Steering Not Returning to Where It Was

[Lawrence Coppari]

I have a 1986 944 T that is a track car but also one of my daily drivers. It has stock A arms and a 28 mm sway bar on the front and an adjustable one on the rear. I have the adjustable camber upper shock mounts so I can change camber when I go to the track.

For as long as I can remember, the steering has exhibited a peculiarity. If I make a sharp turn, like a right or left turn from a stop sign, the car will want to pull to one side for a while. After several miles of driving, the tracking returns to normalcy.

This past weekend I was at Road Atlanta. I turned onto the highway and observed the car pulling slightly to one side as usual. After a few miles, the road pavement changed with a bit of a drop off - new pavement ended. As soon as the car hit the 1 inch drop off, the steering returned to normal.

I put the car on my rack and got my wife to turn the steering wheel back and forth while I felt the areas where A-arms are connected to cross member or elsewhere. They move a little but spring back. The rack also moves a little in its moorings to the cross member but springs back. Both have rubber mounts to isolate the driver from the road. A arm ball joints are ok.

Does anyone have any suggestions about what I might be overlooking.

[running_cold924]

maybe a tight or rusty balljoint...may look okay on the outside but underneath the boot my be different story...see if you can pell it back and take a look or use a syringe and squirt some pb blaster or wd 40 into it and see if that helps. also check tie-rod ends for same problem.

thats where i'd start

[chrenan]

Sounds like a worn u-joint on the intermediate shaft that runs between the rack and the steering column. Had the exact same symptom on my 924 a few years ago.

[TexasBlake]

By putting it in the rack and having someone turn the wheel you won't really see what binds.

You need to leave it on the ground and have someone turn the steering wheel lightly, enought to not allow the wheels to move back and forth. Then look at everything and see if you have any movement.

I will say that I had similar problems, and it ended up being a BAD ball joint on the passenger side. Rotating the steering wheel won't really diagnose a bad ball joint though. You'll have to jack the car up or put it in the lift for that. Then try moving the wheels/tires and if there's movement its either the bad ball joint or bad wheel bearings. You'll be able to see it if it's bad ball joints.

[Lawrence Coppari]

I think I found the problem. Both front wheel bearings had slop in them. The manual says to tighten the retaining split nut to the extent where you can just move the washer behind with a screwdriver or some other implement without prying. That is what I have been doing for a long time and I have had this problem for a long time. I removed a wheel and tried to wiggle it. It would move relative to the spindle. I removed the brake pads and tightened the nut considerably more - I cannot move the washer anymore. There is no play in the wheel and it turns with no binding. Wheel spins with no indication of drag. Took the car out for a test drive and did not notice the slight pull after the sharp turn. Maybe that was it.

Thanks for help.

Maybe I found it.