Wheel alignment changing...

[Adger Smith]

Yes it is, same type of joint too. (nice picture) My car had been in a well know shop for some up dates and I assume a minimum wage employee had put that part of it back together. The receiver groove in the male shaft of the rack was missed by the set screw in the female part of the joint. The sad part is it looked ok when I inspected the car. The set screw was just tight on a spline, Not in it's proper location, the receiver groove. After about 50 runs of wheelstanding & my pushing & pulling on the steering wheel it worked it's way off the shaft. I still think it came off during the wheelstand at the start of the run. At the finish line when I touched the brakes, trying to slow down to keep from breaking out, It made a hard turn to the left. I was out of control, just along for the ride. (read that: crash @ 145 MPH instead of ride!)
I think the best way to secure them is by drilling and inserting a hollow roll pin and then safety wire through the center of the roll pin. That is in addition to the set screw. That is a positive method that can be visually inspected for failure. Think about it. You can't tell if those set screws are where they belong or even tight with out putting a wrench on them. The pin method and safety wire can be visually inspected. If the pin starts to loosen and slide out the wire catches it. If the pin shears off it could snap the safety wire and alert a keen eye of a pending problem. My replacement roadster has already been built.(now if I can just talk my wife into letting me race it) It has the steering secured by bolts & roll pins with safety wire. Keep an eye on things, your life could depend on it. Tim, you have a very unsafe situation. Are you sure the rack isn't at fault? The worm gear gould be slipping on the shaft or the rack could be worn out. I think I would be taking some things apart and inspecting them if that was my ride.

[buzzinhalfdozen]

On mine when the joint is properly installed you can't see any splines, like you can in this pic. Of course it could be a different set up than mine. On my set up there is a groove on the splined shaft that the set screw goes into so the joint can't come off unless it shears the set screw or it comes loose. We all need to be attentive of our cars as things do have a way of coming loose. Joe

[Ed Wright]

Thanks guys. Somethng else to check. My wheel isn't moving, my toe-in and camber on the driver's side has moved this time. Just the toe-in last year.

[TOSTO RACING]

I'm definatley going to do something else. My set screw is always tight. I like your idea.

[Tom Goldman]

I tack weld the washers on the control arm bolts after doing the alignment on a F body. .....The camber will sometimes move after a few big wheelstands if you don't tack them. ......Usually if the steering wheell goes off center, it's usually because the camber changed. ........Adger is absolutly correct about securing the coupler at the rack, I've seen a lot of them loose,not only on F bodies either. ...........Tom

[Duane Eiskant II]

We ended up welding mine together on the fox body. Same thing the wheel moved on one run when the car left real high. Dont have any problems with that part now. Also put a strut tower brace on it after the pic to the left. That just opened up a hole new can of worms that day LOL.

[TOSTO RACING]

Well just an fyi I took my steering shaft off tonight and its definatley the splines on the shaft they are rounded. Its usually after a big wheelstand when it happened to me ,but latley just turning sharp it would do it now I know. Its sounds like its a common problem at least an easy fix.

[1320racer]

Originally Posted by Tom Goldman

I tack weld the washers on the control arm bolts after doing the alignment on a F body. .....The camber will sometimes move after a few big wheelstands if you don't tack them.

We have a winner!

[Ed Wright]

That looks about right, but I don't have training wheels.