H3 Steering wheel not straight

[awalsh]

Hey guys so today I went off-roading again and my buddy took me up this huge hill climb in his lifted wrangler
And on the way up I got stuck in a rut, gave it gas, and heard a Big Bang
After that, my steering wheel was turned sideways when driving straight and it looks like a tie rod or something in the front suspension looks broken or bent
I'm guessing my steering alignment was knocked out of place but I don't know
I can post pics of it isn't obvious what's wrong, because I have no clue
Anyways here's a vid of a deeper mud pit
https://vimeo.com/166662767



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[CaddyStrophic]

Is it possible to jump a tooth in our steering gears?

If not, maybe whatever you heard "go bang" is something you can see if you crawl underneath. Have you given it a thorough looksie?

Definitely post pics.

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[alrock]

I think the steering rack goes from zero to fully busted, no jumping gears. If a tie rod is bent that would do it. Also possible to move or break another part of the suspension, like knocking the upper control arm out of place, moving the steering bracket out of place or bending it, etc. A bent tie rod is usually pretty obvious . I've seen racks begin to separate while still functioning. Time to pull the skids and give the rack and other components a good review.

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[4speedfunk]

Do yourself a favor...replace the entire rack (tie rods and all). Make sure you tie off steering wheel during the repair.

 

[Ghostbuster]

Yeah what 4speed said. You can get a brand new GM original equipment complete rack and pinion for around $357.

 

[awalsh]

The drivers side looks fine to me but the passenger side looks like the tie rod is bent
So should I start with the tie rod?


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[cbetts]

Being that your torsion bars are cranked quite a bit, it could be just that c-clamp on the steering rack bent up a bit. This is the risk of cranking it too high.

 

[rsc]

Being that your torsion bars are cranked quite a bit, it could be just that c-clamp on the steering rack bent up a bit. This is the risk of cranking it too high.

Those are my thoughts as well.

 

[awalsh]

Being that your torsion bars are cranked quite a bit, it could be just that c-clamp on the steering rack bent up a bit. This is the risk of cranking it too high.

So is fixing that easier than doing the full rack and pinion ? I looked again at my steering rack and it looks intact as well as the tie rods, so I am stumped
I'm going to drop the front a bit because I don't want to have this stuff happen just because of a t-bar crank

 

[rsc]

Put the front at 23.5" from center of hub to fender lip. Fix the steering rack bracket with an Outfitter Design or a Mayhem kit. I don't know if the rack itself is damaged internally, but if the rack has shifted in the bracket, the bracket won't stay tight in the bracket, even with a new one. The upgrade kit fixes that.

 

[awalsh]

Put the front at 23.5" from center of hub to fender lip. Fix the steering rack bracket with an Outfitter Design or a Mayhem kit. I don't know if the rack itself is damaged internally, but if the rack has shifted in the bracket, the bracket won't stay tight in the bracket, even with a new one. The upgrade kit fixes that.

Awesome thanks, I just set up an appointment for an alignment, so should I hold off on that? I could get it aligned and see if that fixes the problem temporarily. But could I align it, and then install the new bracket? Or is that an install, and then align fix

 

[rsc]

Pull the skid plate and look at the steering rack, does it look like it slipped? If not, I would do the alignment.

 

[awalsh]

Pull the skid plate and look at the steering rack, does it look like it slipped? If not, I would do the alignment.

I'll pull it tonight and update, I think the alignment was knocked out because it was pulling right on the parkway on the way home, but I'm still gonna pull the skid and see if it slipped

 

[alrock]

No need to rush on that alignment. As was stated, you really need to lower that front end. The angles on the CV and rack are way too steep and may cause premature failure of those parts. If you can get pictures of the steering rack bracket and a few of the rack that would be great.

I don't see a bend in that picture but it could be there and we can't tell. Usually the bend is obvious but a straightedge would of course confirm (or refute) your suspicions.

 

[awalsh]

No need to rush on that alignment. As was stated, you really need to lower that front end. The angles on the CV and rack are way too steep and may cause premature failure of those parts. If you can get pictures of the steering rack bracket and a few of the rack that would be great.

