I have been trying to track down some of the steering wander that occurs on
the 82 vanagon in strong winds.  This is manual steering, no power.  The
ball joints and wheel bearings seemed to be in good shape and tight.   A
little investigation lead me to steering gear.  With the front end jacked
up there was a small amount of play (slop) allowing the road wheel to be
moved a little (maybe a quarter inch in or out) without it turning the
connecting shaft which is eventually attached to the steering wheel.  After
a little cleaning and inspection i noticed that on the bottom side of the
steering gear is a socket which appeared to allow some adjustment.  A bit
of experimenting allowed this to be tightened somewhat, reducing the slop
without affecting steering stiffness to much.  Seems to be less wind
sensitive.

The question is....has anyone done this before?  If so, is this just
putting a little pressure on the rack or pinion gear forcing them a little
tighter?  Any ideas as to what problems could be created other than maybe a
little? additional wear?

Bentley does not address this issue.

Rich
82 X Diesel  Westie