i put the umi k-member in the car in january and took it for alignment and they sent me home said it was okay ... the wheel was always a tiny bit off but i didnt care... today at work i had the alignment specialist bring it in to tweak the alignment and everything was wayyyyyy off... amazing that the wheel was even straight but he ran out of threads on the tie rod on the drivers side with still alot out of alignment... so i cant bring it in far enough to get in specs... he had to turn my steering wheel 90 degrees to get the car in specs.

Can i just take my steering wheel off and twist it 90 degrees or is the rack mounted in the wrong spot? i dont get it....


Please help.

Ryan

 

That doesn't sound right. Did you hit something, like a curb? Bent some suspension components? And no, you can't turn the steering wheel, there is a keyway on the splines so it only goes on one way. I'd also be concerned about your alignment guy doing that, because you take a chance of turning the wheel too far one way and breaking the airbag coil.

 

he knows, i work at a gm dealership and hes top notch.. said it wont **** the air bag by turning it 90 degrees... no i have certainly not hit anything, everythings brand new, new rack and pinion, new inner and outer tie rods, new suspension everything. I was right there, its almost like the whole rack needs to be slid over, like they manufactured the k-frame with the tabs in the wrong spot.... it pretty much sucks.


Hmm.. im thinking can i just cut some more threads down the tie rod... maybe if i get a new one it might have a few mor threads going down.

 

Do you still have your old K-Member? If so go measure it...

Sounds like something is screwy... And no, you can't just turn it 90° as it's keyed in a certain way.

You said the rack is new too; maybe you've got a bad rack and they put the input shaft in wrong. Check all your "new" parts to the "old" that you can; then look for differances... that should let you find what you're looking for.

 

did not center the rack when it was out

 

what does that mean?

 

this is such bull, i went to a specialized alignment shop today and they told me somethings wrong, the wheel is 90 degrees off and i cant imagine whats the problem.

Everything was fine until i put in the UMI K-Member, now the wheel is 90 degrees off i dont get it... There is no possible way you can attach the coupler on th e steering shaft 90 degrees out, so what could the problem be?
its almost like the rack is mounted too far over or something.

i should mention this is a v6 car, so it has the v6 steering shaft...
however everything was fine with the factory V8 Cross Member, and rack.
everything was fine, i put in UMI K-member and the wheel was exactly 90degrees out.... someone pleeeeeeease help me with this ive called umi 4 times on this, and they cant help me im ready to drive my car right to them and have them figure it out.

 

Did u do what was suggested, before you went to this shop, and measure the old Vs new K-Member and look to see what if anything changed?!?!?

 

I dont have access to the old k-member anymore, i moved a few months ago and left it at my old house.
THis is stupid.
Im so sick of driving around with my wheel 90 degrees off.

 

dude it such a simple thing to move it by adjusting the tie rods. Why is it none of these alignment shops can do this?


I mean this should be able to be fixed in less than an hour by someone who knows what they are doing....

 

Its not that easy, obviously they would figure that out. I took it to a real high end alignment shop not some gay town fair tire, and they did everything.
I took it to a GM Dealership where the alignment tech said the same thing, somethings not right. we cant figure out what. the rack is like moved over too far or something.

When we try and align the car with the steering wheel straight,
one tie rod is all the way in on the threads almost.. the other side cant come out far enough to get lined up.
WHen the wheel is turned 90 degrees the threads on the tie rod are exactly the same, they cant adjust a full 90 degrees out with the tie rods.

ALl i know is everything was perfectly fine, all i did was change the k-frame and the wheel was off 90 degrees. its not rocket science well it shouldnt be, but UMI cant give me any advice either and it sucks i paid all that money for the thing and cant even have a straight steering wheel.

If there is anybody within a 3 hour drive from rhode island that thinks they can align this car for me, please step up!!

 

Take some pics and post it.


There is no way they can adjust the tie rods out all the way and not get the wheel right. I have had them past 90* and brought it back in before. Plenty of people have those kmembers and its not such a big deal.

 

Almost sounds like you have the wrong rack or tie-rods... I've adjusted some pretty-far off stuff before; 90° off wheel shouldn't be an issue.

 

whats the verdict?

 

is there a key spline on the steering shaft where it meets the rack? cant seem to remember at the moment if not try taking the end off where it meets the coulum and rotate it 180 and then try and adjust your tie rods. this has to be somthing simple.