Front End Slop

Tech tips and how to's

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RustBucket
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Model: 1500/1600
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Front End Slop

Post by RustBucket »

When I first got the car it would wander all over the road, on acceleration, braking or just trying to go straight on the highway.
I read numerous posts here and jiggled all I could on the front end. This lead me to replace the lower ball joints and upper a-arm pivots. That fixed a lot. After that, on acceleration or braking the car stayed straight. I next replaced the steering idler. I had heard they get worn so I found a used one with no play and dropped that in. The old one had about a 1/16" play in the shaft. That helped a lot keeping the car straight. It's pretty decent now when I drive it, but it still seems to wander around when going down the road.

So the question remains, how do I test or check the rest of the components? How much play should the steering wheel have? Measured at the steering wheel edge, I have maybe 2 inches.
I have a steering box that I could drop in. How do you test the linkages? What else should I check and how? Could this also be caused by bad alignment (I've never had it aligned)? Should I just try tightening the steering box?
Thanks
Rustbucket
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
67.5 1600
Orange County, CA
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Linda
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Re: Front End Slop

Post by Linda »

Try a good alignment. Wandering is one symptom of a bad alignment. The Tech Wiki has the specs, don't count on the shop. Ask the shop if they have and use shims, some do not .
You can do some of the alignment yourself too. Archives have info on that.
Linda
Sadly-Linda has passed away 2022. She was the 311's den mother and drove the first Rare-Parts ball joint project. RIP.
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dbrick
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Re: Front End Slop

Post by dbrick »

2 inches is a bit much. Boxes tend to wear in the straight ahead position, so if you do adjust it, go a little at a time and make sure it doesn't bind at full left or right. Drain and refill with thicker gear oil can help too.
Alignment is always important, but get all your parts changed or adjusted first.

Dave Brisco

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bobd
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Re: Front End Slop

Post by bobd »

I have had several alignment shops say they can align the roadster and then when their machine does not list it, they are lost.
Ask them if they can enter specs into their alignment computer. Usually they cannot or have no clue how to. Adding shims will also leave most of the younger guys baffled. I finally bought some caster / camber gauges and toe plates and did it myself.
Do some searches here on specs. I first used the original specs and though the car went straight, it was very twitchy. I increased the caster to 3.0 and the car is way more stable. I've seen specs listed here up to around 3.5 degrees.
'69 1600 with SR20DE
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Linda
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Re: Front End Slop

Post by Linda »

Sadly-Linda has passed away 2022. She was the 311's den mother and drove the first Rare-Parts ball joint project. RIP.
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RustBucket
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Re: Front End Slop

Post by RustBucket »

So I did the home check of toe in/out and found that it was toe out about 1/4". I re-adjusted it to about 1/16" toe in. It is much better now on the highway and straights. I didn't realize how much that would make a difference and it was surprisingly easy.
I think I will still change out the steering box, but it will be a later project.
Thanks,
Rustbucket
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
67.5 1600
Orange County, CA
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