My corvette...the little sweety it is....likes to help me drive to work by putting me in the lane it THINKS I need to be in.

Ok...not that bad...but every so often it seems like Im constantly correcting the wheel to keep straight in the lane. The car tracks ok whith hands off the wheel so the alignment cant be that far off but what can I do to tighten up the steering a bit? I don't need it to be any more tight of a turn radius, just have the wheel more "connected" to the tires. Like my Camaro- you feel like your turning something and it has no slack in it plus it only tries changing lane when I want it to. Simple solution? bolt on a bar or a link or take the powersteering belt off and only drive on straight roads?

 

Center the power cylinder adjustment and get it aligned.

 

Yup, I know what you mean. Mine did the same thing. I fixed it by getting a Steeroids rack and pinion steering system. It increased the turn radius a tad, but no big deal. Definitely helped in the stay-where-ya-point-it department. Kinda pricey but worth it imo.

Brett :thumbs:

 

wow, anybody starting a pool on how many 'steeroids' posts there are gonna be?
i don't know what to tell you, other than, you think it's bad now? bolt on some 9" wide Z rated tires and get back to me.
i'm guessing it's just a matter of old parts with lots of slop. i know that's at least a large part of my problem, in addition to the aforementioned Z rated tires.
one of the worst wear items is the rag joint. have you checked/replaced that recently?

 

if you have wide tires, they will tend to wander in the "ruts" of the worn out roads.

1. Dont run a huge low profile tire on front.
2. Tighten up the suspension.
3. Run more toe in. Its hard on the tires but better than wreking your car.




[Modified by turtlevette, 3:51 PM 12/9/2003]

 

WOW! that was fast. under 10 minutes for the first one.
:lurk:

 

I have thought about upgrading to the steeroids rack and pinion but its far too expensive. I think a front rebuild/bushings and perhaps a steering box rebuild is in my future. :cheers:

 

No I haven't changed the rag joint....I haven't replaced any of them but a few of the bushings up front look new, the parts look old...like the sway bar. Lol Rag Joint....sounds like something you buy in a dark alley. :eek:

 

What tire are you running? I assume that you have 255/60 R15. If that is the case, try to run them with 26 Psi of pressure. That's the recommended pressure for my 1980 with the 255/60. It helped a lot when I did that. And then I got 17 inches....

Stephan

 

RAg Joint
The GM part numbers are:
1968 and early 69 (gear input shaft has full round serrations) #7806391
Late 1969 through 1982 (gear input shaft has a flat on one side) #7818568

 

> Have you checked/replaced the rag joint ?

I can see where the rag joint can affect the feel and slop of the steering, but
does it contribute to the cars wandering? Are you saying you're driving straight and
the car will begin to wander, because the rag joint has slop allowing the pitman arm
to move around?

I would have thought there was more resistance from the steering gear box
such that only ruts and bumps would move the pitman arm...

 

My Vette did this when I got it, and still does it a little, but is much better thanks to a lot of advice and some hands on assitance from Kevin. Mine would wander worse at speeds higher than 50mph (highway), under heavy acceleration (heavy, yah right... L48) and braking, and whenever the road surface was not perfectly smooth.

Check your pitman arm - mine was loose on the frame and allowed the tires to wander separate from each other.

Check your lower A-arm mounts, they may be loose on the crossmember - a common area for problems.

Check your upper A-arm shims - my passenger side shims had fallen completely out, leaving .750" of play between the A-arm and the mount.

Of course, the front end needs to be rebuilt. All of these cars (unless they have had attention in the past 10 years or so) have worn out bushings and ball joints. I have been on the receiving end of the steering wheel when a ball joint let loose :eek: - and I was only pulling in the driveway. I cannot imagine loosing one at highway speeds.

Another thing that never even occured to me was that the rear suspension is worn out as well. Now that I have my front suspension mostly tight, I get a different 'walk' when driving on the highway. The rear-end of the car is steering me all over the road because my swingarm bushings are worn out and allowing the rear wheels to 'steer'.

Just my $.02 - Hope it helps! :yesnod:

 

Put a big block in it, the extra weight helps keep the front end planted :D

 

Thanls all, Im going to get the car in the air and take a look-see. I'll have theis thread in hand :)

I was thinking...I might just install one middle wheel. :crazy:

 

Another thing that never even occured to me was that the rear suspension is worn out as well.


:iagree:
I bought a front poly kit from Van Steel. I was going to do it myself until I my confidence was shaken by other repair problems (long story). I sent the car to them (only 130 miles away) to install the front kit. They advised me that the front end was not too bad, but it was the trailing arm bushings that were actually causing the car to change lanes whenever I accel/decelled. I had them do the front and rear and the car tracks straight as an arrow. :D