I have a kink in my steering, not cool

[Black1987Stang]

The car was fine then I jacked the rear up put it on jackstands, swapped my Macs out to Flowmasters to see what it would sound like, which sound 10 X worse than the Macs (too bassy) but ever since then when I pulled out of my driveway I was going straight and I turned left or right and it seemed to almost been sticking and it "clunked" out of the center position, kinda like something was holding the wheel up then it let go and then started to turn the wheels. After it does it a few times it goes away but it comes back after I park and go to drive again, I'm afraid my steering's going to lock up or something. Any ideas?

 

[93 LX]

check the rag joint. This is located in the engine bay at the end of the steering shaft at the rack. Also check your motor mounts for saging...

 

[Black1987Stang]

Thanks,

The rag joint is fine and there's Nothing getting caught up in the steering shaft or rag joint. and now it's getting worse, it's getting stuck at 2 different spots (it's only at the point to the left where the wheels are turned left from the center), mainly only turning left and then sometimes on the way turning back and passing them spots. I'm thinking it's the rack, (something is getting caught in the gears in the rack) can it be changed fairly easily with the motor in the car? what else could it be? I need one new inner tie rod on the passeneger side which are like 30 bucks each, but you can get a new rack with inner tie rods for 90 w/ core charge from advance.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Sounds like your steering shaft is hitting your headers. Do you have full lengths? Mine is doing the same thing right now. I can't get sideways in it because i can't counter steer.

 

[Black1987Stang]

nope there's nothing hitting anything, and if it did it would do it every revolution of the wheel being turned in either direction

 

[LarsD]

Sounds like your rack, how many miles are on it? I haven't done one on a 5.0 yet, but they look pretty straight forward. Also make sure you flush the pump out real god if you do change the rack.

 

[Beasty306GT]

sounds like its time to replace the steering rack...had mine done when i bought my 89 last yr...didnt look to hard..took my mechanic a couple hrs

 

[Black1987Stang]

It's most likely original....with 239,000 miles on her since 87

I'm tempted to buy the quick ratio rack from aftermarket but it's $225, a direct replacement for $90 bucks sounds pretty good though.

Any comments about the quick ratio aftermarket racks?

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Could be crud or something in the rack. I mentioned the steering shaft/header thing because mine doesn't catch every time either. It catches when i'm turning and accelerating at the same time so that the engine twists towards the passenger side which raises the headers up enough to catch the shaft.

I would try to find someone with another power steering pump you could swap out and try before i replace the rack.

 

[93 LX]

it could be the part of the clock spring that sits in the steering column. It ride against the wheel for your horn, cruise control and so on. Replace it and now the car turns smoothly.

 

[GaryB]

Well you need a new tie rod end and have over 200K on the rack, change it all. the rack isn't too hard to change. The hose fittings on the rack are tough to get to so you need to unbolt the rack and the tie rod ends so you can pull the rack forward and then you can get to the fittings. Install new hoses while you are there. the clock spring could be a problem but costs more than the rack which is probably ready anyway. I paid $120 for my clock spring. DON'T Turn the steering wheel with the rack removed! if it is turned too far it will destroy the spring, and you will loose the correct center for the spring. I always loop the seat belt through the steering wheel to keep it from being turned my mistake by anyone. I'm not a fan of the quick ratio racks they can cause problems with wheel rub in some cases by causing the wheel to turn farther than the stock rack. Good luck!

 

[93 LX]

I'm not a fan of the quick ratio racks they can cause problems with wheel rub in some cases by causing the wheel to turn farther than the stock rack. Good luck!

Then why did Ford install them in SVOs?