My steering wheel progressively shifts to the right over a couple days. I have realigned my steering wheel 3 times now. The steering wheel will be straight for a couple days, and then it starts to shift more and more to the right. It won't change anymore once it reaches about 30 degrees from dead center. From my understanding this happens from a change in toe. But I don't get why my toe is constantly changing when my tie rods are tight. Im not doing anything stupid to make it shift. I really dislike this as it makes me feel like I'm driving a beater. What do I do?

 

There's also the pinion u joint to check, and steering wheel nut itself.

But 30 degrees? Somehow that seems exaggerated or undriveable.

 

Well, maybe not 30. But definitely over 20. The nut is tight, Just adjusted it. Tie rods are tight. Going to check out the pinion u joint, thanks.

 

Just to be clear, the only issue is the steering wheel itself right? The car itself is still driving straight?

 

Yes, the car drives straight. From my understanding, when the toe on one side changes, the steering wheel shifts to make the toe balanced again. For example one side was +.1 toe and the other was +.4 the steering would move to one side, effectively changing the toe to around +.2 on both sides.

 

ON the inner tie rods there is a washer you have to smash so they dont come undone
Maybe it's loose

 

The washer doesn't do anything. My inner tie rod threaded out of the steering rack before and the washer was smashed in. It happened as a result of an alignment. Every time the inner tie rod was threaded into the outer tie rod the inner tie rod was threading out of the steering rack. This happened because the inner tie rods weren't torqued to spec.

 

its a lock washer. it locks the inner tie rod cup from spinning, to prevent exactly the issue youre saying you think happens. its not just because of torquing to spec. the inner tie rod balljoint will rotate anyway before the inner cup should back out of the rack.

did you mess with that tho? did you install your tie rods without it?

if not then im sure its fine. if you DID, and you still believe what you said which is wrong, then well thats your problem.

your understanding of changing toe and overall toe is correct but backwards in terms of how alignments are typically done. this is the reason why you lock the steering wheel straight, then you adjust each side relative to the frame. its harder to do that with just toe plates or with out a full alignment rack or strings or whatever else is needed to center the chassis.

like i said in my first response, im still skeptical of how youre describing things.

take your car to a shop and get it diagnosed and aligned.

 

I appreciate your input but I'm telling you my exact experience. The lock washer was "locked" on the thread and the inner tie rod was still able to thread out of the steering rack. I know what you're saying, the ball joint is supposed to rotate before the inner tie rod starts to come out of the steering rack. Regardless, the fact is the inner tie rod threaded out of the steering rack. So obviously the inner tie rods ball joint wasn't rotating like it should, or else this wouldn't have happened. Which leads me to believe the inner tie rods were loose enough for the thread to start coming out of the rack. And YES, I confirmed the lock washer was smashed in when i took the inner tie rod out.

The toe numbers I gave were an example. Not related to my set up. When i took apart my car to fix it, the steering wheel was locked straight, and I adjusted each side the same. 21 turns of the outer tie rod. This looked about 0 toe if not a little toe out. I drove around for a couple days and the steering wheel was basically straight, then it started to shift.

I know this isn't the ideal, but I already paid for an alignment AT A SHOP which resulted in my inner tie rods coming out of the steering rack. Can you understand my situation better now? I don't trust other people/techs to work on my car. At this point I can honestly say I understand my car better than any tech, because all these techs are trained to work on newer vehicles. I also don't want some stupid lot attendant kids driving it. To add insult to injury I'm a student with literally no money.

 

The lock washer does its job fine when installed correctly. So since you said you messed with it before then that's probably where you should double check.

Share a pic.

Is the lock nut tight?

Also you cannot possibly eyeball an alignment. You need at least longacre toe plates and measuring tape. Just saying it looked straight means you have no idea where your alignment is.

I wonder if you even chewed up your tires and now your worn out tires are steering you off now. If that's what you mean by you thought you aligned it straight and then it eventually started to not drive straight.

 

I didn't mess with it before. Im telling you the lock washer was locked. The only time I worked on it was after the inner tie rod had already come out of the steering rack.

I realized you cannot eyeball an alignment. It won't be ever be perfect. I used a wooden stick to help me eye ball it plus I have past experiences and knowledge to reference. Anyways... yes, its not perfect. I get that.

My tires are fine... I just inspected them yesterday and my car drives straight.

Like I said I appreciate your input, and your knowledge is "by the book", I even agree with you. However this is my experience and I am definitely no beginner when it comes to working on my car.

 

Steering is very simple at the end of the day and this problem appears to be something easily remedied. If you're unwilling to properly diagnose this issue yourself-or better yet get your car on an alignment rack-then this thread should be locked.

 

I never said I wasn't going to diagnosis it a second time. I was looking for input and sharing my experience. I will be taking it apart again. I'll have to order new locking washers.

 

This is how it looks BTW

 

I took apart my car man. I know what we are talking about/what it looks like. A for effort though.

 

Why are you ordering lock washers?

 

Did it get fixed?

 

Fixed. Previous lock washers did not have the proper tabs that went inside the steering rack. I ordered some new ones from honda, and now everything is snug. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.