Strange behaviour of an 80 series steering wheel

[Emo]

I have noticed something very strange about the steering wheel in my 80 series Landcruiser, it is never straight even though the wheels are. Whilst that in itself might not be odd, sometimes it is 10 degrees to the right and other times 10 degrees to the left.
Any ideas as to what might cause a steering wheel to move around like that? Sttering seems to be OK, perhaps not as sharp and weighted as I'd like but nothing out of the odinary.

[runnin4life]

check around the power steering box they have thing or peeling off the chassis and same with the pan hard mount

[dow50r]

More info....did u do something to the height lately??? does the car wander?? if no to the above, chassis cracked or steering box loose.
Andrew

[Emo]

More info....did u do something to the height lately??? does the car wander?? if no to the above, chassis cracked or steering box loose.
Andrew

I've just put in castor bushes if that helps. When I bought the truck, it had recently been fitted with a 2 inch kift. The car wanders a little bit but not as much as it used to. I drove a mates 80 series recently and his steered if it was on rails. He has a 2 inch lift as well. Mine feels sloppy in comparison.

How would I check if the steering box is loose?

[RV80]

How would I check if the steering box is loose?

By tightening the 4 bolts that hold it onto the chassis rail.

[Emo]

Ok, checked that out and the nuts were nice and tight.

Any other suggestions. Happened again this morning. Left the house and the steering wheel was about 10 degrees offcentre to the left. Drove like that most of the way to work. Went around a tight roundabout and it was then pointing 10 degrees to the right. All the time the wheels are straight.

[beanz2]

Worn sector shaft? Have a mate turn the steering wheel and look at the arm's movements.

There was a thread here about how somebody broke his steering box. Search for it, IIRC it started with similar symptoms.

Dave

[dow50r]

Mate, my suggestion is to get your cruiser into a wheel aligner and tell them whats happening....unless you know someone proficient to diagnose this, it could be anything....from steering box to panny bushes
A good aligning shop will diagnose as part of the price of an alignment (which you will probably need anyway)
If yours is an early 1990-1991 cruiser, chassis cracks are common, all 80's are suseptable to loosing the bolts from the lower swivel bearings, aswell as twisting sector shafts in steering boxes if it is lifted high.
Andrew