Steering wheel play problem or not?

[peter66]

My Griff has a small play in the steering wheel. One can move it a little left to right in the center position, without loading/moving the wheels. Reading the archive posts this could be normal. I think the previous owner replaced the UJs and I am suspecting the steering column. Before rushing out to a breaker to find a Cavalier Mk3 (Vectra they are called here)replacement I would very much like your experts view on this.

Thanks,

Peter

[rcarr]

A worn something...

Are you sure the previous owner changed the UJs? Maybe something just needs tightened up rather than replaced.

[spend]

Cant you get a helper to 'jiggle' the steering wheel whilst you feel where the play is? Feel the shafts all the way down to the rack to see if you can get a better idea of what has the play in.

Dave

[peter66]

Thanks Dave. Sorry that I can not be more specific. The car is now at a garage, where I can not easily access it. On the one hand I can not imagine that it's the steering column, because the play is radial (E.g same plane as the wheel turns.) The column from what I understand has two bearings through which the shaft runs. If there is play on this it would result in up and down play or am I wrong on this? Best would indeed be to put it on a ramp and feel where the play is coming from.

Peter

[GreenV8S]

Do you mean you can move the whole wheel up/down/sideways? That points to worn upper/lower bearings on the column. Wear elsewhere would show up as rotational play.

[FlipFlopGriff]

Do you have a plate that encloses the steering column and is attached to the bulkhead - you can see this easily of you take off the front o/s wheel. The column goes through the centre of the plate and the plate is screwed into the fibreglass. As mine has done 200,000 miles it is likely fractured with age and usage. This manifested itself in some play in my pre cat whre I could move the steering wheel a couple of mm in all directions, which has been fixed. It was a UK MOT failure but I knew about it and he told me to get it fixed which I was going to anyway.
FFG

[peter66]

It's just as GreenV8S described: Rotational play. I don't think I can move it up and down as Flipflopgriff described. 200.000 miles WOW! Are there any higher mileage Griffs around? I am just wondering if a little rotational play is acceptable or not? I hope I don't need to replace the rack!

Thanks,

Peter

[GreenV8S]

peter66 said:

I am just wondering if a little rotational play is acceptable or not? I hope I don't need to replace the rack!

You will find there is some flex in the suspension bushes etc so you can move the steering wheel slightly without the wheels following, but you should be able to feel the steering starting to load up with the slightest movement; there should be no perceptible free play. (Does that make any sense?)

[Ballistic Banana]

I have a reasonably new re-con rack ( 4 years ) new u j's and still experience a small amount of play with the turning of the steering wheel..I cant stress enough that is a real small amount of play maybe no more than 5mm turning it either way.. MOT passed no problem.

IMHO if the UJ's where worn and gone it would be more knotchy as you turned the wheel.

BB

[spend]

Watching the Track rod ends whilst turning the intermediate shaft with mole grips is an easy way to see I find.

Dave

[gingerprince]

Do you have PAS? If so then there should be a small amount of play in a PAS rack. There should be non if you're non-PAS.

[peter66]

Thanks all for the feedback. It's a non-PAS pre-CAT 4.3. I also think it's not the UJs, because the play is not notchy. It feels like a loose bolt, because it's very easy to move the steering wheel a bit left and right. I am just thinking if my rack might have been replaced by a PAS one. Is there a way to identify the rack as PAS or non-PAS?

Peter

[spend]

It will have pipes where the fluid is pumped round if is is a PAS rack

Dave