Sloppy Steering

I'm about pretty sure this is in the steering gear itself, not the front end, because i can shake the steering wheel back and forth a fair amount without the pitman arm moving (w/o the engine running), and the car drives straight. The steering seems to have much more play when turning right than when turning left, and requires a little more effort to turn left than right. The car is driveable, it's just real annoying. It's been this way ever since i installed my remanufactured OEM box (the old OEM box was extremely sloppy in both directions, and probably original, i tried to tighten it up but it got "lumpy" which i read somewhere is a telltale sign of a worn out box.) Anyone have any ideas? Oh it has PS by the way.

O yaaa... and what about manual steering? If it's more precise than power and not a PITA to steer i may just switch to a manual box. Anyone have manual steering and if so how do you like it? My car is my daily driver and i have pretty wide front tires, so i'm hesitant to go manual.

After I got the pitman and idler arm replaced everything went to normal in mine. I had alot of play in the steering.

I switched mine from power to manual years ago. I found a manual gear in the wrecking yard (when you could still walk around and pick parts:cool:) in a '73 Rally Nova and picked it up for pretty cheap.
I like the feel at speed much better than the power steering. It always felt too light. Parking is kind of a pain, but when I replaced my very old tires it got somewhat easier to steer (more sidewall flex?). My wife won't drive it anymore because she says it steers too hard :D I've wondered if maybe the manual steering models came with a larger diameter wheel for more leverage? The ratio is a little slower but I don't notice it anymore. It sure cleaned up the appearance in the engine bay:)

I can absolutley not stand manual steering. I'm sure the unit that's in the car needs a rebuild, but as far as prescision goes... i can't stand it. It's even worse at 100, there's so much slop it's actually challenging to drive the car.

Again, i'm sure the unit requires a rebuild / complete overhaul, but if it comes down to that...

Power steering here I come! Nothing like a quick ratio steering box.

After I got the pitman and idler arm replaced everything went to normal in mine. I had alot of play in the steering.

When you speak of "play" are you referring to the dead spot that you sometimes have in the steering?

I'm going thru this right now on my 87 Buick Regal T. If the wheel is atraight up you can turn it left or right a few inches and have no resistance, then you turn it a little more and it finally has some resistance.

So this is usually the idler arm and/or pitman arm?

When you speak of "play" are you referring to the dead spot that you sometimes have in the steering?

I'm going thru this right now on my 87 Buick Regal T. If the wheel is atraight up you can turn it left or right a few inches and have no resistance, then you turn it a little more and it finally has some resistance.

So this is usually the idler arm and/or pitman arm?

Yes thats very similar what mine did but I hated it when I tried to turn and then have to turn it back. I would drive it that long though, something may fall off.
Both of mine needed replaced I know that, had a shop look at it, then let them fix it.

When you speak of "play" are you referring to the dead spot that you sometimes have in the steering?

I'm going thru this right now on my 87 Buick Regal T. If the wheel is atraight up you can turn it left or right a few inches and have no resistance, then you turn it a little more and it finally has some resistance.

So this is usually the idler arm and/or pitman arm?
Yes exactly! Only the play i have is sort of biased to the right, as in there is a little more play turning to the right than the left; it also seems less precise/less effort to turn to the right.

It's easy enough to check your idler arm and pitman arm. Just put the front of your car on jackstands and move the steering linkage. It should only move left and right, not up and down at all. The idler arm is easy to replace, the pitman arm is harder since it's attached to the steering gear.
I had a Ford van whose steering wheel had nearly 45 degrees of slop when you were trying to drive straight ahead. I drove a Dodge van that was worse, maybe 100 degrees of play. The Ford had new front end parts, everything but the steering gear. These were both high mileage vehicles with worn steering gear boxes. They kind of wandered a bit on a straight road.:(

Yes thats very similar what mine did but I hated it when I tried to turn and then have to turn it back. I would drive it that long though, something may fall off.
Both of mine needed replaced I know that, had a shop look at it, then let them fix it.

I don't think anything is going to fall off, I've tried wiggling various parts of the steering linkage around from underneath the car and nothing seems to be loose. Also, when i changed to the marginally better rebuilt steering box i have now, I found that the pitman arm was rather stiff where it attaches to the steering linkage, so i don't think thats whats causing the slop. (This IS where pitman arms normally wear, right?::confused:) Then again, the symptoms you describe sound familiar. Is there a specific way to look for a worn pitman arm? Most of my front end bushings look to be in fair to good condition; the guy at the alignment shop thought so too. He also told me my alignment was fine so that shouldn't be contributing to my problem.

It's easy enough to check your idler arm and pitman arm. Just put the front of your car on jackstands and move the steering linkage. It should only move left and right, not up and down at all. The idler arm is easy to replace, the pitman arm is harder since it's attached to the steering gear.
I had a Ford van whose steering wheel had nearly 45 degrees of slop when you were trying to drive straight ahead. I drove a Dodge van that was worse, maybe 100 degrees of play. The Ford had new front end parts, everything but the steering gear. These were both high mileage vehicles with worn steering gear boxes. They kind of wandered a bit on a straight road.:(

Hehe:D ya beat me to my question. I've taken the pitman arm off before to change the steering gear so it shouldn't be a big deal. The idler arm is the part of the linkage attached to the pitman arm, right? I don't have anywhere near 45 degrees of slop luckily...well...then again...maybe i have like 30...

Your idler arm is the one on the passenger side. It just locates the linkage and follows along. The pitman arm connects the steering gear to the steering linkage.