fixed sloppy steering before the trip

[rschonegg]

I have lived with a loose steering wheel LONG enough....plus SR-71 nudged me to FIX the DANG thing before it gets hairy......

I pretty much knew what was loose because I had the same issue on an 86 GT that I had before I had the SVO.....

get yourself a #15 Torx driver, a 1/2 inch socket with a fairly long extension on it, and a decent sized (big handle for torque) Phillips head screwdriver for the job... 5 long screws hold the trim pieces to one another. The top trim piece is kinda tricky to get out but you need to tilt the wheel all the way down for the top trim piece and all the way up for the bottom trim piece as they slide inside the beauty ring right behind the steering wheel. The torx driver is for the turnsignal stalk. the pics should show you that I was able to just lay the turnsignal stalk aside to get to each 1/2 bolt... THEY were loosy goosy.. I tightned them up and reassembled in reverse order...done... steering is nice and tight now... SHOULDA done this along time ago...

[sar4497]

What were your exact symptoms? I have a slight "clunk" and looseness in the center of the wheel's travel that I haven't been able to diagnose (ball joints, tie rod ends, rag joint, etc. look good). I don't want to hijack your thread, but I was wondering what exactly this fix is fixing.

[rschonegg]

i used to be able to take the steering wheel with both hands at 9 and 3 and move it back and forth towards and away from the dash panel.....kind of a left and right rocking motion.... but now that I have that fixed and road tested it..I have alot of steering play.in the wheel..I had my daughter turn the wheel back and forth and I watched the rag joint area...I see some serious slippage.... my rag joint needs replaced badly......... should be replacing that tomorrow morning at my bro's house .... he has a lift in his garage..........

[svobrown]

Bring your tools and watch for the line to take place. I'll be the first one to ask for help.

[fordracing89]

Well I edited your pic to show when my car wouldn't start, besides being nice and loose.. I have another steering symptom, personally feels like the rack going out, but until I drain the power steering fluid and replace with atf I will not know for sure, It goes from nice steering to a loose feeling and I have to steer back, It does not do this all the time just when holding the wheel for more than a couple seconds, other than that it is good.. I thought it was the ragjoint but upon inspecting itmyself it looks good to go.

not hijacking but while you have that column off you might want to look at the clips that I marked and make sure there is no play there, thought the battery was dead on mine tried everything I could think of from cables to jump pack etc.. Ended up that those little clips had loosened up and let that ignition piece fall. Resulting in nothing happenin..

[rschonegg]

svobrown... im flattered....that someone is seeking MY help on here

fordracing99... while I had the column apart.. I inspected all the clips on the connectors

my local Advance Autoparts store does not stock a Ragjoint for the SVO or the regular Mustangs. I ended up at Autostoned...they had generic ragjoints on the shelf. They had two different sizes. On the box it said Ford - Cheby - Chrysler. the other size just said Chrysler....
10 bucks for each one...of course Im not going to open the package till I can size it up....I'll try to take pics on the swap....

[SVOeric]

Rschonegg -- do a search, I've posted the help part # for the rag joint before. --

fordracing99 -- that is part of the ignition switch, and NEEDS to be replaced. they are relatively cheap, the motorcraft version is only about $15, the aftermarket a little cheaper.
REPLACE IT -- don't screw with it, this is a good item to casue a fire.

Ford actually recalled cars back to 88 to replace these. I guess they didn't care if pre 88's caught fire.

[rschonegg]

searched

I see the SAME issue that you have had is what im going through with the part numbers of the HELP parts (went to three different parts stores this morning) ...I am going to piece together what they give you in the HELP part and what came off of the original rag joint assembly...

[Pat_in_L.A.]

Since TTops needed this info, this thread looked like a good place for the diagram and parts ID.

[Pat_in_L.A.]

Maybe this steering thread should be moved to the brakes/suspension or interior sections of the forum.

[chalkys_explorer]

Thanks for the heads up!! Mine's been doin a similar thing. Shall have to try this myself.

Chris

[NavySVO]

...I am going to piece together what they give you in the HELP part and what came off of the original rag joint assembly...

Rick, that's what I did.
I also posted in a thread on this with the right part number (31005), and others have put the same part number up in here as well.

http://www.svoca.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9623&highlight=rag+joint

I only used the joint itself, 2 bolts, washers and screws out of the new parts.
You will have to retain the little metal angle clips (on the old fasteners that have the rivots going through).
I had to drill out 2 of the holes with a 1/2 inch bit to get the shouldered shank of the 2 original bolts I reused through the joint holes. Use a variable speed drill and let the bit rotate slowly, so it won't chew up the new joint, and so it won't try and whip the thing around radially.
Here's a thread with some doctored pics also

http://www.svoca.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10337&highlight=rag+joint

BTW, Advance has the HELP kit you need.

[rschonegg]

rag joint changed... ohhh yeah what a car..

Dayum... this should be under a thread called.... CHEAP fixes that are worth 100 times what you paid for the part and the time spent fixing the problem....now if i could just get one of my other rims painted just like the ones on my car and take off the one with the curb rash.....

only one thing wrong now.....

each of these things I fix.... makes me drive the car more and more....NOT a bad thing...but the more the SVO is on the road, the more idiots can harm her.....

[rschonegg]

THANKS for all the help...

thanks for the thread searches and links done here....

and THANKS once again to the ALL folks on here for steppin up to the plate for another SVO owner....

NavySVO...what you used and did is exactly what my bro and I used and did....

[NavySVO]

Rick,

Glad to help. I don't think I had the chance to meet you at the 05 reunion. I got to meet IndianaDave and Deerpack though.
I will see if we can empty a few beers together at the 07 reunion!