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Originally Posted by Mismost
My wagon feels like it wants to keep turning into a curve, then when I turn out it seems to over-correct the other direction...which results in a kinda see-saw steering wheel action.....small, not a major move, but noticable. She runs straight down the road for the most part, very slight pull to the right, which I think is caused by the road crown. Front end is tight, no loose ball joints and the wheel bearings feel good, steering wheel has about 1" of play. I have tried different driving methods and it seems to prefere a pretty light touch on the wheel.
Now, I know the 300TD is not a sports car and is much heavier than what I normally drive (front wheel drive Chevy Impala that pulls itself through a corner)...but is this "wallowing through the corners" normal? As one post I read said "handles like a coal barge" just the way it is??
Think a new steering damper will help? Thought I'd replace that and have find a good alighnment shop pretty quick.
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you don't need to realign after changing the steering shock, but you say it pulls right? Maybe it does need an alignment, but be sure to find a shop that has a locking bar and knows this car. I have seen good reputable tire shops make a car worse after aligning it, they simply need to have the right tool and an experienced alignment technician otherwise its a gamble whether they will make it better or worse!
The test for steering is to disconnect the drag link from the steering box and run the wheels manually left and right to feel for slop or binding then reconnect the link to the steering box. A steering box that has been overly adjusted tight will tend to drag, that is you turn right, then let go of the steering wheel momentarily the car should tend to straighten out. If it stays turning right with no sign of the sttering wheel going back towards center then it may be that the steering box is a relatively new rebuilt one or it may not be adjusted properly. People tend to mis adjust these, its a CCW to tighten and you don't tighten all the way, there is supposed to be slight movement or "slop" to take work off the main working race otherwise the balls wear the race even worse. But there should not be a lot of play in the steering!
A 300TD that has everything aligned to spec and good ball joints, shocks, etc and with a good steering box is a delight to drive and it won't walllow on the road. It should feel fairly precise and responsive (much better though with 15 in wheels and good tires mounted on it!)
but this isn't a 124 chassis!