I've been chasing a loose steering/drift and have replaced everything I can get at and there is still a measurable looseness in the steering. Right now the car will pull to the right under acceleration and then pull back towards left when letting off the throttle. I have done some research and am replacing the RTABs with AKG poly since the Garagistic ones I installed a few years back are 80A and might be worn out by now after a few cross country road trips with a loaded down car (ski gear is heavy). I am hoping that it's not a bent trailing arm and that it can be adjusted out with the upgraded subframe I am planning to install this weekend.
With the steering wheel locked there is movement when shaking at 3/9 o'clock. Movement appear to be coming from inner-tie rods but you can see the rack and steering column rotate. None of the u-joints in the steering column are loose, however the lower one has a tiny bit of play if you really try to rotate it. This play was what I was trying to eliminate when replacing the rack last year. It was the same amount of play with the old rack after swapping it out.
I took it to an alignment shop (Tire Warehouse) and they think its the tie-rods which are only about 1 year old. They also believe that it could be from the sway bar bushings or sway bar end-links causing it to bind.
- new e36 rack doctor rack with new e36 tie-rods (inner came with rack, installed last fall)
- checked poly FCAB bushings (look good, getting replaced with treehouse soon)
- checked the control arm ball joints (no play)
- checked steering column for play (could be lower u-joint?)
- checked steering wheel and retightened nut (helped?)
- steering guibo is AKG poly (5 yrs old)
- new swaybar endlinks (OEM)
- PS delete kit
Are the steering knuckle/u-joints interchangeable between airbag/non-airbag cars? What else have I missed?
I think mine is a bit loose and I am not sure if the airbag version is the same part as what I have. I have changed every other part on the steering system and I have a sneaking suspicion its either the u-joint (even though there is no real play and the u joint feels tight) or its the lock-pin under the steering wheel being loose?
With the steering wheel locked there is movement when shaking at 3/9 o'clock. Movement appear to be coming from inner-tie rods but you can see the rack and steering column rotate. None of the u-joints in the steering column are loose, however the lower one has a tiny bit of play if you really try to rotate it. This play was what I was trying to eliminate when replacing the rack last year. It was the same amount of play with the old rack after swapping it out.
I took it to an alignment shop (Tire Warehouse) and they think its the tie-rods which are only about 1 year old. They also believe that it could be from the sway bar bushings or sway bar end-links causing it to bind.
- new e36 rack doctor rack with new e36 tie-rods (inner came with rack, installed last fall)
- checked poly FCAB bushings (look good, getting replaced with treehouse soon)
- checked the control arm ball joints (no play)
- checked steering column for play (could be lower u-joint?)
- checked steering wheel and retightened nut (helped?)
- steering guibo is AKG poly (5 yrs old)
- new swaybar endlinks (OEM)
- PS delete kit
Are the steering knuckle/u-joints interchangeable between airbag/non-airbag cars? What else have I missed?
I think mine is a bit loose and I am not sure if the airbag version is the same part as what I have. I have changed every other part on the steering system and I have a sneaking suspicion its either the u-joint (even though there is no real play and the u joint feels tight) or its the lock-pin under the steering wheel being loose?
Comment