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Steering Sloppiness 700 1988

posted by zz7197 on Wed Sep 22 17:53 CST 2010
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last visit: Fri Oct 8 20:43 CST 2010

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Hi everyone...

I've been poking around the BB and it seems many people have had a similar problem in the past of sloppy steering. I have a 760GLE, not sure which rack type is in there or if it's ever been replaced by PO. Over the past few months it's been getting sloppy; sometimes it will wander at highway speed and there seems to be a decent amount of play in the steering wheel.

Recently I did the balljoints and sway bar endlinks, which seemed to tighten the ride up a bit but the sloppy steering still comes up a lot. Some days it's fine, other days it's really noticeable. There's no PS fluid leaking, tie rod ends were replaced last year and an alignment done... I'm not sure if the slop is the inner tie rods, the ubolts, or inner rack wear. As such, I don't want to replace the inner tie rods if the rack is toast internally.

If you could give me some direction that would be great!
Thanks!

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Steering Sloppiness 700 1988

posted by Ryan_R on Thu Sep 23 06:53 CST 2010
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last visit: Tue Sep 24 13:46 CST 2013

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Jiggle the tie-rods... feel for any play.

Check the steering column U-joints.

The 760's have a fancy rubber universal joint to isolate the steering wheel. Worth a look. If this does need replacing, you should be able to swap the steering shaft from a 740, which will allow you to use less expensive parts.

-Ryan

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Steering Sloppiness 700 1988

posted by zz7197 on Thu Sep 23 09:42 CST 2010
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last visit: Fri Oct 8 20:43 CST 2010

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Thanks for the suggestions guys..

I jacked up both sides today and checked the tires at 3 and 9 o'clock (steering wheel locked). My passenger tire felt very solid but I did notice that the driver side seemed to have an ever so slight bit of give to it, slightly more so than the passenger. I also noticed that occasionally when braking the wheel will turn to the right, and also sometimes on the highway it will drift to the right and almost "catch" itself and return to where I was pointing the wheel. Also any unevenness (like a hole) in the pavement will sometimes cause the wheel to turn.

I'll see if I can get a helper to check it out with me
Thanks

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Steering Sloppiness 700 1988

posted by jerryc on Thu Sep 23 08:28 CST 2010
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last visit: Wed Oct 8 21:28 CST 2014

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"Jiggle the tie-rods... feel for any play.
Check the steering column U-joints."

do this with two people, one to turn the wheel while the other holds the tie rod/s. Slop in the inner may become apparent, esp if it's only on one side. Or maybe three people, one on each side so that rack slop can be pinpointed.

Also, the conical bushings can lead to wander, if they're not lost... j/k

The lower ujoint seems to be far more an issue than the upper IME.

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