Outer Tie Rod End Hits Shock Bolt

[LS_Monk]

My steering wheel is at 2 o`clock now. With the car parked and the steering wheel straight the passenger tire is straight and the drivers side is heading towards the drivers side.
I put the car in the air and tryed to move the tire up, down and side to side to find a problem. Nothing.
Next I took the tires off and checked for everything over got out the torque wrench to make sure nothing has come loose. Nothing.
Rotated my wheels from right to left and noticed my drivers wheel tie rod end is hitting the shock bolt. Not really hard but just enough to see a mark. Next I took the boot off my inner tie rod and it looked tight. I also unbolted my outer tie rod off the knuckle and tried moving it all around and it to is tight? Does this sound like a steering assemblyissue.

 

[hite337]

steering issue

sounds to me like you have a bent tie rod end or a severe alignment issue, your post had me curious so i looked at mine and realized i installed my drivers side shock bolt pointing forward and passenger side pointed to the rear...maybe if u remove your shock bolt and have it facing forward it would give u a bit more clearance....but doing this puts the bolt end closer to the stabilizer link. something is going on with your steering conponents if your wheel is at 2 o'clock. i'd go get an alignment or a courtesy check somewhere and they'll tell you whats up for sure-------lee

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2934897/1

 

[LS_Monk]

Yeah I am going to take the morning off and take it in. It is getting worse. I just had an alignment done a month ago. They told me I had a bent rear toe adjuster in the rear. I actually just found that on Thursday when me steering wheel went to 1 o`clock. So I stopped in the shop that did my alignment after my accident a month ago.

 

[milehighmikey]

I had a reply typed last night and scrubbed it, but you've given the info I was assuming since, so here is my take.

I think that the bolts for the bottom of the front shock are supposed to face forward, but could be mistaken.

I think that your alignment guys neglected to tighten the lower control arm cam bolts sufficiently, and your alignment is slowly drooping due to that. It happened to my Marauder a few years ago. By the time I got it back there, it was pointing at around 5 o'clock on the steering wheel to go straight. Instead of 165 ft lbs on the control arm bolts (or thereabouts) they were hand tight! Same type of system, the bolt is an eccentric cam that moves the lower control arm in and out to adjust camber, and it affects toe severely, which is the reason for the steering wheel's offset from 12 o'clock when going straight in your case.

They need to do it all over for you and also get the lower front shock bolts checked to see which way they go in.

If you need a new rear toe link, wait for the alignment until that is replaced. If the car can be set properly with the bent link, since there is a lot of adjustment on that link available, keep the one you have and don't waste the $100 for a new one plus an alignment. The collision shop should have noticed that and replaced it as part of the collision repair.

 

[LS_Monk]

Well the verdict is in and it was poorly aligned before. The garage said that it proably wasn't tight enough and it came loose. I could have sworn he also said it wasa 4" out. I went back to the place that did the alignment before and demanded a refund. THEY PAID!

 

[hite337]

in got my alignment(s) at firestone. i bought a lifetime warranty for $150. no yearly limit, the guy told me i could bring it in every few weeks if i wanted to. im not sure if was a limited time special or not but its worth checking into next time u need one.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2934897