LT1-LT4 Modifications 1993-97 Gen II Small Block V8

Steering problems?

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Old Feb 25, 2010 | 07:08 PM
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Default Steering problems?

for some reason my car will not stay on the road hardly, it feels like my sttering is loose or something, its almost hard to go in a straight line, if i hit a little bump or anything it goes crazy and i ave to turn the wheel like 1/4 a turn for it to catch, and if im at a complete stop the steering wheel wiggles back and forth for about 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn, any ideas?
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Old Feb 25, 2010 | 07:23 PM
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May have to get a new rack and pinion. I'm replacing mine this summer and my Z has ~125,000 miles
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Old Feb 25, 2010 | 08:15 PM
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I can almost guarantee that your problem is the rag joint it's quite a common problem with lt1's, get the unbalanced engineering rag joint eliminator($40 or so). I had the same exact problem and this fixed it for me. http://unbalancedengineering.com/Camaro/ About half way down the page.
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Old Feb 25, 2010 | 09:31 PM
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Hopefully just the rag joint then, sounds cheaper, I would have never thought about that... I'll check it tomorrow and the rack and pinion, from what I could tell it's not the rack and pinion tho, when I have the car in the air everything seems fine, but when on the ground it's so loose... It's hard to explain how it is, but when I'm goin down the road it just feels like the steering wheel is "floating"... Just real sloppy...
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Old Feb 25, 2010 | 09:31 PM
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Originally Posted by Dmaleck
I can almost guarantee that your problem is the rag joint it's quite a common problem with lt1's, get the unbalanced engineering rag joint eliminator($40 or so). I had the same exact problem and this fixed it for me. http://unbalancedengineering.com/Camaro/ About half way down the page.
That is cool as hell. I replaced the entire intermidiate shaft, rack, ball joints, inner and out tie rods, bushings and still have this same problem as the OP so I think I will try this out. Thanks for the link.
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Old Feb 25, 2010 | 10:02 PM
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An easy way to check is get another person, have them sit in the car and turn the wheel back and forth where the slop stops, watch the steering shaft under the hood and see if the shaft above the rag joint turns a little, before the lower shaft turns. Hopefully it is your problem, easy fix and your car will feel 10x better on the road!
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Old Feb 25, 2010 | 11:27 PM
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Very good news, might save me a few dollars this summer if that is indeed the problem w/ my car as well
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Old Feb 25, 2010 | 11:35 PM
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i had a similar problem with my 93 Z28. i replaced both inner and outer and that helped a great deal.
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Old Feb 27, 2010 | 07:00 PM
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It was the rag joint, I just did some welding and it's perfect! The rubber piece in the middle was bad, thanks all for the help!!!
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Old Feb 27, 2010 | 10:01 PM
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Glad I could help a fellow Lt1'er
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Old Feb 27, 2010 | 10:12 PM
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I'm just curious but what exactly did you weld? I have the rag joint eliminator but I'm curous as to what you welded. Did you take out the rag joint and weld the shaft together? Doesn't seem like it would be long enough if you did that.
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