I'll give you the down and dirty method on steering wheel straightening but first you'll need a little design and function on how this all works. Every rack and pinion I have seen and for sure on every Volvo the tie rod threads are the same. By this I mean if you turn the left rod down it will make the left rod shorter and doing the same (turning down) will cause the right rod to lengthen. If you did this it would cause the car to steer more to the left. This whole turn the rod down or up is with the car in the air and you under the car facing the rear bumper. If the steering wheel was off say 10 degrees or so to the right and you want it to go to the left you will turn the tie rods about 90 degree +/- in the down direction. To keep the whole thing straight in our heads we have always used what I refered to as the "Jesus Affiliation", simply put that means that "right is up". If you want the wheel to go to the right you rotate both tie rods an equal amount up and the reverse is true if want to go to the left. Now this all works well on a vehicle that connects the tie rods to the FRONT of the steering knuckle. However an 850 connects at the wheel so here is the deal on that. If you are still standing under the car and facing the rear bumper you will have to reverse the Jesus Affiliation however, if you walk underneath the car and turn around so that the rack is in front of you and you are facing the front of the car it is all back to normal again. This is what most techs do, it makes it easy and keeps us sane.

So here is the down and dirty on it:

1. Test drive the car on a nice flat road and see where the wheel is, make note of which way it is off and by that I mean WRITE IT DOWN. Off to the left or off to the right and write down how much it is off, 1/8 turn 1/4 turn etc.

2. Put the car in the air and get underneath it. If it is a rear wheel drive car be under the car with the rack in front of you and with you facing the rear of the car. If it is rear wheel drive get under the car with the rack in front of you and you facing the front of the car.

3. For the sake of discussion I am going to say that your car is off to the left that means you want to go to the right. To go to the right you need to turn both tie rods UP an equal amount. Depending upon the amount that the steering wheel is off I would start with 45 degrees or one eighth of a turn. If you are new to this and not comfortable with it I recommend that you get some white touch up paint and put a stripe right across the tie rod end, the jamb nut, and the tie rod itself. This will aid you in seeing which way things are going and if all else fails it will allow you to get back to ground zero if you have to.


Let me know how this works out for you and if you have any questions.


Mark