get the adj. PHB installed and centered correctly. Relocate the LCA's back down to the bottom hole on the brackets and the steering wheel is crooked again, meaning my front to rear axle distance is off on one side.

A couple folks on here have said that adj. LCA's will correct this. If I do choose to purchase a set of adj. LCA's, install them where they even the front and rear center distance. Doesn't that fuck up the pinion angle because adj. LCA's and adj. UCA's should only be used to adjust the pinion angle????

-Nick

RSKtakR said:

EXACTLY.. me putting in the adj PHB will get the L and R back on center, but my question is how the F do we get the front to back, back on center short of installing loud adjustable LCA's?

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My car is my daily driver and my adjustable LCAs don't bother me. I originally installed some non-adj LCAs poly/poly that gave me the off-centered steering problem. When I switched to poly/spherical adjustable LCAs I did not notice much difference, maybe going from 2 out of 10 to 3 out of 10 in the noise department.

FAST5.0 said:

I had the LCA TSB done on my 11' 5.0 and I have this exact symptom (steering wheel crooked slightly going to the left.

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The TSB is for the front Lower Control Arms. We are talking about the rear suspension, specifically rear Lower Control Arms and relocation brackets that attach to the rear axle.

RSKtakR said:

I didnt even know there was a LCA tsb.. I never had any problems with my steering wheel until I put the reloc brackets on. but now that I know the rear end is 3/4" of inch off center front to back, and probably 1/2" or 3/4" off center side to side, I just want to know what will fix the front to back centering issue. I know the adj PHB will correct my side to side miss-alignment.

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See above regarding the TSB. Going to adjustable LCAs will allow you to get your alignment perfect in all directions.

Sky Render said:

If your axle is no longer centered L-R, installing different control arms will mess up the F-B balance.

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If the control arms in question are adjustable, this is incorrect. You can set the panhard bar first to get the axle centered L-R, then adjust the LCAs to get the F-R centered.

slvr08gt said:

I also wanted to bring up a different point.

Lets just say I get the adj. PHB installed and centered correctly. Relocate the LCA's back down to the bottom hole on the brackets and the steering wheel is crooked again, meaning my front to rear axle distance is off on one side.

A couple folks on here have said that adj. LCA's will correct this. If I do choose to purchase a set of adj. LCA's, install them where they even the front and rear center distance. Doesn't that fuck up the pinion angle because adj. LCA's and adj. UCA's should only be used to adjust the pinion angle????

-Nick

Click to expand...

The LCAs can change the pinion angle unintentially, however if you are trying to center the thrust angle of the rear axle you can leave one LCA and adjust the other side only. This will straighten the rear axle without adversely affecting the pinion angle.

Adjustable LCA's and new reloc brackets along with an adj PHB soon then.