steering jerks

[illnastyimpreza]

my steering is feeling rather loose. If I turn fast to the right it turns right away....But if I turn fast and then straighten it out (like a fast lane change) the car "JERKS" back over to the left when I straighten it out. It feels like something is loose...tie rods? steering rack?

anyone have problems similar to this?
Its a 91 L wagon with 230,000 miles on the clock

[scottzg]

climb under the car and have someone wiggle the steering wheel. Look at the steering rack. It shouldn't move; if it does, get new steering rack bushings, tighten the rack, or shim it somehow.

[illnastyimpreza]

I found a wrx steering rack pretty cheap...would it fit? If not...would the 96-01 legacy racks fit?

[evolutionmovement]

Finally found mine doing the same thing. I need to get some good mounts.

Steve

[illnastyimpreza]

tell me when you fix yours, what the problem was, and if it solved it. I hope its not the rack itself......but even if its not I'll probably have to replace is sometime anyway.

[scottzg]

did you check the rack mounts?

[evolutionmovement]

Yeah, jack the car up and try to move the wheel in and out. It might look like a bad inner tie rod, but if you look close you should see the rack itself moving a little before stiffening up. This shouldn't be that easy to do. It's been bugging me since I put the new wheels on and I think the wider tires just brought the problem to the fore. I blamed it on the alignment, but that was fine. Tie rods and balljoints were good so I started to think it was the wheel offset change causing bad bump steer even though the newer wheels are more correct as they're factory items. Doing the WRX brakes I checked the front end again and noticed the rack moving slightly.

I can't wait to swap the mounts out and go back to the straight line highway stability and the ability to carve a corner and hit an apex where I've aimed for it without moving the wheel around to compensate for the steering angle change. DOn't hold your breath for me - it's cold as a bastard here with snow on the ground. If your rack is at fault, it would kind of stick on and off as you turn. Providing water hasn't gotten in thrrough ripped boots or something, the rack is less likely to blame.

Steve

[illnastyimpreza]

cool thanks, ill check it out when I get done un burrying my car.