Front suspension checking (not the steering box though)
 

I am now almost convinced that something other than my steering box is at blame for my sloppy steering (I have about 1-1.5 inches of play on the steering wheel). Can someone please inform me as to what I should check and how I go about doing that? I've heard all the things like "check the ball joints", but I have virtually no clue as to what I'm actually checking for.

I did already replace the idler arm bushings and there isn't anything that's noticably broken/bent. My steering box is supposed to be good and I'd rather not ruin it by trying to adjust it.

Thanks guys.

Well, first of all I'll be an asshole and tell you to do a search. :mad:

Now that I've done my part to scare away people asking questions :rolleyes: here's what you should do.

The steering system on any car is dependant on all the components working in concert for proper operation. On the '79-85 RX-7, the steering is considered by most to be the weakest part of the car, followed closely by the solid rear axle, but that's another story.

Get yourself a manual, be it Haynes or preferably a factory manual, and check each and every component in the steering system. That includes the idler arms, ball joints, wheel bearings and Pitman arm. If all components are in spec, then you will have to turn your attention to the steering box. Check out http://www.wankel.net/~krwright/files/1985_RX-7_FSM/ for a 1985 factory manual. It should have all the information you need to check your steering components. If you have to attack the steering box itself, check out http://www.mazspeed.com/steeringgear.htm .

Good luck.

Thanks for the link to the FSM, that's a good site I didn't know about.

That said, I can't figure out where you come off acting like I did something wrong. Why don't you do a search and then you'll see that every single post on steering problems ends with a post just like yours saying "fix your steering box" and "check the components". That is not useful. I want to know what I'm checking and what it will look like if it's wrong or right.

Seems kinda premature to jump to the conclusion that just because there have been a lot of posts about adjusting the steering box every aspect of the problem has been addressed. Re-read my post and you'll see that this isn't what I'm asking for. Thanks for the try, but don't be an ass without doing your research.

Whoa buddy. Calm down a second here.

I was trying to point out that a lot of the users of this forum jump on questions like yours and tell them to search instead of providing any usefull information. I'm casting no dispersions on you or your question, trust me.

In other words, I was being sarcastic. ;)

I guess I'll have to be more clear in the future.

As for giving you the instructions on how to check the components, my FSM wasn't in front of me at the time, so I linked to the online FSM and trusted you would be able to do a little reading and check yourself what needed to be done. Silly me. :rolleyes:

Redwood...

As long as you have the manual steering box you can do BobRx's mod to it as outlined at Mazspeed.com. The above posted link is the one.

The "wander" steering our cars posess is a different animal than the "sloppy" steering. I've done almost every component of my front suspension and it still will "track" like crazy on a rutted road.

However...Until you do the steering box adjustment metioned above, you will continue to have the slop.

Trust me, it's a MUST for our lousy steering systems at this point in the car's life.

jerij