[fordracerguy]

Ok another lame question! Woo. Okay. My 66 mustang has not too long ago had a ton of the front end stuff replaced. The ball joints, all rubber bushings, tie rod ends, shocks, springs, power steering units, etc etc. Whenever i'm cruising along, say at about 45 mph or above and I go over a little hill. When the car starts going back down this hill, and the front end settles a bit, the car will usually pull to the left or to the right. I try with all my might to hold the steering wheel straight, but it just turns on its own. Now like I just said, the wheels don't have play in regards to where the steering wheel is. I'm saying the car will drift left or right, and I have to hold the wheel still with all my might to make it not do that.I looked under there while someone was playing with the steering wheel. I didn't see anything that looked out of wack.. Does anyone have ANY ideas? Any input would be great...

Chris

 

[ccrider]

Have you had it aligned recently?
If not, you might try that.

 

[fordracerguy]

Well.. I think it's aligned fine. I didn't know alignment would cause this... Come to think of it I have hit a curb or two, but not too hard. I mean when i'm crusing down the road, the car goes straight, just fine -- even when I let go of the steering wheel.

One more thought. Someone had told me that on your steering wheel shaft, there is a knick on it that is meant to go straight up when your wheels are centered. This person told me that when you turn, your wheels actually have a bit of slop in them. Well I did see the knick they were talking about, but when my wheels are straight this knick in the steering wheel shaft is to the right ... If he is correct, I suppose this is where a bit of my slop could be coming from. ANyone know about this?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: 66stang on 2/22/02 1:07pm ]</font>

 

[dark7068]

Sounded like my Fairlane. Anything above 40mph, it would wander big time. I spent ALOT of money replacing everything, upper/lower control arms, all new bushings, shocks, springs, all new sterring stuff, even got the frame checked out. It would still wander. Then I lowered the upper arms 1 inch per Shelby specs, got it aligned to the spec sheet, and it handles awesome now. Try another alignment and get the guy to check the balljoints and all the boltz.

Rick

 

[mustangboy]

You say the car has power steering A worn control valve can cause the car to wander even though everything else is tight.Apparently these are hard to rebuild so unless you have put a brand new one on this might be the culprit.To make sure your steering shaft is centered just put the wheels straight ahead and then count the turns of the steering wheel from straight to lock to the left and right.It should be the same amount of turns either direction.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: frdnut on 2/22/02 2:10pm ]</font>

 

[Brian M]

Its a long shot, but maybe one of your brakes are dragging? I have had lots of brake problems in my torino, sticky calipers. It would make it want to pull hard to one side or the other, seemingly at random

 

[fordracerguy]

I think frdnut may have the answer here. The shaft that comes down from the steering box, that hooks to a lever and then to the control valve has slop in it. When someone moves the steering wheel left/right a bit, I can see the lever moving back and foreth before the tires start to move. Now its ever so slightly, but I think it may be part of the problem. I was going to ask about this too.

Chris

On 2002-02-22 02:03, frdnut wrote:
You say the car has power steering A worn control valve can cause the car to wander even though everything else is tight.Apparently these are hard to rebuild so unless you have put a brand new one on this might be the culprit.To make sure your steering shaft is centered just put the wheels straight ahead and then count the turns of the steering wheel from straight to lock to the left and right.It should be the same amount of turns either direction.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: frdnut on 2/22/02 2:10pm ]</font>

 

[Marauderjack]

Hey 66stang....

Have a front end shop check the tow-in or tow-out?? Most cars require a little of one or the other....If they are at zero the car will tend to wander as you describe.

frdnut may have hit it smack on the head, but the above check will be a lot cheaper and may be the culprit??

Good Luck,
Cobrajack

 

[TheRktmn]

Had a 69 Cougar that had the "wanders" at highway speeds - it was the ball stud going from the pitman arm to the P/S control valve.
Just installed a rebuild kit in my father's 66 'stang that included the ball stud and sockets along with all of the o-rings for P/S valve. Real easy to do and solves a multitude of "wierd" steering gremlins.

 

[Brian K.]

If you replace your tie rod ends you need to have it realined. Their are tools you can buy to do this with at home however, it would be easier and cheaper to have a shop do it for around 30$. The only hard part about it is finding a shop as most new shops dont have the proper equipment for older cars.