Control Valve Looseness
Thread Starter
4th Gear
Joined: Sep 2020
Posts: 4
Likes: 2
Control Valve Looseness
Hi y'all. Trying to find the source of my steering problem on my 82. I'm getting a couple of inches of play at the steering wheel before the tires move. It's completely undriveable on rutted roads.
Alignment is within specs. Tie rod ends and idler arm are tight. The box is new and the pitman arm is moving with the steering wheel. No slop there. What I'm seeing is the center link at the control valve is moving up and down while moving the steering wheel. While the engine is running, so let's get that out of the way. The big variable is the last owner replaced the seals in the control valve. My first thought is that he didn't get the ball stud adjusted properly. Before I tear into it, can anyone tell me if any vertical movement of the center link / control valve is normal?
Alignment is within specs. Tie rod ends and idler arm are tight. The box is new and the pitman arm is moving with the steering wheel. No slop there. What I'm seeing is the center link at the control valve is moving up and down while moving the steering wheel. While the engine is running, so let's get that out of the way. The big variable is the last owner replaced the seals in the control valve. My first thought is that he didn't get the ball stud adjusted properly. Before I tear into it, can anyone tell me if any vertical movement of the center link / control valve is normal?
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,116
From: Crossville TN
There should not be any 'slop' in the steering links when the engine is running (with P/S vehicle). Sounds like the PO fixed the seal problems, but left a floppy knuckle on the control valve.
