hey i'm new to the forum so pls be patient with me! I have a 96 discovery, the steering on the car feels extremely loose...its hard to describe but here goes. While i'm driving straight, i can turn the steering wheel left about up to 100 degree angle and the car coninues going straight, once i keep turning past that 100 degress then the car starts to turning left...also i can turn the wheel to the right about 20degrees and it continues driving straight until i start turning it past that 20degree mark then the wheels start going right.....

what the hell is going on?? the wheel basically feels very very loose, i think its about 180k on the car and its all factory stuff no mods or anything, no offroading and bought it used about 5-6 years ago, while driving i can totally wiggle the wheel back and forth whithin those degrees i stated and the car just drives straight...one mechanic told me a tierod needs to be replaced, another told me replace the steering box....

anyone know whats going on?? what parts i might need and how much this is going to run me?? any help or info is greatly appreciated!! i'm afraid to let my daughter drive the thing on the highway before something serious happens!!

 

You are going to need to have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth while you are under the truck looking for whatever is loose. I would drive it on the road till you get it worked out just incase something fails annd you get killed while going off a cliff or something.

 

Mike meant don't drive it till you fix it. I had a friend with a loose pitman arm, and it finally broke, on the highway, at 70. Don't drive it until you get it figured out. Usually places like Midas can give you an inspection and writeup (along with a quote) for free....

 

the pitman arm?? okay so now either the tierod, steering box or pitman arm could be causing the issue??

 

Crawl under and start looking, you have to find the problem, have someone keep turning the wheel till you see the problem.

 

My money would be on the steering drop arm balljoint, if it's happened gradually over time, or the nut that holds it onto the spline on the bottom of the steering box if it's happened quite quickly.

Very easy to check... open the bonnet (hood) and follow the steering rod assembly from the bulkhead to the steering box... once you've found the box, look underneath the box and you'll find something that looks like this:



If there's play in the balljoint, it should be very tight, buy a balljoint recon kit or a reconned drop arm. http://www.paddockspares.com/sp/absp.../Steering.html Do 'em at a pretty reasonable cost - not sure about shipping to the USA though as they're in the UK - if you have trouble finding one at a reasonable cost in the USA and Paddocks won't ship to the USA, gimme a call and we'll sort something out.

If it's the nut that holds the drop arm on the spline - take the drop arm off the spline and check for any damage to the spline and the inside of the drop arm. If it's ok - stick it back on and retorque it - always use a new locking washer.

Obviously, if it's not that, ignore the above

Cheers,

 

Just an example of what can happen if you drive it like this. Like Mike said, you need to get under the truck and see what is loose.

 

Mine was a little loose so I thought it was the alinement,
I took to the dealer and it was the pitman arm and it
was about $175 for the pitman arm and alinement.