Wandering Car

[RKnorr]

My new to me 84 SVO has this maddening propensity to follow every little nook and cranny in the pavement. I would describe the steering as flighty. The car has 135K miles and I don't have a good history on it so I don't know what has and has not been fixed. I'm sure I need to crawl underneath and check things, I'm looking for a little direction of what might be symptomatic of SVO steering systems. I know the car was hit in the left rear and the quarter panel replaced, I'm pretty sure the damage was mostly cosmetic but I cannot rule out rear suspension damage. Anybody have a quick list of things that make a car hard to keep on center?

[NY eric]

tires

I have gone through this as well. The tire choice is sometimes the culprit. I have had bad experience with a set of 245 hoosiers that followed every groove. My recent coopers track right on. something to consider. I have read many comments that different types of directional tires will do this as well. But if the bushings are shot a quick call to Paul at SVP will get you set up with some real nice poly bushings.

just my 2cents worth but lately I am feeling usless to this board.

just trying to help pluss it is slow at work this week.

[sar4497]

I agree about the tires...especially if they are wider than stock. My Ranger had the same symptoms when I got 8" wide wheels and 235s.

[svobud]

3 things to check ..

1. Tires.
2. Alignment
3. Steering Shaft coupler.

[vrinner]

4th thing to check

4. Worn out suspension parts.

There was a great article in last months Grassroots Motorsports about "Tramrailing" which is what you are experiencing. You should check it out.

[8T6 SVO]

Tires

That "tracking " problem is due to the nature of the directional tires. It's something that you have to get use to. Check the rag joint also - this part tends to fall apart on these cars. The rag joint is the rubber "joint" on the steering shaft, running from the firewall to the power steering rack.

8T6

[RKnorr]

The Wanderer

Thanks for all the ideas everyone. I'll start checking these things when I get off of work next week.

[BigBlue]

1/2"???

A HALF-INCH toe out?

Whoa, I thought I was pushing it with 3/8".

Mike is right, toe out is one thing to look at.

[RKnorr]

Found looseness in steering

Finally got a chance to get under the car and found that I have about 1/8" of endplay in the rack and pinion assembly which translates to about 1/4" of directional slop at the wheels. I would imagine that this is too much so I guess I'll be looking for a replacement before going any further. Anybody have a rack and pinion that they would be willing to let go of cheap? All help is appreciated.

[GAboySVO]

You can get a remanufactured one from Autozone for a reasonable price.

[RKnorr]

thanks for help

Thanks for the info Georgia Boy. I'll call Autozone and see what they have to say.

[RKnorr]

Finally got the time, money, energy, etc to replace the rack and pinion. Bought one from discount auto parts for $101 plus tax, the core charge was $37. Discount Auto Parts lists 2 rack and pinion assemblies for the SVO, one with the sport suspension and one without, I went with the sport suspension version. I don't know if the other unit would work. It went in without too much trouble. I installed the tie rod ends on the new assembly with the same number of turns on each tie rod end as what I took off but that left me with 1/2" of toe-out so I adjusted it to about 3/16" toe-in and took it out for a test drive. What a difference. Anybody know a good toe setting?

[Erics SVO]

I'm guessing that the "sport" one is the 15:1 rack... I put a later rack in my 84 since the original had a bent end from the wreck. The 84 had the TRW rack which was 20:1. Later the 15:1 was used. If I remember correctly its about 2 1/12 turns lock to lock in the 15:1...

-Eric

[RKnorr]

I'm guessing you're correct. Both the rack I took out and the one I put in were both 2-1/2 turns lock to lock so I guess that is what makes it the sport suspension version.