Steering Power Balance:

On my 1981 it was much harder to steer to the right than the left. I found the right inner tie rod bent, probably from hitting curbs really hard. I replaced the inner tie rod and both tie rod ends, and got it aligned. Still pulled to the left and was harder to steer to the right. Tire shop said I needed a rack to fix it. When starting the car, I could see the steering wheel jump to the left a bit. With the front wheels off the ground, it jumped about an inch.

On my Cam Gear rack there is an adjustment for power steering balance. It’s under the little oval shaped cover on the front of the rack. It’s right where the steering shaft would be if it were longer and protruded out the front of the rack. It’s right in line with the main steering shaft that runs from the steering wheel down. The cover is about two inches across, and two 13mm or 14 mm bolts hold it on. Take the cover off and you’ll expose the lower bearing that the steering shaft rides in. Take the nut and washer off the end of the shaft. You adjust the balance by turning the inner race of the bearing, counterclockwise if your car steers harder to the right, clockwise if your car steers harder to the left. The lock washer has to be flattened and different tabs used to lock both the inner race and the nut.

This is a simple adjustment to do. I adjusted mine one notch counterclockwise one night and tested it. That cured about one half the problem so I adjusted it another notch counterclockwise the next night. Easy as pie. One of the most simple repairs I’ve done on the car. The bearing in question is lubed by heavy gear oil, not power steering fluid, so there was no flood when I opened up the cover. Be careful and you can use the same gaskets.

All this applies to my 81 Cam Gear. I’ve never done it on another car. I don't know if it applies to an 86. Good luck.
--
Thanks to everyone for the help, Doug C. 81 242 Brick Off Blocks, stock, M46; 86 240, 131k

In general the rack and pinion takes alot of abuse hitting curbs. There are valves inside that determin how easy R/L stearing would be, when worn out the valves dont open up fully, and it is hard to stear, usualy only in one direction. This will stay this way over a period of time, untill it fails altogether. (The rack could be worn). Down here in fl i had so many cars with collapsed brake lines and never had trouble with stearing, pulling yes stearing no. the resine the car pulls is most likely the slow transit time of the rack do to worn out valves in rack. Or binding from the tie rods, since the struts are new and a new balljoint, this would change the angels of attack that the rack and tie rods are used to, and now its to much pressher for worn valves to cope with. Or the groves on the balls, that are inside the tie rods, could be binding do to wear. How old are the tie rods. The orientation of the ball and socket fit would change from new struts this would also be angle of attack. Althow this is only a guss good luck *VOLVO ON*

Could be a tire or wheel bearing problem. Could even be an inept
alignment job. Could also be a dragging brake. How old are your
brake hoses? Sometimes they swell internally and act like a check
valve so the affected brake never fully releases. The pressure of
braking is high enough that on brake application it will seem normal
but just won't let completely loose. If one disk stays a lot hotter
than the others that would be the one. Careful not to burn yourself-
I've seen them hot enough to turn light blue, around 700° F.
--
George Downs, The "original" Walrus3, Bartlesville, Oklahoma