My Iroc has play in the wheel and it's a real pain to keep in a straight line, dangerous if I hit a ridge in the pavement. After inspecting the steering and checking for play in the wheels by grabbing 9 and 3, I'm suspecting the steering box. The car has also been lined up with no problem and it drives in a nice, straight line. When having someone turn the steering wheel, the steering shaft moves plenty, but the pitman arm stays pretty still. It does wear the passenger-front tire, but I'm pretty sure that's because the strut is shot, I think it's just about leaked most of it's fluid out, judging by the noise lol.

I'm not done diagnosing, but when I do get another, is this one an ok replacement?

http://www.kragen.com/images/spaclear.gif

I know it's nothing special, but I don't want to spend 300-400 on a special box, I just want it right. It says it's 2.5 turns lock to lock, mine is like 2 3/4 or so, so it sounds like it would be right. Is this a piece of junk? If it is, I'll just order the AC delco one from rock auto. Thanks for the help, I just don't want trouble from it, but mainly I want what it originally had. I like the quick ratio it has.

 

You don't mention the condition of the steering components of the car which could be part of the problem--they may be after all decades old. Also, you might consider adjusting the steering box before purchasing another. BTW, the link doesn't function.

JamesC

 

I have a simular issue with my 92 but I know that both my Idler Arm and centerlink are lose. I also want to replace my front tires although they show no wear. I probably should replace my struts since in my ownership of the car (last 100,000) I have not. But much like to original poster I wander at times all over the road and wonder about the steering box. I had to replace my steering column and that is when the wandering became real noticable.

Should I replace the idler arm, centerlink (already have these two new in a box) and struts? Should the steering box of been adjusted when the steering wheel was put in and if so how do you adjust it?

Thanks

 

Hey thanks for the reply. Sorry, I forgot to mention it, but I did adjust the steering box and it helped maybe just a little bit, but it didn't fix it by any means. I mean it made a small, small improvement, if anything at all. That's adjusting it, seeing no improvement, adjusting it, no improvement, and eventually adjusting it as much as I could and still seeing no improvement. I didn't like adjusting it that much, but no one I talked to seemed to think it was a problem, and it hasn't been for thousands of miles.

The only way I know how to check the other components are to check play in the wheels themselves and to physically grab the components and see where there's play. So far I haven't found any play in them. When I got it, the center link was shot, so it was replaced. Are there better ways for me to check it?

How's this link-

http://www.kragen.com/productdetail....pe=255&PTSet=A

The alignment shop would tell me if it needed tie rods or something, but maybe they wouldn't know if it needed an idler arm. I'm also not interested in removing it until I know that it's a problem, mainly because I don't want to get it another alignment if it's not necessary.

 

You need someone to rock the steering wheel while you look underneath with a flashlight at all the steering components for play ramps would make it nicer to see everything.

 

Cool! I have ramps, so that's no problem.

 

Your car's 24 years old or so, with a load of miles, I presume. If the parts have never been replaced, they're simply worn out. You might consider a rebuild and include new struts/shocks--and tires at some point. Good luck with your project.

JamesC

 

Yeah, it has around 126K on it. I just need to do whatever it takes to get it going first. I don't have an extra grand laying around for it. If I'm gonna have to rebuild the whole front end to get some play out, I'll probably think about finding another Cadillac to trade for.
Oh yeah and it has a new $600 set of tires on it, new rims too.

 

How will an old Caddy be any more cost effective than an old Camaro?

JamesC

 

Do a search for "steering box rebuild, rag joint and pitman arm", then consider replacing all the steering links and rebuild the box. I did, and now I have zero play in the steering. The whole shabang cost me about $250 using MOOG parts and a steering box rebuild kit. One caveat.....DON'T adjust the torque on the box using foot pounds like I did.....it's inch pounds!

 

Believe it or not, parts are quite a bit cheaper in a lot of cases. I have one. The thing is, I'm more of a luxury car fan, but I decided I wanted something fun when I was 17, but I kind of regret it now. Harsh ride, cheap seats, hard to get in and out of, and not a whole lot of room kind of bugs me at times. Third gens are beautiful cars, and fun, some times I guess I just wonder about another luxury car, now that I've had my fun. My neighbor across the street has owned a 1992 Deville since it had around 60K on it. It now has 165K, and he's had to do a water pump. Unfortunately, they have really crummy transmissions, which the previous owner had replaced.

I would love to go out and replace the struts/shocks, rebuild the front end, and buy a new steering box all in one swoop, but I'm 19 in college and I don't have enough work to do that yet. I will this summer, but for now I just need to get things tightened up a bit so it's safe, my father doesn't want me to drive it anymore till it is, and it's my daily driver.

Thanks. I'll look that up. I actually bought a kit for the rag joint, but I was going to wait for when I do the steering box. I went underneath it yesterday evening and I couldn't find any play in the tie rods or anything, everything is still tight.

 

Today I backed the nut out far and retightened it once again and now it's working better. There's barely any play now. What there is left is probably the rag joint. I'll just have to see if this really fixed it, some days it's worst than others, believe it or not lol. It feels almost perfect now though.