[Mike57]

Nearly every time I get a wheel alignment done I find the steering wheel is no longer centred in the straight ahead position. (I know I maybe should get the 4 wheel alignment). To fix this I usually make a very small adjustment to the front panhard rod to bring the steering wheel back to its correct centred position when driving straight on a flat road.

The problem I have is that it has been so long since I have done this that the adjusting bolts have corroded a little but to make it worse I have forgotten which way to turn them to back off the lock nuts. Take a look at the photo below.



I used to have some marks on the rods to show which way they turn to tighten but they have rubbed off. I have been soaking them in Penetrene for a few days but it would help if anyone made a note of which way to turn the lock nuts to undo them. One thread will be right hand and one left hand. As you can see there is not enough thread showing to workout which is which and therefore I don't know if I am tightening or loosening the lock nuts. Either way I can't budge them at the moment.

Any suggestions?

Mike

[Skippy]

I have the same problem with my panhards, jimnybits one's with the bend in them?

[Mike57]

Yes they are both Jimnybits and the front has the bend in it. I got them from ODA but they are the same. I did see that Jimnybits has changed their supplier and have different ones now but I have had mine for quite a few years. The rear does not seem to be as corroded as the front. At any rate I did them up pretty tight and now they won't budge. I might have to remove it and try on the bench if the soaking does not free them up unless anyone has a better idea.

Mike

[fordem]

Seems to me that you're going about it the wrong way - use the panhard rod adjustment to center the axle under the vehicle, and adjust the drag link to center the steering wheel - unless the drag link is not adjustable (the one in the picture is), or the problem is caused by constant settling of the springs, which should not happen, but which would cause the axle to move sideways.

Unless I'm missing something, the only alignment that should be required on a solid axle vehicle is the toe and the impact of that on the centering of the steering wheel should be minimal.

[got_bar_work]

Check the nut dont have a L stamped on it.
Best bet would be to pull it and put in vice . Heating it with a blow torch /camp stove might loosen it as well

[shep]

Adjust the drag link to centre steering wheel. Panhard moves the diff side to side and if you just had a wheel alignment the only
adjustments possable on a jimny is the tie rod, drag link and the panhard.

It is possable to do a perfect wheel alignment in your driveway with a tape measure

[Mike57]

Thanks for the replies. I have measured both front and rear axles and neither are truly centred when measuring against the body flares. Is that an appropriate place to measure them from? Next after I got them both centred using the panhard adjustment I was going to adjust the drag link to centre the steering wheel assuming that neither the panhard or drag link adjustment affect the toe in? Am I on the right track here.

Finally the toe in was measured at 2.4mm. The spec is 2 to 6mm. I am finding that the steering is a little light when driving straight ahead and the car seems to follow the camber of the road too easily. What is the effect of a greater level of toe in say 3.5 or 4mm?

The other measurements are OK. I have a little more castor than stock due to castor correction bushed and camber is at the lower limits of the specs.

I cannot see and L or an R on the nuts but I agree the next stage will be to put it in a vice.