If you find you are getting excessive steering play, it may be the U
joint has cracked within the steering rod itself. This happened to me
on my 88 wolfsburg.  I had on a lift you could see that it had a minor
crack. That crack caused play when it was flexed.

Ken at Vanagain.com got me the part, once installed the steering was
tight again.

Just a thought.

Robert
NY

On Nov 13, 2008, at 7:25 PM, neil N wrote:

> Hi all.
>
> This is for an '81 Westy with manual steering.
>
> Prior symptoms:
>
> traveling straight on the highway, no bumps, steering feels like it
> *intermittently* has ~ 1/4 - 1/2" play. Front end squeeks though I
> suspect cracked strut bar bushings are creating this.
>
> Hands on tire at 6/12 o clock driver side: tiny play. Nothing at 3/9.
> Passenger side: no play at 6/12 or 3/9. No play in steering when
> moving wheel at center or near hard right/left position. (I am only
> watching the driver side wheel though)
>
> Front end on jacks, I turn the steering wheel slowly to hard right. It
> is consistently a bit harder to turn in the last turn. Turned from
> hard right, in the first 3/4 turn to left I hear a loud "clack!"
>
> I could repeat this, but after several times, the sound stopped
> happening! I put it back on the ground, bounce the front up/down
> several times, turn the wheel to hard L/R several times. It squeaks
> when turned slowly from hard right to centre  (no squeaks from other
> direction) but NO clack. Put it back up on stands, but I still can't
> recreate the noise.
>
> Is this "clack" typical of an aging rack?  I don't see any receipts
> for this part. Vehicle has much more than 350K km's. I have never seen
> a rack/pinion system but it seems almost like some teeth weren't
> lining up.
>
> I have a rack from an '85 that should fit. Is there any way to bench
> test it? I drove the '85 a short distance, but with the crappy P tires
> on it, I had no way to judge if steering was really ok.
>
> The fact that it happened, then didn't has me really bugged.
>
> Sorry for the long post but would appreciate any help or diagnostic
> tips!
>
> Neil.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Neil Nicholson '81 JettaWesty "Jaco
> http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines
> http://web.mac.com/tubaneil
> http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
>
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