I recently went through a front end suspension/steering/braking restoration on my 67 Camaro in replacing:
- new RedRiver steering column
- refurbed Cardone short ratio steering box
- disc brakes all around
- complete new front end ket (pitman/idler arms, tierods, etc)
- 2" drop spindles


Now, the problem that I'm having is that the steering is sticking/stiff. To give you an idea of what's going on, if i make a turn, the wheels won't try to straiten up. I can make a turn at a traffic light and let go of the steering wheel and it will keep the turn. It's like that 100% of the time. What the heck???

Obviously something isn't quite right (too tight). Anyone have any ideas of where to look first?

Seems the box is to tight. Is there an adjust nut?

What specs did you align the wheels to?

When I first did my suspension work, which included the cardone "thirdgen iroc" steering box, I had very little "return to center" in the steering, almost none. I got used to it.

A couple years later, I found my front tires severely warn on the inside third of the tread, and started taking another look at the front end. I did completely go thru it again, and changed many things, but the biggie was the alignment. I went from:
1 degree neg camber, 2 1/2 degrees caster to
1/4 degree neg camber, 4-4 1/2 degrees caster.

I needed SC&C adjustable upper a-arms to get this alignment, but my steering returns to center perfectly normally now.

This has been a common report here. I think a large part of it is the friction from all the new parts. My daughter had a 1986 Bronco, we rebuilt the front end and it drove terrible, - sticky. Within 4000 to 5000 miles it calmed down and drove normally. The Bronco would zig zag down the road and you had to constantly correct it. The quick ratio boxes do not return as well as the slow ratio boxes, the wheels have less leverage back through the system.

There are two sources of assembly binding on a first gen that can be addressed/optimized.
1. Steering box to steering column: loosen box and let it find a good relationship to the steering column.

2. Pitman arm to idler arm. If they are not swinging on the same plane, they can put a twist on the center link causing extra friction. loosen idler arm at frame and allow it to line up with center link.

Thanks for the input guys. I had it aligned and hoped they set the camber/caster correctly. One of the problems with the car is the frame cross member is bent up a bit as if they ran up onto something pretty hard. That's caused for some heavy shimming with regards to the camber.

Also, I've looked on the steering box and either I can't find the adjustment, or there isn't one. My brother had mentioned as a possibility that the gears might be binding.

I'll also try and re-set them and see if they can find a happy place. Thanks again. I'll post a reply after I've given this a shot. Probably won't be for a several days however.

:beers:

You do NOT want to try to adjust the backlash in the steering box. You will end up with it too tight, and it will stick bad on center, as in not turn past center smoothly.

Did the alignment shop give you a printout?
What did they set the alignment too?
The "stock specs" on these cars are NOT where you want to be.
And if you didn't tell em where to set it, you can be sure "stock specs" is where you are.

I just checked the service order and it just says "check alignment angles and adjust as necessary camber, caster, and toe". It probably is at stock specs, but how bad exactly is that? :confused: I wouldn't think it would be sticking like this being spec.