[Darwood]

Steering is a pet peeve of mine. Any kind of slop in the steering angers me to the point of wanting to get a new vehicle. Having said that I'm trying to get a feel for how much steering slop a new 80 series has. Right now I'm getting about a inch of slop which is within specs, but makes wandering more pronounced since the wheels have about that inch of travel to do whatever the hell they want without my input.

Recently I drove a friends 80 and noticed that he had no slop at all in his steering. I didn't know that was possible. So I'm making this a poll to see how much slop everyone has.

I know most slop is in the tie rods, and or knuckles but there can also be slop in the steering box. In my case it's in the box (though I need to double check this since I haven't checked the linkages for slop in a while).

[nspctr1]

Drive a 40 and you will appreciate the little bit of slop you have.......

[lobo loco]

Originally Posted by nspctr1

Drive a 40 and you will appreciate the little bit of slop you have.......

X2...Hard to get used to the free-play of a 40 when you have other trucks with rack and pinion!!!

[Darwood]

So far it looks like a lot of loose steering out there.

[Jason Andrews]

Replacing my TRE's, all four made my steering much tighter. IIRC $100 for 4 from Slee. I also upgraded rods. IMHO If you havent put in new ends it is a cheap and easy DIY task to fix your pet peeve.

Cheers

[tomatopants]

I have about an inch each direction, doesn't bother me a whole lot, but my friend has a '79 RamCharger, and that thing has about a quarter of a turn before it reacts.


One time I was pissed off and this guy in a Porshe Cayenne was driving way to slow and I was at a stop sign so I went, and the street was narrow as hell, so I figured I was going to either hit a Porshe, or hit the other cars parked along the street.



Luckily, I was able to not hit anything. God knows how.

[Darwood]

Bumping to see if we can get more votes.

[knorrena]

Yeah it ticks me off too. I suspect that it might have something to do with the rag joint, but thats just a guess.

Karl

[cruiserdan]

Define "slop" and tell me how you measure it and under what conditions.

[beno]

Originally Posted by cruiserdan

Define "slop" and tell me how you measure it and under what conditions.

x2.

I have some PS issues right now (leaking vane pump/leaking high pressure line) and some play in one of my TRE's. That said, even with these issues, I can still wheel pretty much with one hand on the wheel....

-o-

[cruiserdan]

Originally Posted by beno

x2.

I have some PS issues right now (leaking vane pump/leaking high pressure line) and some play in one of my TRE's.

-o-

Good thing you are in the "industry" then............

[cool breeze]

When i bought my 80 i had about 2 or 3 inches of steering wheel play. After replacing tre's there wasnt much improvement. The mechanics said my tre's were fine but had them change them out anyway. they said it looked like some bushing in the steering area(need to look up which) that olnly cost like $20 and now Im down to almost nill.

Now i can drive 70 and not worry about slamming the wall or little shitbox next to me.

[Darwood]

Originally Posted by cruiserdan

Define "slop" and tell me how you measure it and under what conditions.

I've been using a few ways to determine "slop":

I can turn the wheel about an inch before I feel resistance while not moving.

While driving I can turn the wheel about an inch before the input seems to affect the direction. There is also the same inch of turn of the wheel required before I feel resistance in the wheel. It actually makes it hard to determine if the wheel is centered or not. The center seems to move around based on the lean of the road.

[beno]

Originally Posted by cruiserdan

Good thing you are in the "industry" then............

[beno]

Originally Posted by Darwood

I've been using a few ways to determine "slop":

I can turn the wheel about an inch before I feel resistance while not moving.

While driving I can turn the wheel about an inch before the input seems to affect the direction. There is also the same inch of turn of the wheel required before I feel resistance in the wheel. It actually makes it hard to determine if the wheel is centered or not. The center seems to move around based on the lean of the road.

Ok. This makes sense a bit.

But my steering wheel gets more and more off center the more I wheel.....



I've lost track of how to find center anymore. I know I am centered when I am going straight....

