How's it going? Does anyone have any info on how to sort out a loose steering wheel? And also is it a big job to change manual steering to power steering on a 1978 toyota truck? Thanks!
Like I have to turn the steering wheel a lot before the wheels move. I can drive straight and theres a lot of play without moving the truck left or right. Any ideas on can this be fixed?
I just did a bunch of work on my steering because of the same issue - mine was scary wobbly but I think also partly due to alignment. The wheel had tons of play, like at least 1/4 turn but it would track straight if I didn't touch the wheel, when I did touch the wheel like to correct my angle it would get squirrely. Anyways, I ordered up all new Moog boxed (actual: Sankei "555") idler arm, pitman arm, inner and outer tie rods and adjusters, and upper and lower ball joints - so pretty much everything but control arm bushings and a new steering box. I also ordered a new rag joing/steering coupler on eBay but haven't installed it yet. I installed everything at once except the pitman arm because I didn't have a big enough socket to tighten the nut back down -- the steering improved considerably but not as much as I was anticipating. Last week I finally installed the pitman arm - OMG it was like night and day improvement and now I'm confident of taking it on the highway with other traffic on the road. I think because the pitman is kinda the first steering joint, it takes a lot of stress and wears the fastest.
Thanks Perkolator! That's good to know it can be fixed. The truck I was asking about I've decided to pass on because it's too much money for the bit of work hat needs to be done.
There's an adjustment bolt on top of the steering box. First check the box for low lube (90w). Top off then follow mfg. instructions for side to side adjustment.
