Morris Minor Owners Club

One of those "little" jobs that I thought I'd get round to was sorting the tracking on my traveller - it was obviously out, more on one side than the other, but all the manuals make it sound simple!

So I've centred the wheel, marked the wheels with chalk against a measuring stick, rolled it forwards etc. etc. Visually only one wheel was out of line so I knew I'd have to adjust that. But the manual says to adjust both sides equally, which is what I've done.

I now have uneven threads on each TRE and although the tracking isn't perfect it's better - however the end result is that the steering wheel is now off centre and points to the right when driving straight.

When I initially got the car the nut on the passenger side TRE was almost at the bottom of the thread - but when I nipped that up the steering wheel moved to the left, so I loosened it off again and it recentred. Will doing this on the drivers side send the wheel back toward the centre, or do I need to start again?

One thing I didn't do which I've seen in a few posts subsequently was set both of the TREs to the same thread count before I started - what does that do, should I have done it and should I be setting them to show all of the threads or none, or does it not matter as long as they're equal?

Thanks in advance... not to get political but if you can all help me to stop leaning to the right and come back somewhere central it will be a real help

This is what I would do:-

Disconnect both track rod ends at the steering arms.

Straighten/align the front/rear wheels by running a piece of string along the outer face of the front and rear wheels at around hub height

Straighten/centralise the steering wheel.

Loosen individually each track rod end from the rack tie rod. note: It may be better to loosen the tie rod nut before disconnecting the track rod end from the steering arm.

Adjust the track rod ends on the tie rod until they fits into the steering arm without moving the wheel alignment.

Fit the track rod end nut and tighten.

Tighten the track rod to tie rod nut.

Check the alignment and adjust each tie rod equal amounts until you get the correct 3/32" toe in.

Tighten everything up and go for a run.

When you get back check the alignment of the wheels again and the alignment of the steering wheel.

If the steering wheel is still out of alignment screw one tie rod in and the other tie rod out both equal amounts so as to get the steering wheel central. Which way you screw in/out will depend on the direction of offset with the steering wheel.

You may need to have one or more goes at it to get it right but it will all come together in the end.

Thanks Phil,

Have done as you suggested around other jobs and there's a small amount of toe in once it's all together. The steering wheel also still points right (it's a 2 spoke wheel which sits at 10 and 4 in a straight line rather than 9 and 3!)

Am I right in thinking that as the Left TR has almost no thread showing, but the Right TR has quite a bit, that shortening the right hand side will reset the wheel back towards centre and also toe the wheel out in the process?

It's possible that over the years the steering wheel and/or steering column have been removed and refiutted when the rack was not central. I agree with what Phil suggested, but at the point of centralisising the steering wheel, I would clarify and also check the alignment of the indicator cancelling button on the column. If necessary, adjust the column position and remove and refit the steering wheel (if needed) to get the central position - you may have just turned the wheel to follow the centralise instruction.