What do I need to replace?

[Motorhead350]

Remember that 65 Chevy truck I bought? Well it's almost ready for the road, but I have a problem with the steering, it's very loose. When going around a corner I would have to really turn it and sometimes it would be unresponsive for half a rotation or more. Do I need to replace the whole steering colum or is something simply loose?

I can get a whole new one for $500 with turning siginal installed and everything, but if I can fix this for less than that, I would rather take that road. Any suggestions?

[Breadfan]

It could be a number of things, tie rods, idler arm, steering box, even balljoints.

It's probably not the column...

Best thing to do is have it on jackstands with the wheels off, and have someone turn the wheel while you watch where the play is.

For instance...on my dad's '65 Merc it had loose steering but the box was tight. With everything off the slightest turn of the wheel turned the steering box. The problem was tie rods that were weak and would "give way".

On my old car, a 1980 Jaguar, I had to put tie rods on, and balljoints were weak, balljoints too can cause the play in the wheel.

You can detect tie rod and balljoint issues by grbbing the tire when the truck is jacked up. If it moves around or has play probably a tie rod/ball joint issue.

Also you could check hte linkage from the box to the column, make sure everything is tight.

On my old Jag it had bad steering issues, the problem turned out to be bushing that held the rack (it was rack and pinion) we bad so the ENTIRE steering rack would move about 2 inches before hitting the frame allowing the wheels to turn...

Obviously your truck isn't rack and pinion, you'll find it'll have a rather basic setup off the steering box.

Oddly enough it's a decent system that worked for years. The same day I replaced inner tie rods and idler arm on my dad's '65 I changed hte oil on the '99 CVPI he had. Well you wouldn't believe how perfectly similar the steering setups on both cars was...

[Motorhead350]

Cool thanks for the info. I'll look into it this weekend!