I hope to change this soon.

-o-

[Darwood]

Originally Posted by mrmex

When i bought my 80 i had about 2 or 3 inches of steering wheel play. After replacing tre's there wasnt much improvement. The mechanics said my tre's were fine but had them change them out anyway. they said it looked like some bushing in the steering area(need to look up which) that olnly cost like $20 and now Im down to almost nill.

Now i can drive 70 and not worry about slamming the wall or little shitbox next to me.

That has become my new fear of late. Driving next to the construction walls on the highway are starting to scare me at around 70 what with the unevenness of the road. I've taken to staying away from the left lane in those conditions.

[beno]

Originally Posted by Darwood

That has become my new fear of late. Driving next to the construction walls on the highway are starting to scare me at around 70 what with the unevenness of the road. I've taken to staying away from the left lane in those conditions.

Have you thought about a replacement steering stabilizer?

How is your caster correction? As you know, this screws everything up at highway speeds....

-o-

[cruiserdan]

Originally Posted by Darwood

I've been using a few ways to determine "slop":

I can turn the wheel about an inch before I feel resistance while not moving.

Engine off?

[Darwood]

Originally Posted by beno

Have you thought about a replacement steering stabilizer?

How is your caster correction? As you know, this screws everything up at highway speeds....

-o-

The stabilizer is about a a year or two old. It should still be good... I would hope. It's an OME since those are cheaper than OEM.

I really do need to get my caster checked out, but I'm running the new Slee arms which should be good. Also the wheel re-centers well up to the slop point.

My current theory is that the tires catch a groove or a tilt to the road and goes that way. When this happens the wheels turn the knuckle which turns the draglink which pulls the pitman arm. The pitman arm then moves the sector shaft which rotates till it cinches up the slop in the direction that the arm moved. This could explain the center moving around since in essence it would be. I know I didn't explain this well but I'm having a hard time putting it to works.

[Darwood]

Originally Posted by cruiserdan

Engine off?

I just went outside to double check.

On or off it feels the same... the only difference is I can actually turn the wheel one it reaches the tension point with the engine on. About an inch of movement.

[beno]

Originally Posted by Darwood

The stabilizer is about a a year or two old. It should still be good... I would hope. It's an OME since those are cheaper than OEM.

I really do need to get my caster checked out, but I'm running the new Slee arms which should be good. Also the wheel re-centers well up to the slop point.

My current theory is that the tires catch a groove or a tilt to the road and goes that way. When this happens the wheels turn the knuckle which turns the draglink which pulls the pitman arm. The pitman arm then moves the sector shaft which rotates till it cinches up the slop in the direction that the arm moved. This could explain the center moving around since in essence it would be. I know I didn't explain this well but I'm having a hard time putting it to works.

Hmmm...well, as long as the nuts on the stabilizer are good and torqued down well, this is probably not the culprit.

The new Slee arms are made for the 6" lift, so caster is probably in range, though running big tires with an aggressive pattern will most definitly "grab" grooves and the like in the road and follow them...at least my 34.9" Dunlops do...

How are your TRE's by the way? Are they torqued down tight? Any issues with the PS system?

[Darwood]

Originally Posted by beno

Hmmm...well, as long as the nuts on the stabilizer are good and torqued down well, this is probably not the culprit.

The new Slee arms are made for the 6" lift, so caster is probably in range, though running big tires with an aggressive pattern will most definitly "grab" grooves and the like in the road and follow them...at least my 34.9" Dunlops do...

How are your TRE's by the way? Are they torqued down tight? Any issues with the PS system?

The new 315/75R16s also like to grab the groves a bit more than my old tires which is expected when going to a wider tire.

I'm planning on checking the TRE's when my wife gets back from her trip. They have about 50k miles on them.

The PS is OK. Sometimes at stopped to low speed turning like in a parking lot the power assist goes away. It's intermittent which is weird. Pretty much it's when I go full lock both ways while stopped. I haven't tried to diagnose that further.

