Thread: Steering
View Single Post
Old 08-28-2010, 03:55 PM   #10
Dick Deegan
Senior Member
 
Dick Deegan's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 527
Default Re: Steering

As indicated by just about everyone there are lots of things that affect steering. Gary WA made a point of checking the radius ball on the wishbone which is extremelt important for steering stability. Mine was very worn and I finally and reluctantly resorted to the rubber ball setup which virtually eliminated a very slight shimmy at 50 mph. Previously I tried the original setup with shim washers, but couldn't get rid of the slight shimmy.

IMO you should have about 1/2" to 1" of steering play and no more.

While i was troubleshooting my slight shimmy I measured the axial and radial runout on both the rims and the tires mounted on the rims using a dial indicator. All were less than 1/8" which I believe is the upper limit. However, one tire/rim combo was very close to 1/8" runout and, just for the hell of it, I put it on the front to see if it would make any difference. No appreciable difference. The long and short of it is that if your runouts are less than 1/8" the problem is probably somewhere else.

Also, don't resort to the hydraulic cylinder stabilizer that goes from the tie rod to the axle. It will bend your tie rod over time and ruin your toe in. That happened to me. It also makes the car much harder to steer.

Good luck

Dick
Dick Deegan is offline   Reply With Quote