Sloppy steering

[Geoff1200]

73 340 Cuda, alot of work done several years ago including new torsion bars and suspension components. Car's been pretty much stored untill my recent retirement, now I drive it more and the steering seems real sloppy.

A tire store checked alignment and the suspension and guessed it was the steering box. Another shop looked at it and test drove, said many of the cars of this vintage had "loose steering".

My 67 Chevelle also had sloppy steering and swaping the oem box for a late Jeep Grand Cherokee box tightened her right up.

Any way to get an E-body to steer alittle more like a modern car? Any adjustments? Upgrades?

Thanks in advance for your insight.

 

[Chryco Psycho]

max the caster , set the camber approx 1/2 negative so the top of the tire is tipped slightly inward & set the toe at 1/16 - 1/8 " , the max caster will put load on the steering & it will have better feel .
look at the steering box , if the shaft turn & climbs the box could be bad , you can remove some play by tightening the adjuster nut on the top of the box as well but make sure you do it with the tires pointed straight forward or it may not turn over center after adjusting it

 

[Geoff1200]

Good info...I'll try it.

 

[1bolt@atime]

I have been looking to maybe change out my steering box with a rebuilt one. Someone on this site "steered" me to this company. Once I get my pulled out, I think this is what I am going to try. They advertise 3 levels of firm.

http://www.firmfeel.com/powerst.htm

Also this site maybe helpful as well.

http://www.steerandgear.com:

 

[moparleo]

Here is another option you might not have thought of. A company named Unisteer, makes rack and pinion conversions for most cars. The kit comes with a rack & pinion, mounting parts, P/S pump and hoses, outer tie rods. This kit eliminates the steering box, hoses,coupler,inner and outer tie rods, sleeves, idler arm, pitman arm, center link. And is very simple to install with no mods to your car.You end up with tight steering and most of the parts eliminated that can wear and get sloppy. Actually cheaper than replacing the normal steering parts including the box and pump.

www.unisteer.com

 

[Brads70]

I just recieved a firm feel box , stage 3 as I had the same issue/concern.

 

[BIGSHCLUNK]

I have the steerngear stage 3.. NIKKI's tight & precise! It took a little bit getting used to at idle/low r's (backing out the garage and such). But its really nice out on the road!

 

[CudaKeith]

Did you check the butterfly shaped bushings in the coupler where the steering column meets the steering box? I'm sure there's a technical name for them, but I know they caused a lot of sloppy steering in mid to late 70's trucks, mainly the full time four wheel drive trucks. I usually check the easiest and cheapest culprits first, then work my way up.

 

[Geoff1200]

Update:
Replaced the steering box as it leaked everywhere with a NAPA reman, as well as the steering coupling, pump and hoses. Shimmed the pump valve to lower the psi....MAN what a difference, actually like driving the ol girl now....

Cheers ya'll,
Geoff

 

[moparleo]

CudaKeith its called a steering coupler. On a Chevy its called a "rag" joint.

 

[Adrian Worman]

FlamingRiver make replacement steering UJ's for Mooars, makes a big difference to eliminating excessive steering play.

 

[Sledgehammer]

Man Napa sells a reman? My Cuda I just bought is sloppy also. Checked it out today and the box is the culprit. You can even see the steering shaft move in and out as you wiggle through the slop.

 

[Geoff1200]

Man Napa sells a reman? My Cuda I just bought is sloppy also. Checked it out today and the box is the culprit. You can even see the steering shaft move in and out as you wiggle through the slop.

Summit Racing carries them also, $109.00 if I remember correctly...

 

[challenger6pak]

Do you have any pics of what you did to the pump valve?

 

[ramenth]

max the caster , set the camber approx 1/2 negative so the top of the tire is tipped slightly inward & set the toe at 1/16 - 1/8 " , the max caster will put load on the steering & it will have better feel .
look at the steering box , if the shaft turn & climbs the box could be bad , you can remove some play by tightening the adjuster nut on the top of the box as well but make sure you do it with the tires pointed straight forward or it may not turn over center after adjusting it

In my opinion, besides what other advice you've been given on the steering box itself, Chryco hits on one of the major points of our older cars and where you've taken yours.

A tire shop for alignments. Unless you walk in with your own specs and tell them to set the car to those specs, most tire shops are going to check the alignment for factory specs and that means minimizing tire wear, not setting the car up for the best performance.

The tire shop even told you that they're best guess what the steering box. A best "guess" just isn't good enough. A good front end man will know, a lot of times just from a test drive, on what suspension or steering parts need a closer inspection. A bad balljoint feels one way, a bad tie rod end feels another. A steering box feels "different."

 

[challenger6pak]

Many shops around me will not set the car up to your specs because they are afraid if something goes wrong you will sue them. So they set the car up for bias ply tires on 14 inch rims.

 

[ramenth]

Many shops around me will not set the car up to your specs because they are afraid if something goes wrong you will sue them. So they set the car up for bias ply tires on 14 inch rims.

That sucks.

We have two dedicated alignment shops in the area. That's all they do, suspension and alignments. They both will set to spec. The one I won't go to. They still think that alignments are done with levels and squares and strings. As matter of fact, the second shop - which I went to - set my Hyundai to my specs before I went on my walkabout a few months ago. Car never drove better than when I told them to set it up to what I wanted.

 

[Chryco Psycho]

Excatly , factory specs are for bias ply tires , the factory specs will not make the car handle well or feel good while driving with modern radials on them .

 

[Geoff1200]

Do you have any pics of what you did to the pump valve?

Here's a link, worked well for me, I used .062 (2 shims)

http://www.streetrodderweb.com/tech/1209sr_power_steering_pump/viewall.html

 

[Randy Routt]

I have had a issue with my idler arm being loose in the bracket it fits in. Thought the arm was worn and ordered a new one. The new one seems to be loose now and I will tighten the Bolt and Nut to see if that does it. Possible crack in the bracket allowing flex?