Hey guys, I have a 1991 Trans Am 'vert which I bought back in August. I haven't driven the car much but I noticed that it feels "floaty," especially on rougher roads. It kinda feels like it wants to pull in random directions and feels like there's a pretty big dead zone in the wheel when driving straight. It's not very relaxing lol. This thing has almost 99,000 miles. What can it be?

 

shocks and struts are probably shot, sounds likethe steering box is sloppy, or other steering linkage parts are worn out

 

Gotcha, well I'm kinda renovating that area of the car this winter. I just wanted to know what I should pay special attention to. Sorry if this is a dumb question but I have a terrible time knowing part's names. This is a strut right?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KYB-A...item5ace02e8cd
lol I know it says "strut" there but sometimes the pictures on ebay get mixed up.
That's very expensive, I'm wondering if I can find any cheaper good ones. Any ideas?

And I'll rebuild the steering system as well, I'll see if I can leave the box for now...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Steer...item5884b93b05
Any idea if that's a good brand? Thanks! I'm assuming the idler arm is bad but I'll probably replace everything while I'm in that deep.

 

hi, i noticed that the rebuild kit is 150 on that ebay website. i have to say wow, not bad. But one way i noticed to check the steering is to: turn key to on(not start) and move the steering without force wheel back and forth just till test the slop-not complete turns.. is the slop more than 2-3 inches? should be about 1/2-1inch i believe. Open the hood and pull back the steering shaft plastic cover and look for the rag joint before the steering box. on the shaft. test the slop in the steering wheel again. if the shaft turns a lot before the rag joint and the steering box shaft barley moves, you may have just a bad rag joint 10 bucks. if when the front end is raised, and the steering box seems to lag, i heard you can adjust the endpay on top of the box.
Im rebuilding the power steering system. steering box, hoses, pump. I swapped the pump with a rebuilt one, and picked up the pressure hose and return hose. tonight im rebuilding the box. ill let you know how it goes. check that rag joint, also that ebay link for the struts, thats the price all around. check out summitracing.com and autoanything.com

 

shock rebound is the usual cause for the float feeling.
get adjustable shocks or ones with different internal settings.

pulling side to side will be something else.

 

I'd personally be a bit uneasy about the e-bay parts. You might consider the kit that Spohn or 1A sells. After replacement, try adjusting the steering box before you replace it.

JamesC

 

OK well I took my T/A out today and drove it for about 30 miles (one last time before we get snow). I noticed that I've been exaggerating a little (it's been a while since I drove it when I originally posted this thread). But it's still floaty on bumpy roads. It drives as if on rails on a fresh smooth roads but even small bumps start upsetting it and make it wander a bit. And driving on roads with ruts carved into them is pretty bad. It's not terrible, but I doubt its supposed to do that and I'd like to fix that.

It also slightly pulls to one direction. But I think that's because of the curvature in the road (center is a little higher than the sides) since it pulls to the left while driving on the left lane on a highway, straight on centerlanes/onramps, and pulls right a bit while in the right lane/regular roads. I just didn't expect that much pull. I usually keep the wheel about an inch off center to keep it going straight. It seems to pull a little harder than my DR (94 Jimmy). I know, truck vs f-body but still.

The steering box actually seems to have less slop that I thought. With the engine off, the wheel turns only about an 1 1/4 inches (total) before it feels to be doing anything. So I guess that's within spec but I'd like it to be just a hair tighter.

So any pointers guys? I appreciate the help!

 

check out this link if this describes your slop with wheel.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...el-issues.html
and this:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...g-box-wtf.html

heres a link to set the steering box: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...nsion-how.html. if you rebuild it, ive been using these links : https://www.thirdgen.org/steeringboxrebuild http://www.fourwheeler.com/techartic...ild/index.html www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=570869 good links for rebuild even some suggestions on setting the lash on the box to eliminate the play.

heres complete diagrams for the power steering gear and torque values, ones i trust http://www.chevelles.com/techref/shea_2.html

 

i rebuilt it. its nice. heres a prepp paint pic. ill post the finished pic tomorrow.

 

heres another. i got the filter for the return hose to pump. im swapping the pump too, new lines. i adjusted the box pretty nice. i seen how the slop i get in box, engineered pretty solid. I had people shake their head at work like this, from ACE, Chevy dealer, etc, i stuck to it. its easy but only thanks to the tech thread on the steering box (thanks JT). It was a hassle removing from car. because the fender bracket cover one of the head on the bolts the hold in the gear box. I had to remove screws, battery tray screw hidden to remove the fender bracket. other than that aside from the pitman arm puller and socket, i was good.

