The Heartbreak of Steering Slop

[PotvinGuy]

Driving home the other night on the freeway at 50 mph the bucket would wander left, then I turned the steering wheel to the right, and the bucket would swerve right, and I would turn left and the bucket swerved left, etc. I was trying to go straight but having Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Not fun. At home I could turn the steering wheel 2” either way without any response at the road wheels. What’s up? I traced some of the slop to the manual rack and pinion. Its 30 years old and I thought maybe it was time for a new one. But I found this article on how to adjust the R&P. Seems there is a setscrew that adjusts the clearance between the rack and the pinion. Too much clearance and one gets the slop. I tightened the screw and the slop was gone. I still had a little slop which was in the double U-joint between the steering column and the steering shaft. Just tightened the 2 setscrews on either end of the joint and all slop was gone. Now steering is very responsive. Set the front toe and we are good for the road.

 

[choppedtop]

What rack brand is that?

 

[old round fart]

When I first started reading I had the worst feeling I was going to read about you wadding up the bucket! Great to hear all is well and gives us a great heads up to make ours safer!

 

[409T]

Do you still get a little bit of lateral movement in that double U-joint or no?

 

[PotvinGuy]

It's a Honda Civic, around 1990. To prevent lateral movement of the double U-joint it's important to have supports at each end of the U-joint:

 

[choppedtop]

Thanks for the reply on your rack brand. One of my cars has Mustang 2. I never noticed that it has an adjustment or not. I think that I may have a spare that I can checkout.

 

[PotvinGuy]

The setscrew adjustment is real touchy. Too tight and the steering will be hard and it won't come back to center after a turn. Too loose and you get the slop. The article says to make it just finger tight. Mine wouldn't turn by finger, so I just did a series of wrench turns, maybe 1/8 turns, followed by road tests, until I had the best balance.