I am trying to correct a couple of steering issues that I have on my 69 coupe. I have rebuilt the entire front suspension including all new ball joints, tie rod ends, steering box (sent out), steering column, all new bushings in the upper and lower control arms, new coil springs, and new shocks. Just had a complete alignment. The car tracks nice and straight and the power steering seems to be working okay. I did not replace the control valve or the cylinder but the p/s pump was replaced.

The first problem is that when I drive the car and make a turn, the car does not want to return to a straight position without bringing it back with the steering wheel. If I turn the steering wheel and take my hands from it, the car will continue to go in a circle.

The second problem is when turning to the left only, as the wheels get to the point where they are almost fully turned (about the last 1/3 of a full turn) the steering wheel will snap the rest of what is left in travel and will become very hard to bring out of this full turn requiring both hands to get it out of this almost locked full turn position. This is not a safe thing!

I have centered the control valve.

Any help would be appreciated.

David / 70 MUSL

 

The linkage is binding, most likely the pitman arm. Was it a conversion to PS? Then they didnt use the PS pitman arm.

 

The alignment is off, especially caster. Camber gives it that good, solid tracking but caster effects steering return, IIRC. Plus, it sounds like both sides were not set to specs.

Did you align both ends? The rear suspension has an effect on how the car steers, too.

One more thing...I've found these cars (or any with fully independent suspension) to be very sensitive to tire pressure.

Any good front end shop should be able to fix this.

 

This car has always been a P/S car. If I raise the front wheels just off of the ground, I can turn the steering from one side to the other and back by gripping on the rotors. Feels smooth with no binding. Initially I had some binding when doing this and was able to determine that the cone just below the steering wheel on the tilt/tele column was slightly out of round and was rubbing on the column. It only did this when the column was locked it the shortest position. I tweeked the cone to get it round again and the steering feels smooth.

The alignment shop has done about 8 aligmnents for me on various Corvettes over the last 10 years and they have all been very good. Not to say they didn't mess this one up. I always get the 4 wheel alignment. It shouldn't have been to hard for them since everything in the rearend has been replaced or rebuilt including the trailing arms and put back together with stainlees shims and new bolts. I will look into this issue some more.

Any thoughts as to why the steering wheel pulls severly when completing a full left turn. Could this have anything to do with the control valve or P/S cylinder?

 

you have to balance the PS valve. i believe if you do a search on this site you will come up with the correct procedure.

 

My bet is that the control valve is bad - one of the internal springs has probably failed or internal binding - time for a new one.

 

If this was your only problem, I would try loosening the screw slightly on the steering box (Loosen locknut and turn screw 1/4 turn counterclockwise, then tighten locknut). When Bubba tries to tighten up the steering and gets it a little too tight he produces the symptom you describe above.

 

What does the alignment shop think? Part of an alignment is a test drive. A good tech will bring the car back and say "there is something wrong with the car and its not the alighnment...here is what i suspect..."

 

Only right answer so far. Look up the Jim Shea steering papers on our Vettes for proper proceedure.

 

The steering wheel not returning is due to a mechanical binding somewhere. It could be that the steering box is adjusted with inadequate 'free play'; but it also could be due to a sticky joint, a binding idler arm, etc. etc. The action of the 'spastic' steering wheel could be due to air not being fully purged from the hydraulic system, a problem within the control valve, or a hydraulic line blockage/problem.

 

Yeah, I'd check the PS control valve.

If you decide to adjust it, be aware that the adjustment is quite sensitive. Maybe only 10-20 degrees of turn at at time is needed, before checking it.

John