[rockclmbr]

D,

My steering has approx. 15 deg of slop (I prefer to use degrees versus inches since the wheel is circular).

It is much looser than the 100series and i feel the same when cruising down 880 in the left lane next to the wall

I still need to replace my TREs to see if this will help, although after this coming weekend on the Rubicon I will probably have bigger issues to deal with!

I think this is the nature of a wheeled 80. I kind of like the slop so that I can't get into too much trouble during a knee-jerk reaction. The Honda Civic is too tight and I feel that I would flip the 80 when performing high speed maneuvers like this...

[Darwood]

Originally Posted by rockclmbr

D,

My steering has approx. 15 deg of slop (I prefer to use degrees versus inches since the wheel is circular).

It is much looser than the 100series and i feel the same when cruising down 880 in the left lane next to the wall

I still need to replace my TREs to see if this will help, although after this coming weekend on the Rubicon I will probably have bigger issues to deal with!

I think this is the nature of a wheeled 80. I kind of like the slop so that I can't get into too much trouble during a knee-jerk reaction. The Honda Civic is too tight and I feel that I would flip the 80 when performing high speed maneuvers like this...

Yeah I should have used degrees. I'm just not that bright however the FSM even uses inches.

I need to double check, but Devin's LX had very tight steering. I kinda wish I hadn't driven his truck. I think I'm going to play with the adjustment on my steering box this weekend.

So you're finally doing the Rubicon in the blue rig... nice!

[-Spike-]

Originally Posted by Darwood

I think I'm going to play with the adjustment on my steering box this weekend.

Be careful doing this. The steering box parts will wear at the point where they are most often in contact- with the wheels pointing straight ahead. If you adjust for this wear at that point, the parts may be way too tight throughout the rest of the movement. With power steering you won't even feel the binding, but you may be damaging your steering box, wearing it much faster.

-Spike

[Darwood]

Originally Posted by -Spike-

Be careful doing this. The steering box parts will wear at the point where they are most often in contact- with the wheels pointing straight ahead. If you adjust for this wear at that point, the parts may be way too tight throughout the rest of the movement. With power steering you won't even feel the binding, but you may be damaging your steering box, wearing it much faster.

-Spike

Yeah this is a concern of mine. I'm actually using a remanned steering box that I put on about 15k miles ago. My old box had stranger tendencies. I'm getting to the point that I'm seriously thinking about buying one of CDan's gold steering boxes with the new and improved sector shaft.

[knorrena]

I have nearly the same issues as Darwood: engine off, at a standstill, the steering wheel moves back and forth about an inch. I dont buy into the steering stabilizer being part of the problem - under the stated conditions the steering stabilizer would have no effect on steering wheel play. I have also considered adjusting the steering box, but have not read up on how. I did adjust the box on a heep I once owned, and it did a world of good.

Karl

[-Spike-]

Mine both move about an inch (one at 100K and one at 180K), and I adjusted a friend's to move about the same from more 2 inches. His had been taken apart by someone who then left the adjustment bolt completely loose. With my wife's street tires, one inch of play (at the wheel, before feeling any resistance, engine off) feels perfect when driving, but with oversized tires on the other two trucks the same inch is noticeable while driving. Not dangerous, just apparent.

From what I understand the only way to do the adjustment correctly is to disconnect the box from both the wheel and the tie rod, similar to setting pre-load on wheel or knuckle bearings.

You may replace the box and find that ia brand new one performs exactly the same way. Before you do, maybe you could pull the reman'ed box you have and check it for play or wear per factory specs. You may find that an inch is as good as it gets.

-Spike

[CappyKD]

Do the LC's use a rag joint? On my Dodge ramcharger I had almost 3 inces of movement and I bought a $20 rag joint repair kit and the problem was solved. (I see someone mentiond a Ramcharger earlier apparently it is a common thing with them)

[-Spike-]

IIRC it's a u-joint. I could go outside and look, but then again so could you.

-Spike