Hey fellas. I replaced the driver side tie rod end, the short one, on the truck a while back and the idiot who put it on didn't mark the previous tie rod before removing. What a dope! How do I figure out exactly how far in the tie rod? The steering wheel is off centered to the right now and I can't get an alignment until this is fixed. I suppose jacking it up and then using the adjustment sleeve is my only course of action? Isn't too much info in the FSM and a search here showed nothing for tie rods.

 

The adjustment sleeve on the drag link is how you center the steering wheel. I suggest you take it to an alignment shop that knows what they are doing.

 

Turn the adjustment sleeve one way. If it gets closer to centered, continue until corrected. If it moves farther off center, turn it back the other way until it's correct. I imagine most on here will not agree with me when I say this, but if you are just looking to align the toe, it's easy to do with just a tape measure. I measured the distance between the front of the brake rotors, then the distance between the back of them, and adjusted until there was about 1/16" more distance in the back, to account for inevitable slop in the system. After I did it myself, the truck drives straighter and corners better than it ever did, even with 33's.


On another note, the alignment shop should be able to fix the problem you are asking about... You aren't having Pep-Boys do it are you?

 

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-c...djustment.html

 

I think my strategy is more accurate, but eh, whatever works.

 

Your strategy is fine, my point is, by posting the link, it's amazing what can be found in the DIY section.

 

Wider than stock rims so the DIY won't help but 72 your fix may work. Thanks, I'll give that a try. I'm having it done by the MWR Base auto shop here on post. They use the same system as anyone else, but they don't want to touch it without fixing the off center. Here is a pic just for the heck of it.

 

Part of doing the alignment is re-centering the steering wheel..... gotta get everything else in spec first, re-centering is the LAST step of an alignment. (aside from the test drive...)

 

If the alignment shop won't do the tie-rod end work themselves, I'm not so sure I want them aligning my truck....

 

The auto hobby shop here on Barksdale said that they needed me to bring them the "corrected alignment specs, since it's lifted." Apparantly when you put 2" spacers on the front of the truck, straight is no longer straight.... I could almost understand if we were talking about an IFS vehicle, but solid axles are simple... So I did it myself and am glad I did.


Be careful of those Auto hobby shop machines too... I balanced all 4 of my new tires on their dynamic balancer, zero'd out both sides and all, and they weren't even close to right. Just a heads up, maybe yours is better.