Alignment after hard knocks

Installment #3 of the Dakota repair saga:

To get you up to speed: Friend got pushed off the road in her 02 Dakota 4x4 and went off into the weeds. Front wheels look a wee bit cambered/toed but very slight. Steering wheel is 45 degrees off.

I pulled off the wheels and checked everything. Lower control arms are forged steel and look perfect as do the bushings. Uppers are stamped steel and look perfect as do the bushings. No play in the ball joints. Tie rods are as straight as I can tell with a straightedge. Both inners and outers have no play. The right side of the rack has a tiny bit of up/down play but no leaks or other issues. Rack mount bushings are great. Rag joint is fine. CV joints are fine. Driving reveals no rattles or squeaks. The only clue that something is wrong is the off-center steering wheel.

I was hoping to find an obvious reason why the steering wheel was off but I see no damage.

... so, what would be wrong with just getting an alignment and calling it good? I see no reason to replace any parts, especially since I see no bad parts. I'm not convinced that replacing anything would actually fix any problems.

Did the tie rod ends slip in the adjuster sleve?

Did you measure the wheelbase on both side to make sure they are still somewhat similar?

If that's still OK, then I would just get it aligned and see.

stan_d wrote: Did the tie rod ends slip in the adjuster sleve?

I didn't see any evidence of that, however these don't have the cheapy split-steel sleeves, these outers are threaded steel with a jam nut. I highly doubt they could slip but I'll check.

Align it.

Check with friend to make sure the wheel wasn't at 45* before the accident?

The off-center wheel is indicative of a toe problem. If the arms and tie rods are all good, the next step is either a slipped adjuster (depending on how that works on this vehicle) or a bent frame where the arms attach.

Also check for twisted steering arms/knuckles. Try removing the tie rod nut, if it just spins you need a knuckle.

That stuff can be very tricky to find, because it can be a pretty subtle bend. Check the toe first. You don't need to be dead accurate, so just point the steering wheel straight ahead, and it will probably be reasonably obvious which wheel is off. Focus on that one- if it looks oddly cambered, or pulls when you drive, start looking at aframe mounting points, or aframes themselves. If the camber appears good, look really close at the knuckles- if the tierod is a bit closer to the tire there than the one on the other side, knuckle is bent. Loosen the tapers on the tierod ends and spin them- they can bend too.

If there isn't anything tragic, set the toe and see how it drives. Its just a Dakota, after all.

Something is bent, possibly the frame. +1 for checking track width front and rear.

Rear axle/alignment can cause the steering wheel to be off center. Commonly called "dog tracking"

Ok... it appears that the rack mount has been tweaked/angled upward. There is no evidence of impact, but I could imagine (given the geometry) how a good whack on the wheels could push the rack up. I did thread the tie rod ends out about 1" and there is no evidence of damage to the threads or movement.

That would also explain the excessive angle and friction at the steering shaft u-joint

Sometime this week my buddy is coming over and we're going to attempt a little "chain-wrapped-around-the-tree" tweaking.

curtis73 wrote: Sometime this week my buddy is coming over and we're going to attempt a little "chain-wrapped-around-the-tree" tweaking.

Clearly the answer lies in taking it back to the same place and driving off the road in reverse.