vincer77

Back again with a Yukon question. My daughter struck a curb with the right front wheel of the Yukon. Blew out the tire. After replacing the tire, the car now runs down the road with the wheel at about a 30 deg angle to the left. The right tire appears to be toed out quite a bit.

I took it to the "stealer" for an alignment and he claims that the steering rack is damaged, and is why the wheel is out of alignment. They want $1,300 to replace. Wouldn't the fact that the right wheel is toed out cause the steering wheel to be off?

The rack does not make any noise while turning the wheel. Can the rack have been damaged? What is a typical failure of a steering rack besides leaks?

I appreciate your knowledge!

TXE36

If one side is toed out, it will cause the steering wheel to be off center. The right side being toed out means with the steering wheel centered, the truck will want to go right, so you have to enter a left rotation in the steering wheel to correct for it. It doesn't take much toe to created a 30 degree angle on the wheel considering the vehicle is a truck with a slow steering ratio.

If the alignment is set by screw adjustments, something is bent. If the alignment is set by friction, then it may be just knocked out. I don't know what kind of rack is in a Yukon, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is recirculating ball steering box with a pitman arm - meaning it's likely not a rack and pinion. If it is a steering box, I don't see how it could be damaged and have the symptoms you describe.

Here is a diagram: recirculating ball steering.

The bottom line is the mechanic should be able to point out the exact damage and what needs to be replaced. Find a good independent mechanic and get the truck on an alignment rack to see what's knocked out.

My gut feeling is you bent something in the right front, either the tie rod end, idler arm, track rod, or the suspension arms. It is possible multiple parts are bent. IMO, it is unlikely the steering box is damaged.

If you can, crawl under there and look. Compare the right side to the left side. One trick is to look for shiny metal indicating something has moved.

Good luck.

-Mike

Van

I would have thought that a tierod was bent... but maybe the tierods are integral with the rack and can't be replaced separately?

vincer77

Sorry I was not specific. It is a rack and pinion. I looked at tie rod and it looked Ok, but did not measure anything. The tie rods are screw type. But bent tie rod is probably the first thing to look at.

vincer77

I have not been able to find a good independent that does alignments. Just shops like Firestone. I took it another time to an indy for alignment last time I put tires on and they claimed ball joints needed replacing but they were fine. How do non mechanical people get by?