slack in steering wheel
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 15,179
From: PTW
Could be a number of reasons.
Raise each front tire up, grab at 3 and 9 o'clock and shake it to check for play. Watch the steering wheel to make sure the play is not due to the wheel moving. Compare one side of the car to the other.
Have someone rotate the steering wheel back and forth as you watch for excess play in the U-joint connecting the lower part of the steering shaft to the rack/pinion steering input shaft.
Items that can cause slack steering are: worn tie rod end (the rod has an inner and outer rod, bad wheel bearing, worn steering rack/pinion system, U-joint between the steering column and rack/pinion input shaft, perhaps some other suspension issue such as lower control arm.
One other place to check is the steering wheel itself and its connection to the steering shaft. Toyota had a recall for incorrect tightening of the nut that holds the steering wheel to the shaft.
Start by inspecting the tie rod ends.
Raise each front tire up, grab at 3 and 9 o'clock and shake it to check for play. Watch the steering wheel to make sure the play is not due to the wheel moving. Compare one side of the car to the other.
Have someone rotate the steering wheel back and forth as you watch for excess play in the U-joint connecting the lower part of the steering shaft to the rack/pinion steering input shaft.
Items that can cause slack steering are: worn tie rod end (the rod has an inner and outer rod, bad wheel bearing, worn steering rack/pinion system, U-joint between the steering column and rack/pinion input shaft, perhaps some other suspension issue such as lower control arm.
One other place to check is the steering wheel itself and its connection to the steering shaft. Toyota had a recall for incorrect tightening of the nut that holds the steering wheel to the shaft.
Start by inspecting the tie rod ends.
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