I recently bought another 3rd gen, been outta the game here for a few yrs now.

Anyways ive got a bit of play in the front end. Put it up on a lift and i can move the tires left-right about an inch or so, and the steering shaft and steering wheel both move. Im planning on doing a complete front end rebuild very shortly and im leaning towards my problem being the center link. Any suggestions.

As far as i know everything is stock with probably 160k on it. It has been upgraded with the C5 brakes in front.

******I did do a search and the post i read suggested moving the wheels from movement but none said what to check if the steering shaft and steering wheel move when tires are moved*******

 

I would doubt everything is stock under there at that mileage, but I'm not looking at the suspension.
While on the lift, have someone rotate the steering wheel back & forth slowly while you look at each ball socket joint (tie rod ends, drag link ends, Idler arm & pitman arm) for movement without the wheel moving. Any movement in the joint without the wheel movement is not good. Check your ball joints while your there too. Lift wheel off the ground and place a pry bar between tire and ground - lift up on tire and look for movement, should be none. While tire is off the ground, grab tire at 12 0'clock & 6 O'clock position and try to move in and out - you are checking for movement in your wheel bearings - should be very little (can't remember spec, but you can look it up)
Happy checking,
Corky

 

Hold the steering wheel in place while you try to move the tires, or vice versa. Play in there somewhere may not show without a reaction force on one end of the system.

 

I've got the same problem. My car has about 120,000miles on it and is all orinigal. I was thinking about doing the front end rebuild too but if you find out what it is could you please let me know. Thanks