DJK73 wrote:Rissy perhaps you can bring your tools and help out as well ?
I'll not be at Norfolk unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view I guess)
The steering wheel turns a total of 2.4 turns, lock to lock. Mid point obviously being at 1.2 turns each direction to lock.
I've never had the steering wheel off the shaft before, so can't comment on the indicator cancelling mechanism (I thought the column was just a circular splined shaft at both ends?!), but what I do know, is you need to have the rack centred and the column built to join the rack to the steering wheel shaft to allow the correct amount of equal turning in both directions as explained above.
The lower UJ has a flat as well as the splines, so there is a limited amount of play which you have as far as choice of splines goes, because you still have to lock the two pieces together with the bolt which goes across the flat. This is more for preventing the two halves from pulling apart than slipping around, because the splines prevent that. The upper UJ is the next best point of adjustment (after the TRE's of course) because it has a divet recess right around the circumference, as well as splines, so you can choose any set of splines you want if you bolt it up first.
If you want to try and adjust the steering wheel in relation to the rack position, you have to affix and bolt up the lower UJ first, in it's optimal position, THEN, spline the upper UJ in the closest fit to the steering wheel shaft which allows 1.2 turns in each direction evenly. Any other deviation from straight wheels and a straight steering wheel HAS to be carried out at the TRE's if this doesn't work.
In theory, an equal number of turns on each side in a complimentary direction should shift the offset for fine tuning without upsetting the tracking, however, I've never done this myself, so my comment is only for the theory. You have to be VERY careful doing this though, because with the restraining nut loosened, both the shaft AND the TRE can move freely. So you'd only want the TRE to turn, because if you allowed the shaft to turn, even a little bit, then it's back to the garage you go for a proper full alignment again, because it would be too difficult to recover from the shaft turning, as you have no frame of reference for where it was before you moved it accidentally.
I'm of the opinion that it is not necessary or a good idea to be pulling the steering wheel off, but my opinion is based on the steering column just being an unkeyed circular splined shaft at the wheel (as I'm unsure of this indicator mechanism being mentioned)