 

Thanks for the pictures man!

and UPDATE: Today I took my car on a spirited drive and here's what I experienced:

It gets upset my bumps and holes in the road, not awful, but exhibits some bump steer.

On the highway, it feels pretty good, except for again, the bumps/grooves in the road. I noticed that if the wheels fall into a groove, the car likes to follow it, even if its pretty small.

Again on the highway, the car starts feeling uncertain above 75-80 mph. The dead zone in the wheel seems to get a little bigger, hard to tell though. If the road surface is perfect, the car is fine, but the slightest grooves and imperfections make it feel funny.

I'm not sure how these cars normally drive but I'm assuming they're a little better than this. I know that I need new tires, but there's gotta be something else wrong. I started a thread on struts and shocks, since I'm guessing that those are what the car might need...
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...ar-shocks.html

 

take into account of the width of the tires on these cars, if the groove is deep enough it will almost certainly want to go into the groove

if you can find a really good groove you can take a nap and the car will just follow the road around don't do that!

but it is somewhat normal

 

Oh ok. Too bad I don't have anything to compare it to though, this is the only f-body I've actually driven for more than 200 ft (test drove only ONE other car [84 t/a] before I bought this one LOL). Any more help?

 

I've actually took a curve on the highway without touching the wheel since I put the 4th gen wheels on. I can be off by as much as 1/8-1/4 turn of the wheel in either direction depending on the road and which side I'm on.

 

OK well today after school I stopped by a Meineke and had them check out the car. Turns out my front wheel bearings are shot. The guys called me into the garage and with the car on the lift they wobbled the front wheels and there was a good amount of slop in them. That explains A LOT. The rear was a bit worse, but they said that's normal for the rears (can anybody back that up?). No biggie I guess, once my T/A returns to project car status from daily driver status I'll be working on the front end anyway. My DD (94 Jimmy) broke a rear leaf spring and I'm waiting for the part.

 

Every time my children or their spouses visit Meineke or a similar shop, I'm appalled at what they've been told. I simply don't trust those places. Check for yourself. Front wheel bearings are a cheap, easy fix--if indeed they're a problem. As for the rears, see if the seal is weeping (You'll see fluid on the inside of the wheel). If so, you should replace the seals and either use an off-set bearing or replace the axles and use normal bearings. This latter is more involved, but doable.

JamesC

 

Yeah I tend to be a little weary of the big shot chain businesses. I was passing by them on my way home so I figured I'd stop by. I'm going to another place for a second opinion tomorrow. This is a small private shop that actually already worked on my Trans Am before. I had them replace all 8 injectors in my TPI engine because they went sour and the car barely ran if at all (200 for labor, 250 for new injectors, and 70 for towing!!). At least the 305 purrs nicely now.

 

I'm in the same boat, literally and figuratively. My car handles like a boat and my car exhibits the same characteristics as yours.

I highly doubt your wheel bearings are the cause of your problems. I don't know much about suspension but I don't think it can cause those problems you are describing.

The picture you linked of the strut did not load for me, however our cars have what are called McPherson strut/spring front suspensions. Where the shocks/springs/and spindles are all one unit essentially. Hope this helps answer your question.

 

i suggest you stay FAR FAR FAR away from Meineke

 

Yeah I don't doubt it. I asked my usual mechanic what could cause this and he simply said that it could be bad tie rods or loose ball joints. Ball joints... I have no idea why I didn't think of that before. And today I jacked up the front end of the car to see if I can produce that light wobbling I saw at the Meinke garage. Funny thing is that I hardly noticed anything. There was a slight slight wobble but hard to tell.

 

which way was the wobble, side to side or top to bottom? side to side is tie rods, top to bottom is ball joints. lets not forget that all of our cars are around the 20 year old range, some in the 25 year old range, maybe a good idea to inspect EVERYTHING and replace as neccesary

 

Really? Like this?


Hmmm I'm not sure its a McPherson strut/spring front suspension since the springs aren't part of the strut units... they're separate. Although if they were, that would make some work a lot easier lol

 

Pretty much side to side (but "floatiness" seems to describe it a little better) but at certain speeds (like 30-50 mph) it can be an up and down wobble too. I'm thinking that the up and down wobble is probably from tires that need balancing. I took em off once and they didn't roll consistently. But the shop won't balance em since my rears are down to the wear bars LOL. hmmm I wonder why...

 

well, i have a 89 formula 350 the cars suspension had some issues i replaced the srtuts shocks shocks and steering commponents the strust and spindle are together as for the spring is is compressed but the control arm so