XC60 - best way to center steering wheel when travelling straight

Arran

Hello, I purchased an 09 XC60 a few months ago. I've been working through general maintenance items on the car and took it in for a wheel alignment mainly because the steering wheel wasn't centered when the car was driving straight.

The shop wasn't able to straighten it up, they ran out of travel adjusting the rack ends. Looking at pictures of xc60 steering racks, they appear to have a square shaped engagement on the pinion end so it isn't possible that it was re-assembled a few degrees out at some point in the past.

Question is, does anyone know where the best spot in the steering system might be to straighten up the wheel? Is there a spline for the steering wheel to attach? Will I upset the steering wheel angle sensor?

Thanks in advance!

timbo

The steering wheel is on a spline so you can adjust it there if you're happy with the wheel alignment.

It will change the steering angle sensor calibration, but sometimes they will just recalibrate once you drive for a bit.

Arran

Hey thanks for the reply! Doing a bit more searching the pictures I'm finding show that the steering wheel has a hex interface rather than a spline, see picture

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Arran

Looking under the car, the amount of available adjustment doesn't look right. The wheels are aligned per manufacturers specs according to the tyre shop which seems right because the car is driving great. There is zero thread showing on one of the rack ends (as you'd expect if the shop said they ran out of adjustment), however on the other side there's only about 10mm of thread showing, see pictures. It does not seem right, I would expect that there should be a lot more travel available that just 10mm.

Is it possible that an incorrect part has been fitted at some point that is a little longer that needed for an xc60??

Thanks

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timbo

Whoops I assumed they would be the same steering wheel as xc90.

Roughly how many degrees is the steering wheel out? Maybe you can adjust at the bottom of the column?

Arran

Hey no worries, Its out very little, maybe 2 or 3 degrees.

Yes there's a joint at the bottom of the column as it disappears through the car into the engine bay. I'll try to loosen it and see if there's any rotation available there.

If anybody with an XC60 might have a moment and could photograph or give me some indication of how much thread is showing on the rack ends in a wheel aligned car that would be appreciated!

Thanks

Ex850R

I thought left and right were different alignment slightly to allow for driving on the LHS with road irregularities and cover?

Arran

Yes this is true, in this case the wheel alignment shop was not able to align per manufacturer spec with the steering wheel straight ahead, they run out of rack end thread on the passenger side before the steering wheel is straight ahead.

Thanks!

Arran

Solution:

The previous owner fitted a Volvo v60/xc70 front control arm to the LHS of my XC60. These control arms are shorter by about 13mm and move the wheel in towards the centre of the car.

The XC60 steers from the rear of the hub so the 13mm reduction causes the wheel to have a huge amount of toe in. To get the car to go straight ahead, all of the adjustment in the tie rod end is used.

I've just fitted a new pair of genuine Volvo XC60 control arms. Fairly straight forward job. With the old pair and new pair sitting on the floor it was fairly easy to spot the problem.

I have a wheel alignment booked for Monday.