HELP!!! 2009 Outback Alignment!

[TheYankeeMarshal]

Anyone know anything about alignment? We have an old 2009 Subaru Outback in which I just installed a new steering rack and front suspension. Afterwards I took it to have the front end realigned and they told me they cannot get it into spec. They said the steering gear was misaligned. I checked the link between the wheel and the rack and it seemed like it is in place to me. These are the numbers they ended up with and I cannot tell if this is close enough to just move on or should I disconnect the steering shaft and try to readjust it. The only number that is showing out of spec is the front right camber at 1.2 (spec is 0.2-1.2) which is barely out. What do you guys think?

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[Mustangbuc85]

The only thing the “miss aligned” steering gear would affect is front toe and the steering wheel position. Which looks like is in spec assuming your steering wheel is straight ahead. Look at the tie rods, you should see a close to equal amount of threads showing. If the steering gear is off they might have had to move one side in and one side out a lot which would make a big thread count difference. The only thing I would question would be camber. Most Subarus come factory with an adjustable cam bolt in the upper strut bolt hole.

 

[TheYankeeMarshal]

The only thing the “miss aligned” steering gear would affect is front toe and the steering wheel position. Which looks like is in spec assuming your steering wheel is straight ahead. Look at the tie rods, you should see a close to equal amount of threads showing. If the steering gear is off they might have had to move one side in and one side out a lot which would make a big thread count difference. The only thing I would question would be camber. Most Subarus come factory with an adjustable cam bolt in the upper strut bolt hole.

No cam bolt on this one. There is a noticeable difference in the threads. Probably about a quarter inch. Car drive fine. No pull. No tire noise. Nothing I can notice. My fear is, since you have to turn the gear a full turn to line of the pnch bolt, if we turn the steering gear another full turn it would cause the same problem on the other side.

 

[Neggytive]

The only thing the “miss aligned” steering gear would affect is front toe and the steering wheel position. Which looks like is in spec assuming your steering wheel is straight ahead. Look at the tie rods, you should see a close to equal amount of threads showing. If the steering gear is off they might have had to move one side in and one side out a lot which would make a big thread count difference. The only thing I would question would be camber. Most Subarus come factory with an adjustable cam bolt in the upper strut bolt hole.

the problem with the steering wheel not being centered is ON A NEWER CAR with ADAS features, unless the steering angle sensor was reset lane centering, lane departure and collision avoidance stuff can be negatively impacted.

That is not the case here but I just wanted to point it out for future use.

It is pretty simple to cheat the wheel back to center by moving the tie rods equally IIRC

I am not the alignment guy at our shop, but I am told that is the cheat to do it.

 

[Mustangbuc85]

No cam bolt on this one. There is a noticeable difference in the threads. Probably about a quarter inch. Car drive fine. No pull. No tire noise. Nothing I can notice. My fear is, since you have to turn the gear a full turn to line of the pnch bolt, if we turn the steering gear another full turn it would cause the same problem on the other side.

A quarter inch isn’t that bad. As long as you don’t have like 2 full turns of the steering wheel to the right and only 1 full turn to the left i wouldn’t worry about it. If it drives straight and turns fine the numbers are ok. Only one borderline is that camber which could be fixed with a cam bolt

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