Steering Wheel Alignement

I have just replaced the steering drop arm on my 1997 110 csw defender and also replaced all the bushes on the front radius arms.
My steering wheel is now slightly off centre when travelling in a straight line is the easiest way to line it back up to remove the steering wheel and if so how do you remove steering wheel

nicholiath said:

I have just replaced the steering drop arm on my 1997 110 csw defender and also replaced all the bushes on the front radius arms.
My steering wheel is now slightly off centre when travelling in a straight line is the easiest way to line it back up to remove the steering wheel and if so how do you remove steering wheel

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take the center out of steering wheel and undo the nut (may need a puller to get the wheel off)
or you can undo the 2 uj's on the steering rod that connects to the steering box and re-aline that way

the correct way to do it is...

leave the steering wheel alone.

Take the ball joint out of the hub where the drag link joins the drop arm.

Loosen the wee clamp.

Wind the balljoint in or out of the tube until the steering wheel is straight, and then reassemble.

IF you do the steering wheel trick you will find that you are in the same situation i was in a few months ago. Went to a trial, and found that i could turn right really well, but left took about 4 miles.

First of all you need to ensure the steering box is centered before you connect the steering arm with the wheels straight ahead.
Then you can make fine adjustments by moving the wheel on its splines. Make sure the indicator cancel gizmo is in the right place when you put the wheel back on.
You can also make the final adjustments with the steering shaft UJs but they are a pain in the backside.

There did not appear to be any room for adjustment when fitting the new drop arm as the splines are machhined with fine and larger splines only allowing it to be fitted when drop arm and shaft line up!

bent rod???

..the one behind the axle???

nicholiath said:

There did not appear to be any room for adjustment when fitting the new drop arm as the splines are machhined with fine and larger splines only allowing it to be fitted when drop arm and shaft line up!

Click to expand...

this is correct. Which is why you wind the ball joint in or out of the end of the drag link.