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Rineheitzgabot
06-26-2008, 07:41 AM
Does anyone know what the most likely culprit would be, in making my steering wander while driving?

When rolling down the road at 15 MPH or more, any turn in the steering will seem like over-correction. In other words, if I am driving down a straight road, and the car starts to veer left a little, a person's natural reaction is to correct it slightly to the right (which is what we do when we drive any car). A couple of things happen. 1) It seems like it takes more turning of the wheels than necessary to correct it, and 2) by the time it seems corrected, I start to realize that it has been over-corrected. At speeds of 15 to 35 MPH, it is never satisfied, and quite tiring. Higher than that, it is easier to drive.

Any suggestions?

siiirhd88
06-26-2008, 10:25 AM
Check the tightness of the pinch bolts on the top and bottom steering arms on the steering relay. When ours start to wander, I usually find these slightly loose. They need to be very tight.

Bob

ini88
06-26-2008, 12:27 PM
Check all your steering ball joints and also your radius arm bushings.

Also, this sounds really dumb but check your tire pressure. I had the same problem one week and I finally checked my tire pressure and noticed one was down to around 20lbs. Its hard to tell sometimes with the big tires we all have, because 20lbs can sometimes look like 35-40lbs of pressure.

cboy
06-26-2008, 02:54 PM
psst..Dan, it's a series, no radius arms

Do check the tie rod ends (all 6 of them) and steering relay for play.

ini88
06-26-2008, 02:59 PM
psst..Dan, it's a series, no radius arms


well there's your problem right there, no radius arms! :)

Rineheitzgabot
06-26-2008, 03:36 PM
Damn, I knew there was something wrong!;)

sven
06-26-2008, 04:03 PM
The easiest way to diagnose is to have someone turn the wheel side to side while you look from below. Look at all the ball joints and the steering box and the steering relay arms. Any play, even the smallest will cause wandering.

Rineheitzgabot
06-27-2008, 07:09 AM
Gentlemen, Thanks for your pointers. I will be employing them tomorrow.

-Gary

Tom109
06-27-2008, 08:46 AM
If you check all the above and everything passes, check your toe adjustment. When I got my 109 it had slight wander caused by 1-inch of toe-out!

Tom P.

lrgrant
06-28-2008, 11:13 PM
I had a wheel fall off after experiencing undiagnosed "wandering". The metal corrode and fatigues around the wheel nuts and finally let go - and to loose a front wheel is very interesting!!