Steering wheel 'slap'

tedder · tedder's Garage

The car:

86 911 Carrera, lowered by PO, new front wheel bearings 5k miles ago

The Symptom:

Yesterday and then again this morning, the steering wheel on my car sort of vibrated up and down while on a rough road (repaving thanks to the stimulus plan) and this was accompanied by a metal on ?? slapping sound. It still seems to steer OK, and the wheels don't feel loose, but I am somewhat worried about what might be failing.

The Question:

My guess is that a bushing somewhere in the front end has cracked and maybe fallen out of place but I am not sure quite what and where to check for this. Hopefully I am not taking my life in my hands (more than usual) to drive it home tonight. Commuting traffic will at least guarantee a slow speed on the return.

Thanks for suggestions of what and where to check.

Ted

Rot 911 · 07-06-2009, 11:21 AM

Bump steer kit.

mike monde · 07-06-2009, 11:25 AM

Bump steer kit. +1
After having my first 911 lowered w/o a bump steer kit, had the same symptoms.
You will notice a huge difference.

tedder · tedder's Garage

I'll accept that it may need a bump-steer kit, but what would cause this to start happening suddenly? I have owned this car for 3 and a half years and this is a new behavior, especially the sound

Ted

john walker's workshop · 07-06-2009, 11:55 AM

can you move the steering wheel up/down/sideways? the top column bearing plastic inner "race" can break up and cause this.

jkrowas · 07-06-2009, 01:03 PM

If you can't move the steering wheel up and down, then check the tightness of the pinch bolts on the universal joints between the steering wheel and the rack. I had the same sort of metallic-sounding vibration over rough roads, and it wasn't the steering column bushing, it was a loose u-joint.

DW SD · 07-06-2009, 01:52 PM

With respect, I don't think it is the lack of bumpsteer kit.

Almost seems like guys are diagnosing on key words: "lowered steering wheel slap rough road" without reading the rest of the symptoms description.

Also check that your wheels installed properly and torqued?

Doug

tedder · tedder's Garage

Seems like I have lost the plastic inner race on the steering column. I can move the steering wheel about 1/4" in any direction sitting in the parking spot. I have double checked the wheels as well btw.

I have thought before about getting a bump-steer kit, is there an easy way to check if I already have one in place though? (As I said earlier, it was the PO that lowered it).

Thanks again to the pelican's who have responded. Owning this car for the last 3 and a half years has been far cheaper and less intimidating having all of you to answer my questions.

T

don gilbert · don gilbert's Garage

look where your rack bolts to your x-member, there will be spacers there if the kit was installed

tedder · tedder's Garage

Over the weekend I replaced the steering wheen bushing with the new metal replacement and also added a weltmeister bump-steer kit.

The 'slap' was definitely the bushing. When I got the steering wheel off there were lots of little bits of broken plastic from the old bushing. The ne one went in easily with the one sad note being I put a scratch on my momo wheel tightening the nut back down

The bump steer kit was a major pain to install though. Having the jack stands under the torsion bar mounts up front (per 101 projects) meant I had to slide under the car behind the front wheels and had very little room to work. Then there was a 'thingy' right by the steering rack bolt on the drivers side that was not in the directions or pictures, and it was rusted in place so I had to bend its mount to access the bolt. Lining up the holes for the rack, spacer, and crosspiece was a pain and I kept fearing I would accidentally puncture the gas tank. When they were finally lined up, I had a devil of a time getting the new bolt to grab the threads and start. The last bolt alone took me over an hour under the car with crap falling in my eyes the whole time.

This was when I realized I don't like working on the car that much, I just like the pride of knowing that I did it.

In the end though it was all worth it. The slap is gone, and the steering has lost the bump-effect, and I also think the steering is a tad bit lighter as well.

Next up (in a month or two) new shift bushings...

Paulporsche · 07-13-2009, 07:05 AM

Quote by tedder:

This was when I realized I don't like working on the car that much, I just like the pride of knowing that I did it.

LOL! That certainly CAN happen! I had a CIS problem recently that was driving me (and I think some Pelicans) bonkers for a while. It's hard to top that feeling you get now that it's finally resolved.