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MG TD TF 1500 - How to Centralise Steering Wheel

Have now established the central position of the steering rack on my TD, by counting total number of turns on steering wheel from lock to lock, and going back half way,the steering wheel is a bit less than a 1/4 turn off centre.
What is the procedure to centre the wheel.
Henry

Henry, this was the procedure I just went through on my TF.

Make yourself a jig to measure toe-in from some wood scrap. Basically two right angles that you can clamp together in the center, so you can easily adjust their width.

Leave the steering rack centered where you have it now. Back off the tie rod nuts and twist the track rods until you have the same number of threads exposed at each tie rod end. Just doing that may get your steering wheel close to center.

Use your jig and line-up the centers of the vertical sticks with the centers of the front of each tire. Clamp the two halves of the jig together at this width.

Move the jig to the back of the tires, and see if the distance between the centers of the backs of the tires is the same as the front. It probably wont be.

If the distance is larger in the back, then you have toe-in. If it's larger in the front, then you have toe-out. It should be the same front and back (toe-in should be "nil").

Twist the tie rods equally on each side until you achieve no toe-in/toe-out. Tighten up the tie-rod nuts.

Go for a drive and see where the steering wheel is when you're driving straight, or see where the car goes if you hold it dead center.

Back off the tie rod nuts again, and turn each tie rod exactly the same number of turns but in opposite directions of eachother, until the wheels point straight ahead when the steering wheel is centered. It'll probably take you a couple of tries (you might want to measure toe-in again, but if you twisted each tie rod the exact same amount, the toe-in will not have changed from where you set it before).

I think this procedure will work fine unless something is really out of whack.

Greg
Greg Van Hook

Cheers Greg. I think I can see the logic behind this. Will try next weekend, bank holiday.
Henry

Greg
Are you in effect saying, and please excuse my lack of knowledge on this:
The steering wheel is keyed to the shaft in a set position, hence no adjustment there. The only other possible adjustment is at the flexible coupling, but this is restricted to 120 deg movements either side of where it is now.
Henry

Henry,

Yeah, good point. You can put the steering wheel on in just about any orientation you want, plus/minus a few degrees.

But, unless your wheels are pointed dead ahead with your steering rack centered and equal tie-rod lengths, your steering geometry will just not be right.

Greg
Greg Van Hook

Henry,
Sorry, I left something out.

If, after your tie rods and toe-in are set, your steering wheel is several degrees or more off center, THEN pull it off and center it as close as you can on the splines, THEN do the last fine adjustment with the tie rods.

Greg
Greg Van Hook

This thread was discussed between 25/04/2004 and 26/04/2004

MG TD TF 1500 index

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