Off centre steering wheel after front end lift

[GUFLEX]

Hey guys,

Trying to diagnose what I've broken/bent on my 2005 GU4 patrol. Went 4wding the other day & was going up a section when both of the front wheels came off the ground, the front then came down reasonably hard (nothing super crazy) & after this the steering wheel was tilted on a 45 degree angle & the wheels were then toeing out quite a bit.

Got the car to alignment place to check over it, checked the drag link/tie rod with a straight edge & they were fine. With the car on the aligner there was no strange camber (hopefully meaning there's no bend in the diff casing) he noted the toe out which he corrected to a slight bit of toe in. He said the it was likely the a twisted sector shaft or a bent pitman arm, I peeled back the dust boot on the steering box this morning & I cant see any twists on the splines (see the attached photo).

Trying to work out why the car ended up with toe out after the incident, as if it was a twisted sector shaft/bent pitman arm wouldn't the toe be the exact same as before just with a off centre steering wheel?

Also I have read elsewhere that its possible the steering coupling might have slipped on the shaft splines causing the steering wheel to be misaligned, has anyone else had a similar problem to this problem?

Is there anything else I should check before pulling the steering box out to check to get it pulled apart & assessed?

Any help is much appreciated!
cheers!

[GUFLEX]

Trying to work out how to upload some photos of the pitman arm/sector shaft. The forum photo uploader doesn't seem to be working?

[mudski]

I've never heard of bending a pitman arm. They are very tough. When you say the steering wheel is tilted 45 degrees. You mean like you are turning a corner, but you are going straight? If you get what I mean there.
If your drag link adjustable?

[MudRunnerTD]

Trying to work out how to upload some photos of the pitman arm/sector shaft. The forum photo uploader doesn't seem to be working?

Use Tappatalk for photos is much easier

[GUFLEX]

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[GUFLEX]

I've never heard of bending a pitman arm. They are very tough. When you say the steering wheel is tilted 45 degrees. You mean like you are turning a corner, but you are going straight? If you get what I mean there.
If your drag link adjustable?

As in when you are driving straight down the road, the wheel now sits at a 45 degree angle rather than straight (see attached photo above)

Both the drag link & the tie rod are road safe adjustable ones

[mudski]

What about the steering coupling? This also in splined. Could be torn aswell in the rubber section. Also look to see if the steering wheel hasn't jumps the splines on the shaft too.

[mudnut]

I've heard a young bloke nearly crashed because the adjustable panhard stripped some threads after hitting tree roots.

[GUFLEX]

I've heard a young bloke nearly crashed because the adjustable panhard stripped some threads after hitting tree roots.

Thankfully still have standard panhard rods, but thanks for the heads up

[GUFLEX]

What about the steering coupling? This also in splined. Could be torn aswell in the rubber section. Also look to see if the steering wheel hasn't jumps the splines on the shaft too.

Good point, haven't checked the steering coupling yet as its a bit of a PITA to get to. But worth checking it, will have a look at that & take the steering wheel off over the weekend & report back in

[Ben-e-boy]

If nothing is bent, why not just adjust the draglink to straighten the steering wheel up again? There looks to be some adjustment left in the pics.

[mudski]

If nothing is bent, why not just adjust the draglink to straighten the steering wheel up again? There looks to be some adjustment left in the pics.

My thoughts too hence me asking if the drag link is adjustable but finding out why or how the steering wheel is out that much after said jump would be interesting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GUFLEX]

Alright bit of a late reply, but got under the patrol this afternoon to check over the steering. Everything seems to be in working order, steering coupling was in good condition. Also checked for skipped splines or twists in the steering shaft but at the coupling/uni joint but couldn't see any.

Anyone got any other ideas? Or id next step pulling the steering box out & getting that checked out?


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[Ben-e-boy]

Anyone got any other ideas? Or id next step pulling the steering box out & getting that checked out?





The weakest links in the steering system are the draglink and tierod. If your steering system has taken a bit of a hit and you havent done any damage from the pitman arm downstream, its basically impossible to cause damage to input side of the steering box and/or the steering box itself from that particular incident. You'll definitely know if the steering box is rooted. You can feel it very easily.

Adjust your draglink and straighten your steering wheel. It's a 10 minute fix.