Our '75 has had this problem since we bought it a month ago or so. The steering is a little squirrely when turning to the right. There's sort of a hump or a bump in the steering. Hard to explain but you can see how the steering wheel reacts in this video. It just "jumps" from one position to the next.

http://s142.photobucket.com/albums/r...testeering.mp4

This directly effects the wheels themselves. They sort of skip a couple degrees, and sort of go from pointing direction to another instantly. Gets a little dangerous at high speeds.

After taking this video we jacked the car up to take the pressure off the wheels and tested to see if the steering still acted that way when the engine was not running, which we figured might prove that it was the steering box (which we suspected). Instead, the steering seemed perfectly tight and normal with the wheels off the ground and the engine off. But when we started the engine, we noticed something much more interesting. The wheels turn nice and smooth to the left, but jerk jerk jerk when turning to the right. Sort of like the whole system vibrates, only when turning to the right.

The entire system looks nice and tight with the wheels on the ground, by the way. No worn out tie rod ends or anything that I can see.

The control valve and all hoses going to it look brand new (some still have the tags on them) but the assist cylinder looks like it's been there for a while.

Hoping some of you experts can identify the problem!

Thanks,
Dan

 

No thoughts? Hoping to get a little direction on where to start.

Dan

 

I'd suggest disconnecting the assist ram at the frame bracket and have someone watch the rod while you turn the wheel. I'll bet you will see the same jerking motion from the ram. You can't rebuild the internals easily unless you can cut it open and weld in a new internal cylinder. Easier to buy a new one.



Rick B.

 

the valve in your pump is sticking, probably wouldnt hurt to rebuild the ps control valve also

 

So you think I need a new power steering pump? Any way to confirm this for certain before doing the job?

Thanks for the tips!

Dan

 

the problem with your p/s system is that its 40 years old, the good news is that you can rebuild the entire system for bout $200. once you rebuild or replace one part , you may as well replace or rebuild everything. plenty of info on here and the venders have tech sheets and diy videos.
another option, is to replace the entire system with an up to date version of power steering.
borgeson and steeroids seem to be the most user friendly, with the borgeson being the easiest of the two.

 

The Borgeson integral power steering box has the ram AND the control valve built into it and it also has a more user friendly 12.7:1 ratio. This will eliminate all of the 40 year old steering parts, other than the tie rods, idler arm and drag link, which you say are in good condition.

All up should be under a grand and you will enjoy driving the car better than before. I have two '74s, one with factory power steering, the other with a Borgeson conversion, and I know which one "feels the road" better.

Call Jeff, Barbara or Gil at Borgeson, 1-860-482-8283, or www.borgeson.com and tell them that aussiejohn sent you.

Regards from Down Under.

aussiejohn

 

This is for anyone reading this, if, you decided to go with the borge, there's a reseller on fleabay that sells them for $670 shipped, they're brand new, not 2nds and they're shipped from borge, with the full warranty and tech. support.
and your old parts are worth bout $200-300 to sell , thats the route I took, total cost to me for the borge , $460, which made it more attractive
hope this helps

 

Boy... that sounds like a dream but I don't think our pocketbook is up for it right now. Plus, every component in the system is most certainly brand-spanking-new other than the assist cylinder, including the lines and hoses. Not sure about the pump, I'll have to take a look. I know new parts can fail, but my initial assumption will be that they probably are working correctly and have years of service left in them, and that the culprit can be traced to a single component, perhaps the pump as suggested. I see pumps for as little as $40 at the regular auto stores, not sure the quality. I also see rebuild kits for under $15. Is rebuilding a straightforward and/or recommended job?

Dan

 

straight foward , and recomended. there are some excellent videos from venders on this site and plenty of help. in my opinion

 

Is this what you guys are recommending? Looks nice, but it doesn't include a pump, and isn't that what we think might be the culprit?

Thanks, I think that might be my plan of attack. Nothing to lose.

Dan

 

yup , but buy it here
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/GENUI...item1c22260419
same everything except for the price, it eliminates the 40 year old parts, I had rebuilt my complete system and bought a rebuilt pump when I bought the borge so Iwouldnt have to worry bout residual crud floating around
btw, with your parts looking newly rebuilt or new, whats wrong with your system is actually a crap shoot. could be one thing or a combination

 

I was sold on thinking it could be the pump, but now I'm having doubts. Seems like it would cause a problem either direction if it was a bad pump, wouldn't it? My car turns like a beauty to the right, just jerks/vibrates to the left. I am more thinking that it could be the control valve. I was reading about adjusting it, and it seems easy enough. I might give that a try just to see what happens. If not the valve, than the assist ram.

Dan

 

Fixed it! It was the control valve adjustment. I disconnected the ram and it sucked right in upon starting the car. It took several tries but I finally got it perfectly between sucking in and pushing out. Amazing that that's all it was. I thought for sure something needed replaced.

Don't you love when things can be fixed for free, and in minimal time? I haven't driven it yet because it's pouring rain, but I'm 100% sure that it must be fixed. Tires don't jerk anymore, and there's no "bump" in the steering.

Dan

 

you did excellent