Questions and Answers

Lincoln Town Car Steering Wheel Center Q. I have a 1989 Lincoln Town Car. This winter I replaced the steering gear box. When I put it back together I didn't center the steering wheel. Can I fix it without taking it all apart? Thank you...

A. It all depends on what was mis-aligned when you put it back together. The way I do it is to center the steering wheel and lock the steering column. Then I remove the outer tie rod ends counting how many turns it takes to remove them from the steering rack. then I remove the rack.

Then I install the new power steering rack and center it in the car. Then put the tie rods back on the same number of turns it took to get them off. This get's everything close enough to be able to correct any deviations with the wheel alignment.

I guess what you could do in your case is to get the front wheels pointing straight, then remove the steering wheel and put it back on centered. Then get a wheel alignment to get the toe-in right. This is not really the right way to do, but it is a way to do it without taking everything apart again.