I don't see a bend in that picture but it could be there and we can't tell. Usually the bend is obvious but a straightedge would of course confirm (or refute) your suspicions.

I took these earlier and now I don't think it's bent from my previous suspicion

I'll pull the skids tonight and take some pics

Also I need the alignment anyway because I still have camber from the first time I had an alignment done after the torsion bar crank

 

[4speedfunk]

Check the rack for a gap where the black steel tube meets the aluminum casting. It should be a tight joint but, they commonly break and separate where the tube is pressed onto the casting. This type of break often has no leak but it does effect wheel position and can cause pulling/darting symptoms.

 

[awalsh]

Check the rack for a gap where the black steel tube meets the aluminum casting. It should be a tight joint but, they commonly break and separate where the tube is pressed onto the casting. This type of break often has no leak but it does effect wheel position and can cause pulling/darting symptoms.

Will do, thanks CJ. I didn't get to pull the skids and check tonight, but I'm going to tomorrow when I drop the torsion bar crank a bit.

 

[Hunner]

If it separated it looks like this. So now the whole rack moves instead of the tie rods.

Same sort of thing can happen if the passenger side bracket is allowing the rack to move instead of the effort going to tie rods. So the steering wheel is compensating by having to be cocked away from center when going straight.

 

[alrock]

Great pics, Hunner. Thanks.

 

[awalsh]

Here's the pics, I don't know what it's called, but that ever connects the steering rack to the steering wheel does not look straight

These were taken b fore I dropped the torsion bars to 23.5

Hunner, how do you remove those rubber boots to see if the steering rack is like that?


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[alrock]

Hard to tell, but it does look like the joint in the steering shaft is shot. The rack looks fine in the pics. Might be good to look at the upper control arms as well. You may be able to see if they have moved based on scrapes or clean spots

 

[awalsh]

Hard to tell, but it does look like the joint in the steering shaft is shot. The rack looks fine in the pics. Might be good to look at the upper control arms as well. You may be able to see if they have moved based on scrapes or clean spots

I'll take it to get it looked at, I also think it's the steering shaft because in person it looks very bent. Hopefully that is a simpler and cheaper solution? Going in for the alignment tomorrow morning so I'll ask them if they can figure out what's wrong also

 

[Hunner]

Here's the pics, I don't know what it's called, but that ever connects the steering rack to the steering wheel does not look straight
These were taken b fore I dropped the torsion bars to 23.5

Hunner, how do you remove those rubber boots to see if the steering rack is like that?


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Unfortunately you have to cut the boot strap, if you are talking about the very end by the frame clamp.

Unless you have the tool to install another one you have to use hose clamps. I would not remove them for now.
That was when I was doing lots of rack support mods.

The crack separation can be seen without removing a boot, if that is what you are referring to.

If I recall the steering shaft does angle at that point where the little ujoint is.

I don't see how there could be any upward force to bend that shaft without severe damage to the rack which could not move up and do that, like broken in half!!

That is some serious corrosion!
There is a "tiny" bolt holding that steering shaft connection together. It unthreads part way then pull on it and unthreads on the other side but don't take that apart yet until you get somebody at an alignment shop to help you check things if you don't feel comfortable with all that.
It would take some soaking in PBBlaster to get that apart!

 

[atvspeed4]

If I had to guess I would say the rack just shifted over with the factory mounts. Before I made a solid clamp this used to happen after every wheeling trip. (Thankfully we never split a rack). The bolts on the driverside, even when properly torqued, allow the rack to shift when you hit a hard rut or rock. This is due to the holes in the frame being far too oversized for the rack bolts.

For the tie rod boots I usually use a small flat screwdriver to slightly open the boot straps on the rack. To reinstall I use a pair of end cut pliers or diagonal cutters and crimp them back. Been doing that for several years/ h3s and never had an issue

 

[Hunner]

Without going into the "rest of the story" this was my final fix.

Did not move for over 50,000 miles on the 07 and now have 85,000 on the Alpha with just the end clamp.