Sloppy Steering

motrhed87

Active Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2006
OK guys I've combed through a bunch of threads and really haven't seen any answers to my problem.

86 GN with all new poly-graphite front end components from PST, "new" rebuilt Cardone steering gear and replaced rag joint with a Jeep shaft. Front tires are also fairly new 245 BFGs. I've made sure the shaft is extremely tight. I've also adjusted the lash in the steering gear as outlined in multiple threads. I still have a fair amount of slop in the the wheel, mostly going to the right, for whatever reason much less going to the left. Getting ready to hand the car off to a very knowledgeable TR mechanic here in NJ but I'd like to give him a little direction if others have had similar experiences. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
Have him check the obvious idler pitman arm tie rods. Also check ball joints for play and or binding. Also possible the cardone box is junk. I've never had very good luck with them.


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Have him check the obvious idler pitman arm tie rods. Also check ball joints for play and or binding. Also possible the cardone box is junk. I've never had very good luck with them.


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I would agree and it would help if someone looked under the car when moving the wheel back and forth to see if there is any lost motion occurring in any particular location. And when its on the ground with resistance on the tires.
AG.
 
Also now that I think if it, was this problem occurring before you tried adjusting the lash in the box? Maybe try bringing it back to the original position as a reference. I will reiterate that the box maybe junk even if you just installed it. I ran into this same issue with my gmc truck got 2 reman boxes that were worse than the one I was replacing. Pulled the first replacement out and returned it only to get one that had even worse slop and was binding right out the box. Tried to adjust it to no avail. I ended up just pulling a box out of a truck at work that was going to auction that only had 30k on it and got my money back for the reman.
Long story short , reman boxes are hit or miss and seems there are a lot more misses than hits unless you get one through a specific performance shop that specializes in steering gears. Just keep that in mind also. Hope this helps . Joel


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Also now that I think if it, was this problem occurring before you tried adjusting the lash in the box? Maybe try bringing it back to the original position as a reference. I will reiterate that the box maybe junk even if you just installed it. I ran into this same issue with my gmc truck got 2 reman boxes that were worse than the one I was replacing. Pulled the first replacement out and returned it only to get one that had even worse slop and was binding right out the box. Tried to adjust it to no avail. I ended up just pulling a box out of a truck at work that was going to auction that only had 30k on it and got my money back for the reman.
Long story short , reman boxes are hit or miss and seems there are a lot more misses than hits unless you get one through a specific performance shop that specializes in steering gears. Just keep that in mind also. Hope this helps . Joel


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It got better when I adjusted the lash. That might be the next step to just get a new performance gearbox.
 
I too would suspect the cardone gear box. I would put a known good used one from a GN, Monte SS or iroc before a "rebuilt" box. I currently have the same problem. At highway speeds coming out of a long turn, you over steer because the damn box is worn.
 
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