Shuddering in steering

[vxr500]

My p/s ball joint was making a popping noise during slow uphill turns, so I figured I would just order a new set of assembled A arms from LMR and have them installed. They went in fine, except for the d/s ball joint not accepting grease through the zerk fitting. Tried a few different fittings, no dice, so LMR is sending another set.

Meanwhile at the same time (which seems fishy), my steering is making a clicking sound and shuddering at low speeds as soon as you turn the wheel off center. Fluid level seems fine and with the car in the air and the steering unlocked in the key ACC position, the wheels move with ease. Is my pump failing? Seems weird to coincide with the A arm installation.

[erratic50]

Seems like symptoms of a rack nearing failure. Does it also turn harder one way than the other or at times tend to pull itself in one direction?

When is the last time the fluid was changed? Is the PS pump making noticeable amounts of noise?

Im not a great example of being patient and troubleshooting stuff on this. There is a point where the original stuff is all tired and belongs in the spare parts bin when it comes to steering. Case in point - My 86 has over 455K miles and had the original rack and pump and perhaps even fluid except for what had leaked out of the seals over the years. When I rebuilt my frontend I bought a reman rack, a reman pump, and a transmission cooler to replace the "cooling loop" bs Ford put on factory. I put on new lines and went to an underdrive crank pulley and a repop of the 93 cobra water pump "overdrive" pulley from Summit. I filled the system with fresh - $15/qt - synthetic PS and hit the switch. Guess what NO pump noise! None! Silence, for the first time since about 1992! And the steering feels better than my brand new Lincoln.

I still have my old black resivour pump and someday I might even switch the tanks so I have the correct color. Then again I might not.

As for the rack, that went back to Autozone as a core. The replacement rack was identical in every measurable way so I didn't waste any time worrying about if the new rack was somehow inferior to the old. To think someone will end up with that thing after a reman/rebuild. It served me very faithfully and here's hoping the next guy is as fortunate.

[vxr500]

Seems like symptoms of a rack nearing failure. Does it also turn harder one way than the other or at times tend to pull itself in one direction?

When is the last time the fluid was changed? Is the PS pump making noticeable amounts of noise?

Im not a great example of being patient and troubleshooting stuff on this. There is a point where the original stuff is all tired and belongs in the spare parts bin when it comes to steering. Case in point - My 86 has over 455K miles and had the original rack and pump and perhaps even fluid except for what had leaked out of the seals over the years. When I rebuilt my frontend I bought a reman rack, a reman pump, and a transmission cooler to replace the "cooling loop" bs Ford put on factory. I put on new lines and went to an underdrive crank pulley and a repop of the 93 cobra water pump "overdrive" pulley from Summit. I filled the system with fresh - $15/qt - synthetic PS and hit the switch. Guess what NO pump noise! None! Silence, for the first time since about 1992! And the steering feels better than my brand new Lincoln.

I still have my old black resivour pump and someday I might even switch the tanks so I have the correct color. Then again I might not.

As for the rack, that went back to Autozone as a core. The replacement rack was identical in every measurable way so I didn't waste any time worrying about if the new rack was somehow inferior to the old. To think someone will end up with that thing after a reman/rebuild. It served me very faithfully and here's hoping the next guy is as fortunate.

No weird noises from the pump and the rack was replaced about 3k miles ago. I was going to change the fluid to see if that helps, but it is clean.

[vxr500]

I notice it is wandering a little more on the freeway lately. I was blaming it on the lousy NJ roads.

[Walking-Tall]

No slop in the inner/outer tie rod ends? Toe-in within range?

[vxr500]

No slop in the inner/outer tie rod ends? Toe-in within range?

Tie rods looked good. I haven't had an alignment since the rack was put in, but that was only a few thousand miles ago. I'm going to have the p/s fluid changed and have the new a arm put in and see if that helps. Maybe I got a bad rack.

[cb84capri]

Go get one of these:

https://www.harborfreight.com/mechan...ope-63296.html

These things are a godsend when trying to chase down mysterious sounds. They are especially awesome for pinpointing engine accessory drive noises, like the power steering pump You might be able to hear the sound in the rack, ball joint, or wherever with the car parked and a friend turning the wheels. An alignment when the problem is found is probably not a bad idea either. Other things to check are the struts and plates, lug nuts, steering shaft and rag joint, rack bushings and bolts.

Good luck,
Cale

[OldManRiver]

This same issue was discussed over on the Corral recently,maybe that thread can be helpful.
He replaced control arms with new,ended up being the ball joints in the new arms.New low friction ball joints were installed and the shudder went away.
Good luck

http://forums.corral.net/forums/gene...n-stopped.html

[erratic50]

We're the rack bushings properly installed? Was the rack torqued down properly? Definitely double check your balljoints, although the factory ones on my 86GT went over 450K and were still sealed up and tight like a new one when I removed them.

How are your A arm bushings? Frequently those are total rubbish on these cars by now. Putting in new bushings and balljoints sucked, I'll buy new lower control arms next time!

The way you can tell if your bushings are rubbish is if you hit the brakes and you feel the nose raise as the rear comes up too. Then when you get stopped fully and it settles everything drops significantly and the weight sorta rocks back and forth. Have your buddy film you stopping completely with a camera facing right st the front wheels.