Steering slop

[rednesss]

So I'm wondering if this is normal or if something is out of whack. If I jack the front of my car up, and grab the driver's side wheel at 3 and 9 o'clock, I can make the wheel move in and out without the pitman arm moving, the only thing that moves is the centerlink rotates on the pitman arm and the idler arm. So if you were to look at the centerlink from the end, it rotates. But this allows the driver's side wheel to move independently of the passenger side wheel. I'm wondering if I need a new pitman/idler arm, or if this is what it is. And yes, new parts all around, with about 10,000 miles on them.

 

[67Dart273]

Uh no. Offhand sounds like (at the least) that the pitman arm ball is "done."

 

[rednesss]

Well, perhaps I will order up a new pitman arm. I guess it can't hurt to throw some money at the problem :banghead:

 

[67Dart273]

You should be able to shake things around under there and figure out if that is really where it's coming from. Read your service manual. There's procedures in there for checking ball joints, etc. For most of your checks, you need to have weight on the lower A arms.