I read this article,

http://www.mazspeed.com/steeringgear.htm

how do i tell that the ball joints, tie rods, idler arm, pitman arm and wheel bearings are all in good condition and properly adjusted?


"wonder steering" sucks

 

check and replace.... the balljoints, tie rods, and idler arms shouldn't have any play beside the rotation they have to do (which should be pretty obvious), and the wheel bearings shouldn't allow any movement of the wheel besides in circles, so side-to-side play is baaaad. There's tolerances for all of those things in the Haynes manual I'm pretty sure...