I was driving a dirt road last night in my 98 lego and was sliding around a corner when i straightened out my car was going straight but the steering wheel had made a 1/4 turn and stayed there. The rack and pinion boots are gone and it leaks a bit but what could cause the steering wheel to move position without the tires like this and how do i fix it?

Broken spring?

 

Don`t drive until you have found the problem.

A sudden change of steering wheel position is serious shyte.

Edited July 7, 201213 yr by naru
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I dont think it would be a broken spring, although i havnt gotten a chance to look at anything yet. It seems to me that whatever it is could be connected to the shudder it has had since getting it back on the road a week ago after an overhaul of the manual tranny.

The rack can move a bit if the bushings are shot. 1/4 turn of the steering wheel would move the rack about a half inch maybe? Don't think the bushings will allow that much movement if they're gone but you never know.

 

This could be either front or rear suspension problem so check the whole thing over with a fine tooth comb.

Make sure the bolts through the steering shaft U joint are tight too.

 

Did you remove or loosen anything suspension related in order to remove the transmission?

No i didnt touch the suspension. I just crawled under and watched the rack and pinion while my kid turned the wheel back and forth. It has had a terrible crunching noise in the steering mechanism for a while now and i noticed the inner tie rod jump up when the grind or popping noise occurs. I'll switch that out first and maybe the one cv joint that slipped apart during the trans install.