stiff steering !

[bigyagi]

i have left the car standing for over 3 months. only occasionally firing the car up to keep the battery charged. went to take it for a little drive and the steering was extremely stiff. it would stay in whatever position you left it. u could do a circle all day without touching the steering wheel.
anyhoo. jacked up the front end, and with the wheels hanging, started the eng and tried the steering again. better but still stiff. took off the tie rods and much better ! i grabbed the right hub and it moved freely from end to end. tried the left side, and what a noise ! the hub was binding and making noise. however, its binding right at the top of the strut assembly, where the steel cup seats below the holding nut.
question. can i pull this apart, and re-grease it ? or is it a new strut assembly?
never had this problem before.
i initially suspected the power steering rack, but its definately at the top of the strut. you can see it all rotate and bind all with the accompanying noise !

[JonA]

They don't like to turn when the suspension is fully extended when you have the car up in the air. It will rub at that steel cup and make noise but will not do it when the suspension is loaded.
If you are going to take everything apart to try to lubricate, just replace the bearing and be done with it.
With my struts the problem was wear and play at the top of the tower. Replacing is pretty straightforward except that you need an alignment when you are done.
There is a spacer/bushing next to the bearing and if it is worn it will cause the bearing to bind when you reassemble and torque the big top nut. That part is not available. I had to add a washer to create enough space for the bearing.
good luck,
Jon

[Gawernator]

How exactly do you check the strut tower bearing for play? I replaced my inserts and couldn't really tell what to look for but everything feels good

[JonA]

With mine I first noticed up and down play in the strut when the wheel was off the ground. Once I got the strut apart you could feel the bearing moving all over the place. Easy diagnosis.
Front end feels much tighter with the new bearings. Big difference.

Jon

[Jfrahm]

Unless I am sorely mistaken, the strut bearing and strut shaft does not have to rotate for you to be able to steer, in fact it shouldn't. The strut body rotates around the chrome shaft and piston. Shocks and struts can lock up if internal parts fail, you mail have a bad one. Thankfully the inserts are cheap to replace on an early car. The upper bearing is cheap for early cars too. Look into bump stops also if you replace parts, if they disintegrate you can destroy the struts by bottoming them out. I just got some KYB bump stop and dust boot combos I kinda like for $12 a side. They might fit the early cars too.

-Joel.

[Gawernator]

I pulled off very good shape OEM dust boot/bump stop combos for the early car a couple weeks ago if you need them