[jimmarako]

OK, it seems enough of you guys bend and/or break your tierods you must know how to adjust them. Basically I hung my front passenger tire up on a log 1+ years ago, and ever since then the truck pulls to the right (i.e. I have turn wheel to the left to go straight). I recently replaced my tires, but since I didn't schedule a front end alignment, they could do one when I got the tires.


Anyway, the tires were the original Firestones with close to 64K miles on them (about 30K since I "bent" the front end). They didn't really show any unusal wear on them so I'm thinking I can simply adjust the passenger side tierod to pull the wheel back in a bit.


Looking at the tierods, it appears that I'll have to pop one end lose to be able to turn them.... is this correct? On my old truck I was able to adjust them without removing anything, so I'm hoping the same is true for the new style.


BTW is a 2001, 2500HD (sorry its a 6.0, not a 6.6

)


Thanks

 

[GMCSID]

The tie rod adjustment only affects the toe. Toe will not cause a pull, it will cause your tires to wear and your steering wheel to be off. I would recommend an alignment because it's very hard to get the toe correct without an alignment machine.


If your tires are wearing ok and just the steering wheel is off you can adjust the tie rods equally to recenter the steering wheel. Since your wheel is off to the left you will need to adjust the left side out and the right side in. This is done by loosening the lock nut and turning threaded part. If they are not adjusted equally sever tire wear will occur.


If the truck is actually pulling (goes to one side when letting go of the wheel) then toe is not your problem.

 

[jimmarako]

GMCSID,


Thanks for the reply. I have a few more questions:

If the truck is actually pulling (goes to one side when letting go of the wheel) then toe is not your problem.

If only one wheel is toed in/out won't this cause the truck to pull? In my case I beleive that the right wheel is toed out (when the steering wheel is set straight), and the left wheel is OK. If this is the case then the truck would pull a bit to the right wouldn't it?

This is done by loosening the lock nut and turning threaded part.

When I look at my tierods I see an outer tierod attached to the wheel, and the inner tierod attached to the idler arm. The inner end appears to be screwed into the outer end. The outer end appears to have a large nut on it. The inner end has an area of the rod formed in a hex shape (for a wrench I assume). If I loosen the nut on the outer tie rod, how do I turn the inner tie rod???? It appears to me that I would have to physically disconnect it from the idler arm to be able to turn it. I'm trying to avoid pulling the one end of the tierod off the truck. I would assume that adjustments are possible without removing it.


Thanks againEdited by: jimmarako

 

[GMCSID]

When driving straight ahead, the toe at the front wheels is equal. Let me try to explain it like this, with the steering wheel straight ahead l/f toe is in .2 deg and r/f toe is in .2 deg. When driving straight the steering wheel will be straight.


Now lets say we hit someting on the r/f front and bent the tie rod a little. Now with the steering wheel straight we measure .2 deg toe in on the left and .7 deg in on the right. If we start driving, in order to go straight both wheels need to be pointed equally straight, this will cause the steering wheel to be off to the right. The truck won't pull to the right, just the steering wheel will point to the right. If the toe is measured with the wheels straight we would now see .45 deg in at both wheels.


To adjust the tie rods you need to loosen the lock nut with a 7/8 wrench and turn the rod that goes into it (the one with the hex shape). Since your steering wheel is off to the left you will need to turn the right side clockwise, looking at the inside of the wheel, 1/2 a turn. Then turn the left side counter clockwise, looking at the inside of the wheel, 1/2 a turn. Do this until the steering wheel is strsight.