Pontiac Owners Club UK

Can a garage do the tracking on a 3rd gen without removing the steering wheel? i've just had the tracking done and they said the u jay needs replacing (the fibre bit thing where the column connects to the steering box). so because of that they couldn't remove and refit the gullwing to make it straight as when going straight ahead my right hand was 1 o clock not 3 o clock. it was fine before, naturally the tracking was bad before with twitchyness. but when the wheel was straight, so was the car, now if the wheel is straight it goes slightly right.

he showed me on the u jay thing, it is sloppy and when the wheel is wiggled slightly, one metal bit moves, but the other metal bit doesn't as the fibre type bit wobbles around. so i can tell that he's not lying and that the u jay thing is knackered.

but, he also said that when i replace this u jay bit, i'll have to take it back so they can remove and refit the wheel.
the grant adaptor can only go on 2 ways due to the hole for the horn wire, i believe there are 2 holes, so it can be put on two ways he said they removed the adaptor and changed it's position.

i'll change the u jay bit myself, and see if i can get the wheel straight. if not and i take it somewhere else, can a good garage do the tracking just by adjusting the tierods alone??
thanks, sorry if this is a bit long, wanted to explain fully.

just to add, before i changed the worn tierods, centre link and idler arm, oh and the box. the car went straight when the wheel was.
thanks again

once the tracking is set for correct "toe in" then the wheel can be centred by adjusting the tie rods (wind out one side and wind in the other side so tracking remains the same)
then test drive/adjust till correct
the standard wheel/boss will only go in one place, the other 2 holes are for puller bolts to remove it
this is uncommon, as most cars you can take the wheel off and move it round one spline. maybe they have not done a firebird before and dont realise this.

So does that mean i can do it myself? just by e.g wind in drivers side one turn and wind out passenger side one turn etc?

yes, mark the sleeve/adjuster and rod first so you know how far you turn it
go half a turn first then try it (if its worse you went the wrong way)
make sure its a level road without camber, and stay in the middle if posible

Cool, thanks. That's made me feel better. And my wallet just breathed a sigh of relief lol.
thanks again

mines off to the right never had it tracked while i had it tho just got used to it really

twit* that did my van also now have my wheel off centre now no pride some people ....

bloody mechanics

Changed the colum u joint with a nice spare one. The old was was quite sloppy, wobbles around a lot just by hand.
So should have nice steering now. So just the wheel position to sort.

Been for a test drive, feels better with the new bit. No more easy/hard transition.

When the wheel is straight it goes right. Also the box it centered. From centre, left one turn and right hand from 3 o clock to 1. And one turn right and left hand from 9 to 11 o clock. So the wheel and box are fine. So basicly they did the tie rods wrong. So them removing the wheel was pointless.