Hello all, I have a 1989 Ford F250 that was involved in an accident back in November 2015. Now that I finally have it running again, there is one problem, the steering is messed up. When the wheels are straight, the wheel is cocked to the right. The alignment shop is blaming it on the frame but the frame was pulled back into specs. Does anyone have any ideas on how to correct that?

 

The person telling you that is an idiot has no business working with vehicles.

Its a simple matter of making one tie rod a little longer and the other a little shorter and in the right direction of course, to make the steering wheel straight when the front wheels point straight down the road.


Its stupidity or just plain laziness one of the two.

 

In other words have the front end aligned. You should be good to go after that.

 

My mistake, I was under the impression the alignment had already been done, this was the return trip?

I don't know how many times or different shops over the years that did an alignment for me, only to find that the wheel wasn't straight once had it running down the road in a straight line after just picking one up.

I'd have to turn it around take it right back to them so they could set it again, with the steering wheel straight like it should have been the first time.

 

No, you were right, it has already been done and they didn't do it right.

 

I stand corrected... I just finished with an alignment like that. They actually said it won't bother anything like that! It BOTHERED me! Even after they fixed it it still wasn't dead on center.

 

I have access to a frontend machine and the final adjustment is always centering the steering wheel. Any vehicle with a steering gearbox has enough movement in it that driving it is the easiest method to get the steering wheel centered the way that you want it. 1/4 turn on the adjusters is about 1/2" on the steering wheel. I've found that my pickup almost always comes off of the rack low to the left. Grab some wrenches, find a smooth flat road with little crown and get it adjusted.