Sloppy Steering

[Smitty52]

Hey i have a 69 chevy stepside and ive only owned her for about three months now. Its my first project and ive finally worked out all her kinks to get her running as my daily driver. ive noticed my steering is pretty sloppy especially on the freeway does anybody have any advice as to tighten it up. preciate your time.

[72lb4x4]

Get someone to move the wheel back and forth while you look at the rag joint, and under the truck at the front end parts. You're not moving the tires, just using the slop in the steering.

If the front end is tight but it wanders on the road, maybe there's an alignment problem.

[71meangreenc10]

Power or manual steering?

Smitty

[Wrenchbender Ret]

You need to get under it & pull & tug on everything under there & replace anything that has looseness in it. Like Meangreen asks, it makes a difference if its manual or power steering. The manual steering gearboxes can get a lot of play in them. It would be a good time to switch to power. I have a 70 just like it & it handles like a sports car. It drives better then my wifes new Buick or my HHR.

[srvivor71]

I lost a lot of slop in my steering when I put new tires on. Still not perfect, but better...

[JORGIE95961]

Originally Posted by wrenchbender ret

you need to get under it & pull & tug on everything under there & replace anything that has looseness in it. Like meangreen asks, it makes a difference if its manual or power steering. The manual steering gearboxes can get a lot of play in them. It would be a good time to switch to power. I have a 70 just like it & it handles like a sports car. It drives better then my wifes new buick or my hhr.

x1000

[bosco200]

Make sure you wheels are aligned....also turn them in just a tad...that helped with my sloppiness a whole lot.

[Lee H]

I'm sure you will find it's a little play in all components adding up to your sloppiness. The only way to really get it right is to take it to a front end shop and have them look at it and give you a list of bad parts. My 72 needed a steering box, ball joints, tie rod ends, idler arm, and pitman arm. Now it's tight and goes down the highway straight and true. even the slightest wear in each part adds up.
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[Smitty52]

It's power and on the steering shaft to check for sloppyiness hold the bottom half and play with the wheel correct? Is any free play acceptable?It sat for four years before i got it so i wouldnt doubt any of those parts being worn. Thanks for the help.

[GASoline71]

It's a 40 year old truck... So i'm sure a lot of the parts, if original, are worn and need replaced. Get someone to turn the wheel back and forth while you are under it looking at the draglink, tie rods and pitman/idler arms... trust me... you'll see the slop. It will be totally obvious.

Gary

[AirSpeed]

Do as everyone suggested so far, I had the same problem when I bought my last truck, I couldn't see anything moving when someone turned the wheel while I watched, it all looked tight, I went ahead and took a wrench to all the tie rod ends and snugged them up, the nut on each one turned a half to a full turn. I replaced all the cotter pins, took it for a drive and what a difference! All those loose joints added up to a LOT of play! It only takes a couple minutes to make most of the play go away. Make sure you replace all the cotter pins! It sucks when you lose a nut on your steering!
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[ubtripn]

My father always talk me to jack it up and tug on things, (stands of course) and look around for losseness, play. etc..but he also said - always start with your idler arm - most bang for the buck and seems to wear out faster. I have had trucks that were almost undrivable where this one change alone got rid of 8 inches of play down to one.

[68handmedown]

My problem was the steering box output shaft moved side to side and in and out. Also tie rods had play that all equated to the death wobble. Just jack it uo and have someone turn the wheek back and forth it will be easy to detect then problem.