Steering difficulty

[big red]

I have recently noticed "tough" spots in my steering. The amount of force I need to use to get through a corner (normal speeds) goes from easy to hard back to easy as if the steering is sticking somewhere. There is nothing visual that would lead to such an issue. Any suggestions?

[Cashburn]

Check balljoints and tie rods.

[joyridin']

If you have any u-joints in the steering linkage, check to make sure they aren't worn.

[SpeedKills]

Had the same problem with my previous BD.
Check U-joints is a ggood advise.
Moreover the angles of the whole steering shaft are quite big (by factory) to allow different engines (incl. big blocks) to build in into the engine compartment.
I modified the steering shaft in so far that I shortend the first shaft (the one mounted with the steering wheel) and lengthend the meduim shaft.
In result you get much smaller angles and steering is much smoother.

[MaSnaka]

I notice the steering shaft gets pretty hot being next to the headers after driving awhile. Is it possible the expanding shaft is causing some bind? Just throwing ideas around but perhaps loosen everything up and retighten to see if that relieves any bind. Of course I would check what the others mentioned too.

John

[big red]

I replaced the lower steering column, which provided some relief. Once the bolts were taken out of the old one, it jumped up as if it was bound the whole time. Thinking the bind damaged the steering rack, which is still causing some of the bumping.

[Kobura]

I experienced a quirk similar to the OP's description when I first drove my car, probably made more glaring because of my newness to the effort required for manual steering even though I knew I shouldn't expect it to steer like a Toyota. I put the car up on jackstands and verified that there were no kinks in the steering linkage and rack by turning the steering wheel lock to lock several times. Then I took the slack out of the coilovers so that there was no freeplay in the springs. Initially, there were over 2 inches of free hang on the driver's side and less than 1/2 inch on the passenger's side. The steering was greatly improved and I now experience uniform effort in making sharp turns.

[vatdevil]

Check your caster setting.

[Rick Parker]

It's possible that the lubrication/grease in the steering shaft u-joints has been compromised by the heat from the close proximity of the headers.