Steering harder to turn at the end of the range?

[Cheburashka]

I had a lot of steering slop and tightened my steering box a little and now it's gone and drives nice. With the wheels off the ground though, the steering is hard to turn at the very end of the range and the pump is working noticeably louder. I seem to recall that this was how it was before but I'm not sure if it's supposed to be like that. My other car has an electric steering rack so I can't really check or compare.

Is it normal for the pump to be working very hard at the end of the gearbox range?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

You have it too tight.

 

[Snoranger]

You’ll never adjust it the point that there’s no looseness everywhere. The steering box wears more in the center of its travel than it does at the limits.

 

[Cheburashka]

I still have about an inch of Freeplay in the center, maybe more, so I think I'm good?

 

[Curious Hound]

I still have about an inch of Freeplay in the center, maybe more, so I think I'm good?

It's your call. 2 knowledgeable people just said it's too tight. But you're the only one that is actually there to experience it. So, if you drive it this way and it lasts 100,000miles, it must be ok. But if you drive it this way and the box or pump fails in the next 6-12 months, then it must be too tight.

Your call.

 

[franklin2]

The steering box is designed to be tighter in the center, and loose off center. This is made into the gears in the box itself. Usually if you make it too tight, you will feel a hard spot in the middle of it's travel.

The box adjustment is a little touchy, if you have to turn it a lot the box is probably wore out. You can turn it just a little bit and sometimes help it, but more than that usually makes things worse. Since you are having problems at the very ends of the travel, I would suspect you might have balljoint problems or u-joint problems in the axle, or cv joint problems, whichever you have. If you have balljoints you can check them for play, and you can also gently peel the rubber boots up and spray some penetrating oil up under the boot. If a bunch of rust comes out, that is not a good sign.

P.S. A better experiment would be to knock the tie rods loose,, and then grab the wheels and turn them lock to lock by hand and see what they feel like.

 

[Curious Hound]

The steering box is designed to be tighter in the center, and loose off center.

That's when it was brand new. If we're talking about the '95 in the OP's profile, that was a long time ago. The box probably has significant wear on it now. And, since the center of travel gets the most use, it would also have the heaviest wear. Hence, more play in the center.

And, yes, there may be other issues as well. The whole steering system should be inspected and repaired as necessary.

 

[Jazzer]

I overtightened my ‘87’s steering box and had the same symptoms. I eventually had to put up with a little slop in the center wheel position to make it all work right.

-Jazzer

 

[Cheburashka]

Thanks a lot for the advice. I really appreciate it.

I went ahead and loosened the adjustment bolt so now I have more slop.

I did the ball joints and tie rods very recently so I'm sure the issue is not there. I guess my steering box is just worn. Reman ones aren't too expensive but it looks like a PITA to get to so I'll keep it like this and hope it doesn't grenade itself..

 

[Jazzer]

Even when worn, the steering box isn’t subject to any severe stresses, so there’s little chance of sudden failure. Nothing to worry about.

-Jazzer