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A general steering wheel question
Topic Started: Jun 23 2015, 01:07 PM (489 Views)
dayle1960
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Fastest Hampster EVER

in my work truck I noticed that the steering wheel is cocked to the left ( 2 and 8 o'clock position)as I'm driving in a straight line. This afternoon I had a new right front wheel put on to the vehicle because of a flat tire. What makes me curious now, is that old tire was the problem. Now the steering wheel is at the 9 and 3 o'clock position. Why would the old tire cause this situation?
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banginmetro64
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tire that far out of balance?
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David95237


When I bought my metro I had new tires put on the front and it pulled to the right. Had it aligned and it did the same thing. Swapped the tires from left to right and now it pulls to the left. Dont know why. That tire has to live out its life in the rear.
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Hydrojim
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Different size tire? Maybe same specified size but one is more worn than the other?
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Hotrodray1
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Over Educated parts guy

Some times the steel belts will not be right and cause a tire to pull.
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Freeman
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The Family Man

Your steering wheel doesn't really have much to do with your alignment, you can remove it and bolt it back on in any position. I would say you sudden change in the trueness of the steering wheel is from a different tire size or uneven wear.
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geogonfa
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:gp
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Old Man


Normally, a skewed steering wheel is because it is put on skewed or the vehicle needs wheel alignment.

That said, when you can change tires and the steering wheel position changes is seems to be a direct result in a tire that has bad plys, either from the manufacturer or from hitting something.

A bad ply is not always obvious. Sometimes when you look at a tire or feel for a bad ply or bubble it will seem OK, but as soon as the car begins to move the centrifigual force on the ply will start to pull it apart.

Sometimes when the tire is moving and/or sitting still the portion of a ply that is on the ground skews sideways and returns to 'normal' when it leaves the ground.

You might also get a slight side to side rocking motion of the front end of the vehicle.

When you move the tire to the back and it cures the steering wheel problem you still have not cured the problem--you will still have a bad tire that should be replaced.
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dayle1960
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Fastest Hampster EVER

Back a few months ago, the company which services our LLV's straightened out the steering wheel. It has a thick bar which runs straight across the steering wheel. It's normal position should be the 9 and 3 oclock position. When the LLV came back from the service company the steering wheel was dead steady at the 9/3 position. I swear that I was driving on a straight level road and slowly accelerated up to 40 mph and I watched the steering wheel "reset" itself to the 8/2 oclock position. Was very weird to watch it do that. I guess it was due to a crappy right front tire.

Today when it was pulled off the mechanic mentioned how the outer portion of the tread showed signs of scalloping and wear. In some areas of mail delivery, some guys ride up the curbs and drive on the sidewalks to service mailboxes. I don't do that on my route so I suppose the answer is either a crappy tire or the camber is out of wack.

I'll drive it a few days and see if the new tire helps the situation, but I doubt it. For what its worth, the chassis of these trucks are off the Chevy S-10 platform with a Chevy Chevette 4 banger as the power plant. Gutless wonder but has a bunch of room in the back for parties.
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ZXTjato
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bass heads

im just supprised mail trucks are not diesel engine generating electricity for an electric motor, stop and go stop and go, diesel idles motor drives. completely irrelevant to your tire situation tho :lol
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