Slight Play in steering

[blueg33]

My car has very slight play in the steering, ie, a sligt say 1 degree turn of the wheel appears to do nothing.

It was fine at MOT time and Power said nothing about it.

1. is this normal?
2. what is the likely cause/fix?

Recent work on steering is as follows:

new track rod end
drop link bearing and rose joint
steering column bearing

Cheers

[nrick]

steering column u/j? could be in the rack itself

[blueg33]

Thanks Neill.

Is there any way to adjust the play in either the UJ or the rack? I know you can on some cars (not that I have done it myself)

[nrick]

There will always be a little play, it is just knowing if it is in limit or not. Best to try someone elses. 1deg doesn't seem a lot though

[blueg33]

nrick said:

There will always be a little play, it is just knowing if it is in limit or not. Best to try someone elses. 1deg doesn't seem a lot though

At some point I would like to see your car, it will be interesting to compare the steering.

[nrick]

Came past your place yesterday! On the way back from playing in Birmingham. Just changing the belts and sorting a noisy alternator.

[Basil Brush]

I've recently gone through all my steering system to get rid of the play that had built up over the 11 years. The parts that had play were:

1. In the nylon bearing at the top of the column where the steering wheel height adjustment pivots
2. In the sliding coupling inside the footwell that attaches to the lower end of the column
3. Within the pinion input torsion bar valve assembly on the rack itself

I hadn't realised quite how much play had built up over the years but the car is so much better to drive again.