steering wheel stiffness-opinions?

Hi all

My 76 912E (same steering mech as a 911S) recently decided to become sort of stiff in the steering feel. It's not that I can't steer it, but, for example, the wheel doesn't snap back upon exiting a corner. Or, when driving down the highway, it has a VERY strong on center feeling, and it resisits turning. What is my culprit?

Thanks in advance to all replies!

My suspicion is that you may have a torn boot on the steering rack, or maybe the factory grease job inside the rack has dried out, or caked. In either case, you need to pull the rack, complete with tie-rod ends, off for inspection and cleaning. It would be a good time to inspect those tie-rods to see if you want to install the 'turbo tie-rod' kit. A premium-quality moly grease like SWEPCO 101 is what the steerimg rack needs inside, along with protection from the elements by a good set of boots! The turbo tie-rod kit includes a new pair of dust boots for the rack, as a bonus!

------------------
Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

Warren

I drove through a couple of horrendous Thunderstorms lately, perhaps the deluge of water underneath the car contributed to removing what, if any, grease remained on the rack (assuming my boot has deteriorated as you specuated). After drying out, do you thinks its plausible that I would experience the symptoms you described b/c of that?

Dave

I really don't know. Your ball joints may have cracked seals/boots, too, and may be the problem, or may be contributing to it, too. I would recommend getting the front end up on jack stands and take a good look at everything, looking for evidence of recent damage, grease coming out where it shouldn't be!

------------------
Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

Thanks Warren! I'll do that soon. Maybe Sunday.

Cheers

I can't find anything in the factory manual about disassembly/reassembly of the steering rack. Is this relatively easy to do for a fresh coat of grease? Thanks, Tom Roy

Actually, it is very easy, once you have the rack off the car! Just remove the old boots, take the cover off the center of the rack, wipe or scrape as much of the old grease off, spray or brush degreasing solvent on the whole area and allow to soak for five minutes or so, go back and brush away as much of the grease away as you run the rack back and forth a couple of times, adding more solvent as required. Rinse and flush with more solvent until all traces of the old grease is gone. Allow to dry for at least an hour.

Apply liberal amout of moly grease to entire length of rack gearing, work rack back and forth several times, adding additional grease as required. A plastic picnis knife is a good tool for applying the grease. Replace center cover. Be sure old boots are crack-free, or install new boots. Re-attach rack to car and be sure to use the correct torque on all fasteners!.

------------------
Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa