Wheel Play

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jhdeval

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How much wheel play is to much?

I have about 1-1.5 inches from center in either direction. A couple years ago when I had my alignment done I asked the guy to tighten the steering and it helped but still feels a bit loose.
 
Are you talking at the rim or at the steering wheel?

If at the steering wheel the diameter of the wheel is a big factor in how much "play" there is. Sometimes tire flex is mistaken for steering wheel play. Stand by drivers door move steering wheel through the "play" and see if the rim is moving while the tire stays stationary on the pavement. That is tire flex.

If you mean 1.5" of play at the rim then that is way too much.
 
If the car has PS, it should be running to get an accurate feel for "wheel play".
 
Sorry I forgot to say. This is at the steering wheel. I have checked this while running. I have checked while sitting in the car stationary and driving and the steering wheel moves the same about 1-1.5 inches left and right of TDC.
 
That really does sound close to how much the tires flex on a manual steering car. You can open the hood and turn the steering shaft that goes into the steering box by hand and see if the movement of the shaft translates into the pitman moving. Have a helper slowly move the steering wheel back and forth in the "play" and watch for steering components to deflect instead of moving as they should.
 
There is a valve on the steering box that detects steering input. You can center it when its loose. 1 inch on power steering doesnt sound bad to me, but you can check idler arm and pitman arm for slop, then check steering box for movement, finally check K member for cracks in steering box mounts (mine were death trap bad, had to replace K...think of a bad grocery cart front wheel at 30MPH...!) Just get under there and have someone turn wheel.
 
It is the old no-feel power steering after all....
 
inkjunkie said:
It is the old no-feel power steering after all....
Click to expand...

Yeah but no feel power steering should have about 3 turns of play. It is kinda like driving a bumper car throw the wheel left and right and doesn't give a lick of feedback.O:)

Have you checked the lower steering column coulper? When the coupler is loose it can easily give an of play. You check the couple be moving steering wheel back and forth and watching coupler body to see if it moves with the shaft. There should be zero play in the coupler. Coupler looks like this thing http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/6328/dscf0030h.jpg
 
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