I bought a '72 Duster a few weeks ago and one of the first things on my list to take care of was the power steering. It goes down the road nice and straight, but it felt choppy, for the lack of a better description, when returning to center from either direction after making a turn. It did not want to return to center without a little assistance, and would come back in what felt like a few 'stages'; not a smooth motion.
I even had a really knowledgeable local Mopar guy drive it to get his opinion. His thought was that the steering box needed rebuilding, which made sense to me. When I started looking online for rebuilt or rebuild options, I came a across the Borgeson master kit from Bergman Autocraft. Because I plan to have this car forever, I decided to pop for the full package, with a new box, pump, lines, and cooler. To the tune of $1400. Shipping on Monday.
So today I installed a nice new aftermarket woodgrain Grant steering wheel because the stock wheel was well worn and I felt like sprucing up the interior a bit. Of course I had to take the new wheel for a test drive. Felt great in my hands and looks pretty damn nice too. Almost immediately I noticed how much more smooth the steering felt. I though it had to be my imagination at first, but I took it for a nice long drive and I felt none of the choppiness in the wheel. How is that even possible. That an old stock steering wheel would cause what felt like a worn out steering box?
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