VP steering misalignment

[LindsayVPC]

I've done something to the steering on my car but i don't know what exactly. i knocked a steel pole while reversing the other day and it's glanced off the front driver's wheel and pulled it forward with a fair bit of force, which has thrown the front end out of alignment. the steering wheel is on about a 30 degree angle to the right to keep the car straight on the road. i'm not sure what i've done to it exactly, the suspension components all seem to be in good order as well as the rack and pinion setup. nothing is bent or broken, and the top bearings are fine. i'm wondering if maybe when the car hit the pole the steering column has jumped a few teeth where it connects to the rack. but i'm not sure just how serious this is. i'm thinking i'll probably have to replace the rack but i thought i'd get a second thrid and maybe fourth opinion before i go ahead and do it. so if anyone has any info for me please let me know. i also would like to know how much i'd be expecting to pay for any parts i might need to fix the steering.

cheers.

[vt1538]

If it stripped the splines you could be in a whole lot of trouble if it slips while driving.
Does the wheel look further forward on the side you hit?

[LindsayVPC]

maybe by a centimetre or so, hard to tell with no tape measure or anything, i'm just guesstimating. i'm hoping it's not the splines, though it does tend to wander quite a bit while driving. but when it's stationary there's no play when you turn the wheel, it's instantly responsive. my guess is if the splines were stripped it wouldn't turn immediately when i move the wheel if it was standing still. this is a really dodgy situation when rego is just around the corner.

[vt1538]

Another thing to check is if the wheel is still centred to the rack.Turn the wheel to full left lock,count the turns from there to full right lock. Halve the amount of turns back to the left & see where the wheel points then.

[LindsayVPC]

it's definately not centered to the rack, which is what leads me to believe the column has turned inside the rack and jumped a few splines, for the wheels to be dead straight, the wheel has to be turned a little to the right, roughly 30 degrees.

[vt1538]

The wheel not being centred does make it sound like a Rack problem.
one other thing is does the car pull to one side when you release the wheel.If it was just the rack has stripped or the spline the car should still run straight.

[LindsayVPC]

yeah it still steers straight when you let go. but it does tend to follow the contours of the road a lot since it happened, but that's probably more due to the shocks being on the way out than anything, or maybe it's just because of the misalignment...