ALOT of play in my steering

[hungryjoseph]

i have ALOT of play in my steering, it's almost obnoxious. ball joints are fine, tension rods are fine, the rack seems fine in general. I just installed stance gr basics coilovers, and the pillowball mounts came with rubber bushings. could it be the rubber bushings? even the oem has solid pillowballs. not only does the pillow move in a rotating manner (its suposed to do that..) it also moves in a seesaw manner. i push down on one side, the other side raises, so its more like a joint than being rotational. could this be the cause of my play? the shop also extended (is that the right word?) my left tie rod out a little bit, could this be the culprit? would an alignment fix this? its all oem control arms and links. only thing aftermakret on my suspension are the coilovers and spl tension rods.

[gotta240]

my guess is rack... JMO

[slider2828]

Yes, alignment can make a big difference. I don't think coilovers should spin around like that and in the suspension there should be no movement at all. Check your bolts.

[Crono562]

After changing suspension your probably gonna need allignment. Bad allignment can easily cause play in the wheel if the toe is off.

[Secretsquirrel]

could be excess backlash in your steering gears.





SS

[gotta240]

You have 2 options.

1. Get allignment and hope the "play" is gone. If not, replace rack. Get allignment (end up paying for 2 allignments if rack is bad)

2. Get rack, get allignment.

Option one can save you money or cost you more... again, these are only opinions. You should double/tripple check all nuts/bolts/suspension components regardless.

[hungryjoseph]

thanks guys, i'm going to get an alignment so i can drive it around daily till i got enoug money for a steering rack, i paid 100$ a few months ago for a one year awrrenty on this alignment soooo i'mi pretty good on the money part

[swayray]

there are two points where the you have to check... these covers gets loose over time.... you'll have to use a monkey wrench to tighten those up...

then if you steering feels alittle loose... you can stiffen it up as indicated in the diagram... youre going to need a 10mm or is it 12mm....

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n3/swayray/misc/steering-power-rack.jpg

if that does not help... then youre going to need to have your rack and pinion rebuild...

[chmercer]

im guessing his toe is totally fucked up and hes thinking it is play in the steering because the car doesnt center out when driving.

[MrChow]

question.. when you guys say steering rack, do you mean the rack and pinion bushing??
If you do you know they cheap. There like 8 bucks w/o shipping.

Most 240sx rack and pinion bushing are f**k up already.

My 2 cents

[swayray]

im guessing his toe is totally fucked up and hes thinking it is play in the steering because the car doesnt center out when driving.

question.. when you guys say steering rack, do you mean the rack and pinion bushing??
If you do you know they cheap. There like 8 bucks w/o shipping.

Most 240sx rack and pinion bushing are f**k up already.

My 2 cents

could be those too... those bushing does get worn out... and your toe could be screwed up....

[Ca_laurier]

alright here is what you do....

put your front end one jack stands. make sure the steering isn't locked...

start by shaking side to side, one hand on each side of the steering wheels. If you feel play get someone to do the same for you and feel your bushings, inner and outer tie rods. basically if you feel any excessive play in any of them, they are busted. Everything should be stiff.

Than shake up and down. this is for your wheel bearing

do to both sides and come back and tell us whats wrong

also having your toe set in or out will give you shaking, but right now i am going with your tie rods. i have done numberous test drives and those things are a bitch

[Secretsquirrel]

alright here is what you do....

put your front end one jack stands. make sure the steering isn't locked...

start by shaking side to side, one hand on each side of the steering wheels. If you feel play get someone to do the same for you and feel your bushings, inner and outer tie rods. basically if you feel any excessive play in any of them, they are busted. Everything should be stiff.


Having it up on jackstands and having hte suspension "unloaded" can hide problems. This test, commenly reffered to as a Dry park test, should be performed wiht the vehicle on the ground, with vehicle wieght loading the components.

Like he said, have someone move the steering wheel rather fast from side to side about an 1/8th turn while u feel the steering components, i.e. inner tie rod to rack, and outter tie rod to knuckle...there should be no noticable movement in them



SS

[jayesone]

I also got question involving this too. When i turn my steering wheel, i got like this loud clunk noise. I fixed this sound once when the coilovers where loose,but got that fix. But the sound is back, also is outter tie rod suppose to be tight, or is it ok to have play on it. On post #9, talking about centering out, seems like my car is having trouble doing so. Any help would be great. Thanks

[O3DigitalBath]

tie rods should be tight....

go get an alignment..

[240on430]

how can i check if the ball joints are ok? they're covered up with a boot.