Steering slop issue (1 Viewer)

[OzSahara61]

Hey team

1988 HJ61, 12HT, 5 speed, 2" lift (toughdog? but no idea when the lift was done though), extended shackles, steering damper, brand new 315 75 16 tyres... and a reasonably large amount of slop in the steering. Starts getting a bit sketchy as you get closer to 100km/hr.

I was hoping by replacing the rims and tyres with a -44 offset and wider tyre would help but it hasn't. And now we are sitting a couple inches higher with the 35s, any benefit I got has probably been lost (was 265 76 16 on a different rim with near no offset). But it does look awesome now though haha

I did notice on the weekend that one of the bushes on a front leaf was cracked - so I can start with replacing those.

And the wheel bearings felt fine when we checked when it was on the hoist getting new rubber.

What process of elimination/replacement of parts do people recommend I go through to get the steering sorted.

Cheers all

 

[duncanrm]

Do a "wiggle test".. have someone sit in the drivers seat and rock the steering wheel back and forth, get under the car and follow out the entire path of the steering watching for play in components, tie rod ends, relay rod ends, uni joint in steering shaft, steering input to steering box and the output, make sure the steering box is still firmly bolted to the chassis rail.

A small torch helps focus attention on each component in turn and helps see the slop.

Small amounts of slop in various component can add up to a very unsatisfactory result.

 

[jmcclusk]

some of the steering tie rod ends have a big slotted screw meant to control the amount of slop on the ball connection. check to see if you're missing your cotter pins or if you can turn in that big slotted screw and tighten up the pressure on the socket. Don't overdo it, it still needs to move around, but snug is good and grease them.

 

[zeeklafreek]

From my limited experience, as mentioned, I'd check tie rods first. I first just grab the 2 front tires at 12 o'clock and pull and push to see if there's any play.
(In addition to slop, at speed, is there any 'straying' left or right?)