Subject: [Mgs] How to "align" the steering wheel?

From: "Andrew B. Lundgren" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 11 May 2012 14:52:38 -0600

I have a '70 B.

As long as I have had the car, you have to hold the wheel at about 5 
degrees to the right to go straight.  I had the front end aligned a 
while back, and I don't think it is out.

My turn signal auto cancel is also impacted by the wheel not pointing 
straight when the car is going straight.

How do you align the steering wheel so that when you hold it straight, 
the car goes straight?

Thanks!

--
Andrew
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From: Max Heim <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 11 May 2012 16:36:37 -0700

If it was just the steering wheel, I would remove the horn button, remove
the big nut, pull the wheel and reset it on the splines. But this won't
change the turn signal behavior -- the autocancel boss is on the steering
column shaft somewhere. This fact should tell you that the shaft is not
centered. Which might well mean that the alignment shop has one tie rod set
longer than the other (it's hard to make them give a hoot when it is
tracking straight regardless -- the real trick is to get it tracking
straight WITH THE WHEEL CENTERED, but they often don't want to believe
this). Can you compare your turning radius, righthand versus lefthand?

--

Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Menlo Park, CA,
it's the primer red one with chrome wires

PS: My signals have never autocancelled, so I recenter the wheel all the
time...

[email-masked]

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From: Richard Ewald <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 11 May 2012 21:00:23 -0700

It's late, I hit reply and just sent this to Max not the list.
DOH!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Richard Ewald <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, May 11, 2012 at 8:59 PM
Subject: Re: [Mgs] How to "align" the steering wheel?
To: Max Heim <[email-masked]>

On a B the only adjustment is front toe.  The problem is if the alignment
shop just mounts the front heads, and does a set the toe and go alignment
there is an excellent chance the steering wheel won't be straight and the
car will not track straight (it might drive straight, but the rear tires
won't roll over the exact same piece of ground as the fronts, they will be
offset just a bit.
The reason for this is the rear axle is a bit off.  Over the years the axle
has shifted so one side is further forward than the other side.  This gives
a toe in condition on one side and a toe out condition on the other side.
In essence you B now has rear wheel steer.
What needs to be done is have the alignment shop mount the rear heads and
measure the thrust line and adjust from there.If the thrust line is just a
bit off, they can adjust the front to compensate, if it is way off, you
might have to mess with the axle to spring mounts, or look at the spring
mounts.  I have loosened up axle to spring mounts on both sides, massaged
both side with a hammer and re-tightened to bring a thrust line under
control.
All of the above presumes that the camber or one of the other angles is not
off on your car.
If you are in Southern California, I would be more than happy to toss it up
on my alignment rack at work.
Rick

On Fri, May 11, 2012 at 4:36 PM, Max Heim <[email-masked]> wrote:

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From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 12 May 2012 00:48:43 -0500

If you do remove the steering wheel to recenter it, the autocancel  boss is 
visible.
It is simply a clip on the shaft and can be turned with a screwdriver to 
adjust the turn
signal cancellation. Don,t retighten the steering wheel nut until you are 
satisfied
with the turn signals as you may have to adjust more than once.
Ron Sanborn

-----Original Message----- 
From: Max Heim
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2012 6:36 PM
To: MG List
Subject: Re: [Mgs] How to "align" the steering wheel?

--

Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149

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http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/mgs/[email-masked]

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From: "PaulHunt73" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 12 May 2012 09:23:32 +0100

It depends what you mean by 'have to hold the wheel'.  If you mean the car 
drifts to the left unless you manually turn the wheel to the right to 
compensate that is a difference in suspension alignment between the two 
sides.  It's not toe as many think, with everything else equal that just 
causes both wheels to turn in or out by the same amount and the car still 
goes straight.  It's primarily the castor angle that gives the 
self-centering action of car steering, and if one side has more caster than 
the other that wheel will tend to go straighter, pulling the other one 
across, so you drift to the side that has the straight wheel.  Other 
suspension and rear axle alignment factors can also cause pulling to one 
side or the other.

But if you mean the car travels in a straight line on a flat and level road, 
but the steering wheel is off to the right, that is just the position of the 
wheel on the column splines, or the track-rods have been set up incorrectly, 
or both.  The track rods should be set such that the wheels turn the same 
amount from straight ahead each side.  The easiest way to check that is to 
mark the top centre of the wheel with tape when the car is going straight, 
then turn the wheel from lock to lock (easier with the front jacked up). 
Your mark should be at the same angle to the vertical each side on full 
lock, if it is more one side than the other then the track rods are out, so 
adjust both track rods by the same amount but in *opposite* directions (to 
keep the toe) to get the wheel angles the same.  If the wheel turns more to 
the right, then you need to screw the right-hand track rod into the 
track-rod end (to pull that wheel in) and the left-hand out to get it 
balanced.  Once you have that right now see where your wheel is pointing 
when you are going straight ahead, and adjust on the column splines 
accordingly.  That is only a step-change of course, so may be off slightly 
one way on one spline and the other way on the next, so tweak the track rods 
again to get it spot-on.  Then it would probably be best to get a tracking 
alignment done, making sure that they adjust both track rods by the same 
amount (but this time in the *same* directions) to keep the rack and wheel 
alignment.

Indicator cancelling is simply a matter of sliding the clip around the 
column until it is between the two switch fingers, pointing at the switch, 
with the wheel in the straight-ahead position.  That is for the later 
collapsible and full energy absorbing columns at least.  The earlier solid 
columns have a screwed peg in a fixed position so the column shaft has to be 
turned in the UJ (or the UJ on the rack shaft according to which has the 
bolt groove going all the way round the shaft) until the peg is at the right 
angle.  The 77 and later wheels and switches are self-adjusting as the 
cancelling arrangement is on the wheel itself.

PaulH.

----- Original Message ----- 
> degrees to the right to go straight.  I had the front end aligned a while 
> back, and I don't think it is out.
>

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