steering wheel off center..

[danellen4]

New to the group here and im curious if anyone can tell me what would cause the steering wheel on a 69 280sl to be off center.    when u look thru the steering wheel into the gauges the steering wheel is about 1/2 an inch to the left of center.      Thanks in advance.   

[WRe]

Hi,
It's normal that the steering wheel is a little bit slanted to the left to allow easier access to the car.
...WRe

[Cees Klumper]

Additionally, I don't believe there is any adjustment possible to the position of the steering wheel and column, it all seems solidly bolted in one position.

What WRE is referring to is that the steering wheel is closer to the dashboard on the left side than on the right side, indeed to ease ingress and egress.

[MikeSimon]

It also has to do with the position of the steering column in the car. The lower end of the column connects to the linkage for the steering gear. In order to achieve even turns for right and left, that connection point needs to be in a certain spot. Thus usually on most cars, the steering column is on a slight angle from the driver position towards the center of the car. This will minimize the amount of U-joints needed to accommodate angles.

[su8pack1]

Just use a steering wheel puller. Pull it off and put it back on straight. Might have happened during an alignment.

[danellen4]

thanks for the info and feedback,   ill sleep a little better tonight

[MikeSimon]

Just use a steering wheel puller. Pull it off and put it back on straight. Might have happened during an alignment.

I don't think the PO was talking about an "angle off center' misalignment."

[Pinder]

It can be off center if there has been some kind of crash the hub came from. from another car. the hub can deform pretty easily. I purchased a hub for the steering wheel online and it looked normal unilt installed on the car then it made one side of the steering wheel look like it was closer to the dash. It must have been salvaged from a wrecked car.

[Benz Dr.]

It can be off center because it's off center. Not hard to undo the nut holding the wheel on and turn the wheel a little bit left or right.

[Cees Klumper]

It can be off center if there has been some kind of crash the hub came from. from another car. the hub can deform pretty easily. I purchased a hub for the steering wheel online and it looked normal unilt installed on the car then it made one side of the steering wheel look like it was closer to the dash. It must have been salvaged from a wrecked car.

The left side of the steering wheel IS supposed to be closer to the dash (quite a bit), see previous posts.

[Paul & Dolly]

Danellen
There is a lot of good info in the Technical Manual here.
Do a search for Steering Wheel in the technical manual on site here.
You will see the different types of wheel and removal and fitting processes.

There is also an alignment mark on the shaft,so the indicators function correctly,this should be at either 6 or 12 o clock position,dependant on a RHD or LHD vehicle or vice versa.

Good luck
Paul