Steering Wheel 180 Degrees Out

iTunes · May 19, 2020

Hi All, I became a GMC owner a little over a week ago...2003 GMC Sierra Denali. Up until today I thought I had stolen it as I paid less than $2k for it. Overall it's in great shape, has a little over 200k miles, but needs a few things done to it. Once of those "little" things is the steering wheel being upside down. Didn't really pay too much mind, it needed a couple new tires so i figured I'd have them align it while they're at it. Took it to an alignment shop today and the guy called to tell me it was ready then he asked "How did the steering wheel get turned 180 degrees?". I was a little shocked...this guy runs an alignment shop??!! Anyway, I told him the truth, that I've only owned it for a week or so but I had no idea that's why I brought it to you. He said if it was off 20 or 30 degrees that he could fix it but as it is there must be something really wrong with it. Long story short, how does something like this happen and what would I need to do to correct it? Truck drives straight as an arrow, so it's really more of a nuisance unless there's something I should be concerned with? Thanks!

CamGTP · May 19, 2020

I guess you could remove the steering wheel and re-center it but you'd probably want the alignment checked again.

iTunes · May 20, 2020

14 hours ago, CamGTP said:

I guess you could remove the steering wheel and re-center it but you'd probably want the alignment checked again.

Yeah that was my thought, but doesn't the wheel have an index within the splines? As I understood, the wheel only goes on one way but I might pop it off and have a look myself, thanks.

Mike GMC · May 20, 2020

My guess is the issue is at the steering shaft connection to the steering box or column stub shaft. I believe the shaft is a double D cross section. You should be able to disconnect it, rotate the shaft 180 and reconnect. No new alignment needed. Someone probably either replaced the steering box or shaft and put it back together wrong. I'm surprised the alignment shop would not be able to check be fix this. It is very odd, so maybe they just didn't give it any thought.

davester · May 20, 2020

Note,you'll want to be careful if you do decide to fix this by disconnecting the steering wheel shaft somewhere to turn the wheel. The clockspring (the wires for the horn, airbag, and steering wheel controls) only supports a limited number of rotations of the steering wheel in each direction, and will be damaged if you turn the wheel too far in either direction.

Mike GMC · May 20, 2020

I haven't had the wheel off if my 2000, but I know some vehicles have a "keyed" spline on the shaft so the wheel can only go on one way. If the wheel is exactly 180 out, the shaft seemed like the most likely culprit. Good info from davester, I didn't know the clock springs were limits in travel. Being an 03, it shouldn't have a position sensor.

iTunes · May 20, 2020

Thanks guys! You've all been very helpful! I've watched several videos now on YouTube showing the clock spring removal. If I can solder in new stepper motors and LEDs for the cluster, I should be able to whip this steering wheel lol. Also, I notice the intermediate shaft is another issue prevalent in these models that I'll check while I'm down there.

davester · May 21, 2020

Also be careful about the air bag in the steering wheel. It makes the fix that much more annoying getting hit by an air bag that fired because you happened to touch the wrong contacts with a bit of electricity accidentally.

iTunes · May 21, 2020

11 hours ago, davester said:

Also be careful about the air bag in the steering wheel. It makes the fix that much more annoying getting hit by an air bag that fired because you happened to touch the wrong contacts with a bit of electricity accidentally.

Absolutely! I'll be disconnecting the neg battery terminal before I do ANYTHING. Thanks again!