i turn the wheel and it responds right away. just off center (crooked)

going to take in soon with all of these comments. thank you.. 

Is the wheel just crooked or do you turn the wheel and nothing happens for about 20-30 degrees?  If you turn the steering wheel and the wheels don't turn, check your lower subframe mounts.  They can become de-laminated and the whole subframe will twist.

If you didn't see it when the page turned late single bolt per side subs tend to wander under the cross member. As described with the rack same thing. Steve (CTR)

Check the ubolts that hold the steering rck in place, on the race car, these worked themselves loos and after a hard left hander the wheel would be crooked to the right, and after a hard right-hander, the wheel would be crooked to the left...
The nuts that hold the steering rack are under the carpet, on the firewall, gve em a few turns

Any chance the sub frame is shifting under the cross member? Steve (CTR)

jim 
stop driving it and get it into your repair shop.  A crashed car due to a  steering issue is not what you want , nor to 

hurt yourself or a pedestrian.


Sounds like the splines are stripped either top of the column under the wheel or in the wheel, or  at the bottom of
the column where it mates to the splines on the steering rack.

Have your mechanic check both areas.

I did that.. lined up.. tightened nut.. test drove, but crooked during test drive

If it was straight before it came off, you don't need to adjust tie rods or alignment. Just take the nut back off, move the wheel a couple of notches in the direction needed to get it back to center, and tighten it back down. Repeat until it's where you want it.
Same procedure for when your shoe falls off. You put it back on in the same direction it came off.

it is a 1986

such nice replies. .thank you.. 

one more piece of info.... when I was driving the steering wheel just came off. yes..  I was holding steering wheel in my hands but it was not attached!.. I was on a straight section of road.. applied brakes and at same time put the steering wheel back on.. it had to be just right to go all the way down.. but when I got it on.. the wheel was straight

when I tried to fix it, like i said when I had it lined up while parked.. then tightened it.. then drove, it was off center (car going straight but wheel off center

That model Mini should have a hole in the floor - pretty much in mirror image position to where the steering pinion comes through the floor and covers with a rubber bung.  When the bung is removed you should be able to see a hole in the rack underneath.  Insert a thin probe into this hole and then GENTLY turn the steering until the probe drops into the hole in the rack and locks the steering.  The rack is now centralised ... now you can adjust the wheels to straight ahead (with the correct toe setting) and finally set the steering wheel straight....

cheers, Ian

A "crooked" steering wheel being one that is off center when the car is going straight? 

If that is what you mean by that, then I would do what I always called a "straight steer" alignment, moving each side tie rod end in or out to get the wheel straight and pointed directly down the road. Then after that do a regular alignment.

What year is your car? Steve (CTR)

thank you.. I am going to print all of this out and take to my mechanic..

I really should know mechanical things owning a classic car, let alone an old mini.. 
this mini has been quite reliable.. I had another one that broke down a bit.. this one is pretty reliable

Yes. the narrow groves parallel to the axis of the steering shaft.
The shaft is steel, so its splines should be OK, but the boss is likely aluminum and worn out. The boss splines should fit very snugly into the shaft splines with absolutely no wiggle in any direction. It should seat fully down before you install the nut. The nut only keeps it from sliding upward.

At the bottom of the steering column, the shaft attaches to a short splined shaft sticking up through the floor. It is connected to the pinion gear that moves the steering rack back and forth. That's the joint helpmymini was referring to when he said "I'd first be sure the column is seated all the way down on the rack. My car had the column on the splines, but not down so the pinch bolt was in the groove. I never had it come loose, but it could."

Sometimes people add a bracket to the steering column to lower it a bit for driving comfort. To do this properly, the steering rack must be adjusted to keep the pinion shaft exactly in line with the steering column shaft, or the joint helpmymini refers to will wear and be damaged. Probably not the situation in your case, but you or your mechanic should check that joint.

Hold off adjusting tie rods until you get the steering column sorted. Your problem seems to be primarily with the  steering wheel and boss.

what is a spline? those narrow grooves?

thank you.. taking to my mechanic to check out

From the description, it sounds like the splines are worn off of the steering wheel hub (extremely dangerous, total loss of steering scenario ).  Without splines, the wheel would move back and forth enough to loosen the nut (like it did) and would make it so that when re-tightening the nut the wheel would rotate and move so that you can't get it tightened at the straight ahead position.

Note that the nut's job is only to hold the wheel on (fore/aft position).  The splines do all of the work, of transferring your steering wheel input to the shaft.

Recommended action:

1)  replace the stripped hub (inspect the shaft carefully too ).

2)  make sure that whatever caused the failure of your current hub is corrected (was it the wrong spline for a mini, or was the nut not properly tightened in the first place, or is there a defect in the shaft that ruined the splines on the wheel hub? ).


Let us know what you find out.
Norm

I'd first be sure the column is seated all the way down on the rack. My car had the column on the splines, but not down so the pinch bolt was in the groove. I never had it come loose, but it could.

Next I don't understand how the wheel came off. If it did, the nut wasn't on the top in the boss. It's quite a simple mechanism, be sure it's solid as it should be.

After that I would turn the wheel until both tires are equally aiming forward. I use a long board on the side of the tire. My board is usually 1 to 1.25 inches from the back side wall when flush to the front sidewall. Once you have it equal just start equally adjusting the tie rods until the wheel is straight. Loosen the jam nut and spin the rod 4 flats at a time; in on the left and out on the right. You can get your wheel perfectly centered and not disturb your alignment.

Fix this. You're scaring people.

Drive down the road... work out the exact top of the wheel with the car going straight ahead (its petty hard to pick this point unless the car is actually moving) mark this point (stick a bit of tape at the top of the wheel).

Go back to garage.  Park with the tape at the top of wheel.  Remove wheel retaining nut. Remove the wheel - making sure you don't turn the steering column from the straight ahead position..  Re-insert wheel onto splines with the actual top of wheel at top... making sure that you haven't actually moved the steering from the previously determined straight ahead position.... Re-install retaining nut.

Now with the wheel straight ahead, the car should now go straight ahead..... on flat piece of road.  If the road is cambered ..ie slopes from one side to the other.. the car will want to go down the slope and will require a tidge of  steering angle to keep going straight... 

Cheers, Ian