Steering

[GrndNatnl]

My car has a lot of miles on the body & chassis. The entire car has new poly bushings, including the missing bushings. This includes the front end, and steering components, which was supposedly all redone not -too- long before I got the car.

The steering right now is very well aligned, but it's very loose within about 5 or so degrees from its stand point. Hard to explain. If you're driving along (or even stopped) straight.. the wheel turns very very easy in either direction a little bit, then it gets stiffer as you make the turn sharper, as it should be.

However, its not like normal "play" as some might be thinking by now. It's very easy to turn, BUT it does turn. There is no loss of sensitivity or delay in turning. You can turn the wheel 2 degrees and it will indeed steer off in that direction slightly as you turn it. It's just a little bit loose, and easily wiggled side to side about 5 degrees I'm guessing. Until you turn it further. Is there any way to tighten this up? Is it a gearbox thing? It's also slightly easier to turn left then it is to turn right.

It's nothing drastic at all. Just something I wouldnt mind tightening up somehow, to improve the feel of the steering. I like a solid or stiff steering feel. Any adjustments? Or would this call for a gearbox swap? TIA

 

[GrndNatnl]

T

 

[GNVAIR]

First thing is to check your steering/suspension parts for looseness or play. Just because they were replaced not too long ago doesnt mean you dont have something that is worn.
Check the ball joints, idler arm and the center link. These items tend to be the areas of high wear on a G body. I would also check the pot joint in the steering shaft. This is the joint by the firewall. The pieces are plastic inside and always wear causing slop. If everything checks out, then check your steering box. It might need to be relashed. This is best done off the car. Jeff Davidson over at www.montecarloss.com had a great article on doing this. Makes a huge difference.

 

[GrndNatnl]

Thanks for the imput! I'll have the steering components checked out again soon.

Anyone else have similar experience?