One day while driving, the steering on my 88 suddenly got very difficult to turn the steering wheel. I thought it was a rack bearing failure due to the sudden increase in effort required. However after tearing the entire rack apart, the upper and lower bearings were both intact and working fine. I cleaned everything up (it wasn't rusted and water didn't appear to have gotten in). I replaced both bearings, the rubber upper seal, inner tie rods and outer tie rods, and replaced the plastic bushing with a NOS plastic bushing. I greased only the teeth gear contact surface for the pinion. I did NOT grease the rest of the rack's surface.
The rack turned easily when reassembled before mounting on the car. Upon installing the rack back in the car, the hard steering problem is still there. It is super hard to turn and doesn't straighten when coming out of a turn without some effort. I have driven about 1000 miles since the rebuild and there has been no change in effort (I thought it might loosen up after a few miles).
Stock wheels and tire sizes, poly suspension, new lower ball joints. 108K Miles.
I will recheck the alignment this weekend (although I set it after installing the poly and lower ball joints a year ago - steering effort was great before and after that front end rebuild). I did align the toe after the rack was rebuilt but did not check caster/camber.
The only thing I am wondering about the rebuild.....Is the rack supposed to be greased around the plastic passenger side bushing area? Could that be causing the difficult steering?
Is there anything else I should look at?
[This message has been edited by reinhart (edited 01-18-2020).]
The rack turned easily when reassembled before mounting on the car. Upon installing the rack back in the car, the hard steering problem is still there. It is super hard to turn and doesn't straighten when coming out of a turn without some effort.
How much effort is required to turn from side to side when both front tires are off the ground?
[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 01-18-2020).]
How much effort is required to turn from side to side when both front tires are off the ground?
Okay just checked....Super easy to turn in the air. One finger on the steering wheel from outside the car.
I also checked the alignment. It's beautiful. No changes in the caster or camber (front and rear) from when I set it last year (I already had checked the toe).
[This message has been edited by reinhart (edited 01-19-2020).]
When exactly is it hard to steer? In motion? Stationary?
Harder than it should be at all times. It gets easier with speed but is still harder than it should be and doesn't straighten coming out of a turn without me putting effort into the wheel.
I pulled back the bellow and lubed up the rack bushing. It is probably 15% better after that but still magnitudes harder than it was a month ago and much significantly harder than my other 88's.
I also changed the front brake pads today. I knew that isn't related to my problem but they needed it.
btw Lower ball joints were replaced when I rebuilt the front suspension w poly about a year ago.
Perhaps it's a ball joint or two that's worn/binding when loaded. This is outside of my expertise. We need a suspension expert to chime in.
Lowers were replaced 6700 miles ago. Doesn't mean one couldn't have failed. Uppers are original. Any ideas how to test under load? In the past when I had a ball joint fail it was making a clunking noise over bumps. Not getting any weird noises. If it is suspension related, is there a good way to isolate drivers vs passengers side of the car?
Another thought: Don't the spindles rotate on the ball joint shafts (The ball joint doesn't rotate in the socket. The shaft of the ball joint is stationary while the spindle rotates on it, right?)? If so, even a failed ball joint failure wouldn't affect the spindle's rotation.
[This message has been edited by reinhart (edited 01-19-2020).]
It's pretty obvious that its a ball joint. Support the lower control arms and get a long bar out and start prying between the control arms and the spindle. It will be obvious.
Don't the spindles rotate on the ball joint shafts (The ball joint doesn't rotate in the socket. The shaft of the ball joint is stationary while the spindle rotates on it, right?)?
A thousand times no. You may wish to re-think that.
Wanted to post a follow up for anyone that comes along later with a similar problem. It was indeed a ball joint causing the issue even though they were almost brand new. It has started to loosen up so I'm going to go with it for a bit before I take the time to replace it. Thanks for the help and suggestions.
