steering wheel not centre

[Ser_Egg]

So i today i replaced my leaking steering rack with one thats not so leaky. stupid me humped the gun when reassembling the foz and now my steering wheel is out of centre. how do i fix this??

yes i drove to KFC still

 

[Ben Up North]

Unbolt it and put it on at the right angle?

Never done it on a Subaru, but I imagine it's pretty similar to other cars:
couple of screw holes at the back of the steering wheel by feel, I imagine you'd stick a phillips head screwdriver in there, take out the bolts then pull off the face with airbag (or something like that) to get at the nut that bolts your steering wheel to the shaft.
Undo that, realign steering wheel then reverse the above.

At a guess...

This might help:

 

[Ratbag]

You need a wheel alignment anyway, just make sure you tell them about the decentred steering wheel.

 

[Ratbag]

Unbolt it and put it on at the right angle?

Never done it on a Subaru, but I imagine it's pretty similar to other cars:
couple of screw holes at the back of the steering wheel by feel, I imagine you'd stick a phillips head screwdriver in there, take out the bolts then pull off the face with airbag (or something like that) to get at the nut that bolts your steering wheel to the shaft.
Undo that, realign steering wheel then reverse the above.

At a guess...

Noooo!!!!

There's an airbag in there waiting to kill you!

 

[Ben Up North]

There's an airbag in there waiting to kill you!

Well there's that..
Seems pretty straightforward in that video though.
Given that it will need a wheel alignment (didn't think about that) you're absolutely right, let them do it.
Edit: Could just take the rack out again, line up the steering wheel and put it back, @Ser_Egg has had a bit of practice now!

 

[Ser_Egg]

You need a wheel alignment anyway, just make sure you tell them about the decentred steering wheel.

yeah probably do. The right side pinot was the measurement as my original but the left was 5mm more than the original and i got get the nuts and pinot undone so i just but it on. But there is no way the steering being of centre like it is caused by 5mm of change. I took apart the column because i wasnt sure if it was connected to the rack properly so i took it so the actual wheel part and the rack and tested it on the old rack. I also rotated the wheel a few times for science

 

[Ser_Egg]

Well there's that..
Seems pretty straightforward in that video though.
Given that it will need a wheel alignment (didn't think about that) you're absolutely right, let them do it.
Edit: Could just take the rack out again, line up the steering wheel and put it back, @Ser_Egg has had a bit of practice now!

Yeah nah ill pass on that unless needed. Getting it off isnt the problem. Its getting the bugger back i found was the hard part. ALso whats the deal with this oxy sensors seeming like theyre welded into the exhaust

 

[Ben Up North]

welded into the exhaust

Heat.

 

[Ben Up North]

(that's how you weld things)

 

[Ser_Egg]

ahh this makes sense.

 

[Ser_Egg]

All good guys i just did some research on how tonfix this issue or atleadt make it better. Looks like ill be playing with toe in and toe out tomorrow

 

[jf1sf5]

About the steering wheel. You had to unbolt and slide the gimball to take the steering rack off. This is where you have the issue, you have to unbolt both upper and lower bolts of the gimbal again keeping the wheels strait, slide the gimbal upwards, turn the steering wheel to the right/correct position and rebolt the gimbal.

 

[scalman]

iv done it on previous outback. no need to take apart anything just one thing. make steering wheel center inside car and secure it somehow in place and then release that part

and put wheels on center separate then tight all up and try how sterring going inside if its like hits limit to one side you need to release that again and compensate like one extra circle and then try again. i made mine good, found info online too. just search google and fix it . nothing serious there. i found then some way with duck tape to point on steering wheel like in 3 positions to make it perfect.
it might be enough to just release that thing in pic and center wheel , then wheels and check. mine was off by much more so i needed do more work in it but its doable

 

[Ser_Egg]

You could be onto something scal, ill give it a shot todsy. I centred my wheel last night and looked at wheels and they point maybe 5-10 degrees to the left with centered steering

 

[scalman]

Sure. I fixed mine this way so you will fix as well. When they will be straight look how wheels locking then to both sides if steering wheel feels too tight on last turn dont push it or you will brake that steering spring or whatever its called. Mine was not fine so i tried second possition then. Just need to untight every time that part and tight again before testing. I got to it from under car , tried from top but was just not enough space to work.

 

[Ser_Egg]

i did what you said Scal and somewhat rectified the problem. Definitely need the alignment though

 

[El_Freddo]

You need a wheel alignment anyway, just make sure you tell them about the decentred steering wheel.

No way will an alignment pull that steering wheel back to centre. It’s either steering wheel off, or pull the steering knuckle (gimball) and recentre that way.

About the steering wheel. You had to unbolt and slide the gimball to take the steering rack off. This is where you have the issue, you have to unbolt both upper and lower bolts of the gimbal again keeping the wheels strait, slide the gimbal upwards, turn the steering wheel to the right/correct position and rebolt the gimbal.

This is what I’m getting at ^
What I’d do is drive a short distance in a straight line to know that the wheels are as straight as possible. Then tweak the steering knuckle.

Holding the steering wheel straight with a belt or rope wrapped around it, other end held by the closed door. This helps to hold the steering wheel while you refit the steering knuckle.

Cheers

Bennie