I had a similar thing.
I was reading in Bentely ..
if I remember right, they said to disconnect the tie rods ...
and measure resistance at the steering wheel , if it was above a certain
value 'replace rack'

not much help actually.
I would undo the tie rods, so you are just down to the rack, pump, steering
shaft and little v-box steering box under there, that you'd never now was
there ........so how it acts then.

I also undo the coupler to the rack, and turn the rack  by hand, and see how
smooth it is throughout the whole range.

you can see how easily each upright pivots then too. Jack under the lower
arm , to get it back more to ride height, and not hanging down height.
I think there's  trouble shooting chart in Bently worth looking at too.

there's a filter screen in the bottom of the PS resevoir that some people
are not aware of.
Won't hurt to check that.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Golen" <rgolen@HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 1:51 PM
Subject: Binding Steering....

Hi!

A couple of days ago I noticed the power steering on my 87 Westy  began to
feel "heavy" as I drove out of my driveway. After driving a bit it seemed to
get better. So I chalked it up to the fact that the temp was in the low
teens and perhaps something iced up.

However it has now lasted a couple of days. Here's what it is doing. As long
as I turn the steering wheel left or right up to 90 degrees, when I let go
of the wheel (while the van is moving) the steering wheel goes back to the
straight position. However if I have to turn it more than 90 degrees I can
feel a bit of binding. When I let go of the steering wheel (again while the
van is moving) the wheel will start moving back to the center, and then
binds up around 45 degrees from center.

Any ideas of what the problem could be? I replaced the P/S rack about 18
months ago and put in new tie rod ends at the same time.

Ric

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