Loose steering
 

On my 82 the steering has quite a bit of play before the wheels start turning. It makes it very hard to drive. Does anyone know what the problem might be?

From the steering wheel to the front tires there are many points of wear that can loosen and cause play. There is the rag joint between the steering shaft and the steering box. The box itself could be out of adjustment. Some will tell you to loosen the lock nut and crank down on the adjusting screw. DO NOT DO THAT. Obtain a factory service manual and follow the procedure for adjusting the steering box.
Next, the tie rod ends could be worn, the idler arm worn, or the ball joints and suspension arm bushings could be worn.
If you are not experienced at this, you probably should take it to a good alignment shop, one that knows OLD cars, and have them evaluate the whole front end. If the car has a lot of miles, it could be a combination of all those points listed, and require a rebuild of the entire front suspension and steering wear parts.
:cheers:
Pete

Pete is right about the adjusting screw. I just went through this on my 1978. Two things were bad the rag joint and the power steering ram. None of that was hard to replace just to diagnose. Jack up the car with the front wheels hanging and just start grabbing and moving front end parts feeling for loose parts, it might help to have someone else move the steering wheel.

Thanks guys. Sounds like this will be an expensive project

You didn't mention the mileage, but the 82 I'm restoring needed everything. Upper and lower ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends, control arm bushings, idler arm, pitman arm, etc. This was on a car with 88000 on the clock. I'm not trying to scare you or be negative, but you obviously know it is a 30 year old car so it is eventually going to need all these things if they haven't ever been touched.

Funny story: I bought my car and noticed the steering was loose. One time, on a backroad, the steering wheel went "wonky" in my hand, swinging wildly from one side to the other like a front wheel was falling off.

I nursed the car back home and started fiddling. I turned the wheel whilst looking at the steering box and the steering box was moving around a lot more than I thought it should.

2 more minutes of inspection revealed that the bolts to the steering box weren't even hand tight! They were just placed in there and while they were holding the box in place, they weren't binding it to the frame in any way whatsoever.

Tightened the bolts and went on with my life. Freaky thing, though.

Couple of years ago I completely went thru my entire front suspension on my 76. Replaced every thing regardless of condition and had my box rebuilt by Gary Ramedi or however his last name is spelled.

Last summer I noticed a little extra loosness in the steering wheel,,it was not bad but just a irritant kind of a thing. And the car seemed a little too darty at times on certain road surface.

I checked and looked around and could not see anything, until one day I was removing the pan and found my idler arm loose on the frame. The thing for some reason worked loose and added some slack in the R front tire. I tightened it up and reset the toe and now she drives down the road like a modern day car. On a good road and no wind I just make small corrections to the wheel as I wiz down the road.

To the OP,,,Like has been said,, look for the obvious loose points in the entire steering system,,,don't be surprised that you will need to replace some parts. Tie rod ends and ball joints are not that expensive but the rest can be.