ronnie johhhnnn Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 On my 95 Legacy L wagon, there seems to be some resistance in the steering when its in the straigt forward position. If I jack up the car and move the steering wheel from left to right, there is a sort of clunk noise. It doesn't seem like its anyhting that can just lock up on me, BUT... that is my question. I don't really know how the steering is set up on these and I was wondering if there is anything in there that can fail and cause me to not be able to turn. Also, there is a very slight amount of play in the driver side wheel from left to right. It seems to be right where the inner and outer tie rods meet up, under the boot. Its not bad yet, but I was wondering if that very slight amount of play could be causing the vibration I'm getting on the highway. The car has 260,000 miles on it so I'm basically not trying to dump much money into it. I can deal with some discomfort as long as its not going to end up killing me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcspeer Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 The inner tie rod may be causing your problem, when mine were bad I had lots of play at the nine and three. Jack up the front and check, also spin the wheel and put your hand on the coil spring if it feels rough then it could be a wheel bearing. Also check the steering shaft U-joint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 Give her a good firm shake down. Like for tie rods, if you grasp the inner tie rod where it meets the outer tie rod and give good yanks in various directions you shouldn't feel any looseness. Inner or outer tie rod issues should be feelable this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnie johhhnnn Posted March 24, 2008 Author Share Posted March 24, 2008 Give her a good firm shake down. Like for tie rods, if you grasp the inner tie rod where it meets the outer tie rod and give good yanks in various directions you shouldn't feel any looseness. Inner or outer tie rod issues should be feelable this way. There is play where they meet for sure, but what should I actually replace? Is it the inner or outer when there is play here? If I can get away with only replacing one, thats what I'd like to do. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 You need to see where the play is. When you shake where the outer tie rod end is thread on to the inner tie rod, do you see any play at that junction? Like maybe get one hand on the outer tie rod end and the other on the inner and see if you spot any play at that junction there where the jam nut is. If you don't see any play there, then it may be the inner tie rod where it meets the rack. I just discovered this play on the left front on my '96 and '00. I could hear the play when I shook it but it took a while to figure out it was coming from the inner tie rod ends. At first I thought it was normal, but the front right are dead solid, no clicking or freeplay at all when shaking them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aircraft engineer Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 I had a similar thing happen on a Tempo - the steering would just get "tight" in a turn then "thump". A few months after the first "thump" there was a "snap" and the RACK broke in 2. oh well... replace the steering gear... SOMETHING is binding somewhere... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njdrsubaru Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 i would bet money that your problem is a inner tie rod combined with a bad ball joint... i just did that work in my car and i thought the play was only the tie rod, so when i looked at the ball joint it was totally gone! double check your ball joint too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.