Replaced the passenger side yesterday and all good. Put new one on in exact same location (best I could tell) now the steering wheel is crooked but car seems to run just fine when I let go on road. Wondering if one spin one way or the other should fix this. If I straighten steering wheel where it should be for straight it’s wanting to turn to the right

Get it aligned is the only way to tell. Your going to ruin tires faster if your off in the alignment settings.

I did inner and outers on both sides and upper control arms a few weeks ago

I mearured and set everything how it was , but I had parts form 2-3-4 differnt makers and in the end I was only a half degree off on toe in , but cmaber and caster were 2-3 degrees

my alignment with all the parts moving freely was $88 out the door

fix anything else you need to do , make sure all the adjusters move , then take it in for an alinment

88 dollar alignment can save you 800 in tires wearing out early

To late now, but next time a sharpie mark on inner and one on spindle to measure is how we do them.

So can you adjust the rod that connects to the inner tie rod? I moved it some while loosening the jam nut but was aware of that and made sure was back in same spot

Hippie I counted the threads from the jam nut before I took it off and seems to be right back where it should.

Thread counting gets ya close, but you need two marks to measure to get them right.

I'm guessing you have a rack and pinion. If its the older style with an adjustment sleeve between the inner and litter you can measure to the edge of the sleeve .
Again, too late now.


So, you replaced the pass. side, and now your steering wheel is tilted to the left when driving, correct?

If so, the right side you replaced is toed out.

2003 Buick century. I took it apart again and made one full turn to the outside. Steering wheel is slightly off center now and honestly could’ve been like that before cause so slight now but car still goes down the road and doesn’t pull.

Yep, sounded toed out. Making it longer toed it back in.

You don't have to "take it apart". You can just loosen the jam nut and turn the inner.

if you get a different brand than the original , it may have a few more threads or a few less the collar may be a touch longer or shorter

I was replacing inner and outer and adjuster collar in the middle

this is what mine look like , going by threads wasn't going to work it was clear with 2 different brands of tie rods cause it was what napa had that they had different numbers of threads not a lot different but different and an adjuster different than original and some of them had already been replaced the only measurement that was going to work was
center to center of each that got me really close but even that wasn't perfect when on the alignment machine they were impressed how close I was.
I was also working from old parts that were being replaced for a reason

if you were having zero issues before replacing and you marked on the shaft and measured to center you could get very close to what you were at , but you don't know if that was exactly right , again you are replacing them for a reason.

if you want to do toe in as a home alinement you can lift spin and scribe the center of each tire then get very close measuring them front and back and adusting , you would need to look up the set toe-in/toe-out as they are typically not exactly zero but zero would be close
the catch you have to do it with the tires on the ground naturally so you need the slider plates or set the wheels on car dollies and roll back and forth to let them neutral pressure out

or if your line was permanent enough you could drive back and forth a ways then measure again front and back and adjust your steering wheel strait

to straiten your wheel make turn one side x turns then do the other side the same number in the opposite direction until the wheel is strait and you go strait and the toe is set

Get it aligned. Counting threads is good enough to get you to the alignment shop, but not good enough to prevent tire wear. Modern alignment machines measure down to the hundreth of a degree accuracy.

to visualize a 100th of a degree

a 60th of a degree aka 1MOA is 1.047 inches at 100 yards so you could call it a SUB MOA alignment , hey it sells rifles maybe it would sell them on a wheel alignment

Now you tell me lol. I’m gonna do a half spin cause the steering wheel is still crooked enough to mess with my OCD lol

Left lane I bet I mess with it enough and I’ll eventually have it 1/32 from 100 percent wrong lol

I did hold the new one up to the old and were the same length but maybe the threads were farther inset or something.

Just make sure you don't twist the boot.