I had a wierd thing happen to me this summer with my roadster. I started noticing when I made a sharp left or right turn, the wheel would not come back on it's own and after awhile I had to tug pretty hard on it to get it back straight. It's a tube axel ,4 bar set up with a Mustang box and cross steer. I'd jack it up ,turn the wheel and it was fine. I greased it,checked for anything loose.Nothing. I never had a chance to have someone around when I was checking it out,so I could never watch the steering action and turn the wheel at the same time. Yesterday, I found out what's wrong. The drag link / steering arm is rubbing on the cross member as it swings thru it's motion. All I can figure is the spring has settled and brought the steering closer to the frame. I have driven this car for seven years and it's an older build so it's funny that all of a sudden this has happened. Do I try bending the drag link down and have the car re-aligned or grind a little off of the cross member? I have to get it on a lift first and make sure something else isn't bent,I know.
It is possible that it is turning too far, and going over center, or you might be at the end of the slots in the gear box, and it might be snagging or even have a lot of wear at that point in the gear box, and getting stuck in the wear. Try putting a couple steering limiters at the spindles, and adjust them to prevent going quite as far as they do, and then test. Continue adjusting them just until the problem subsides, and tighten them up.
..............or, you could get the spring re-arched or replace it, then make sure everything clears under all load conditions.
I would be concerned that the draglink and arm are so close to the crossmember that they are now rubbing. Has it ever touched on potholes or rough road surfaces ? What has probably happened is that the car settled a little bit at a time over the years and finally got to the touching point. If your clearances were ok before I would just reset the ride height to where it was originally with maybe a new spring. Dropping down like that would also change your caster, which could be a contributor too. Don
I ran into the same problem about 5 years ago 0n my roadster,,the solution was pretty simple,,I used a spacer between the cross member and the spring. I figured the spring had just lost some of it arch,,after I added the spacer I never had another problem. HRP
Or that. It would be one of those quick fixes that would tell you if the clearance is your problem too, without spending money on a new spring. Don
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