What did I do to my steering?
So last weekend we did some pretty gnarly trails and on one of the hill climbs my front right wheel hit a root. Hi heard a clunk. Checked it out, couldn’t see anything, carried on and noticed my steering wheel 45 degrees to the left in order to drive straight. Other than that, all good.
On the drive home, cruising on the highway, it was very clear something had shifted. Steering wheel 45 degrees to the left for the car to drive straight. There wasn’t any pulling, shaking, or play in the steering. If I let the steering wheel go, the FJ would drive perfectly straight ahead. At this point there was no light on the dash yet.
On Monday I took the FJ for alignment, they couldn’t see anything bent or out. Adjustment cams still seemed flat and in place. I had a good look myself. So they continued with alignment as per usual. As soon as a drove out the light came on. Hooked up Techstream when I got home and the fault was there, steering angle off center. I cleared memory and did zero point calibration. All is good now.
But what did I knock out? Did I skip a tooth on the steering rack? Is that even possible? I have seen what the couplings and splines look like on the steering shaft because I have replaced them. It’s impossible for anything to slip that much there.