I got my Chrysler back from the shop yesterday, replaced nearly all the suspension and steering components and alignment. It's got low mileage but really old radial tires in good condition. I drove it over to the transmission shop (maybe 5 miles on surface streets) and found it wandering like a drunken sailor.

I checked with the shop, they say they got all the positive caster they could dial in, ~ 1 degree.

Thinking about it today, it's a low mileage car, under 60,000 miles and what could be wrong, thinking rag joint, is that a possibility? 47 years old with a lot of rubber content? When I was a mechanic doing alignments that wasn't on my radar but those were all fairly new cars at the time.

Any other ideas?

Thanks,
Robert

first thing I would start at is check the steering box and make sure it is bolted tight to the car they have known to come loose on occasion .

First thing I would check is the tire pressures.

Tire pressure IS an alignment check off item, if they didn't check and adjust it we'll be having a fairly unpleasant conversation. I'll check the pressure when it comes back from the transmission (it's leaking) shop. Then I'll get an assistant (wife) and have a look at the rag joint and see if the steering box needs adjustment.

Aside from insufficient positive caster I can't think of anything else?

Robert

Yes, tire pressure is supposed to be part of the alignment, as is ride height. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen neither done. I watch, I wait, I tell them what they missed and to do it again.

they are supposed to test drive the vehicle before they return it so either they did & just decided to see if you would let it slide messed up like that or they didn't test drive it. It ain't the caster. my 65 dart had a wide caster spread which was the best they could do & get the camber vertical like I wanted it (likely frame bent or sagging) & it floated down the road perfect. You might on the ground and with wheels off the ground have the assistant turn the st wheel lock to lock as you check for loose parts and you check nuts/bolts but I'm inclined to speculate that they messed up something. toe/camber ??. Power steering appears to be OK? Sounds like a comeback

when you say wanders, do you mean slop in the steering or that it just won't hold direction?

rag joint would be slop in the steering.
wallowing back and forth, requiring corrections, but otherwise tight steering is an alignment issue.

but slop in the steering could be the gear box even with low miles.
As I understand it from the rebuilder steering without assist could cause damage to the gear box.
They said(and I don't know how true it is) that it had a torsion spring inside of some sort that could be damaged by cranking on the wheel without assist.

I checked under the car by moving the gear box by hand and watching how long it took to move the pitman.

It sort of takes off on it's own, left or right requiring frequent steering correction, much more than what I think of as normal, even though these days rack and pinion is my daily driver and basis of judgement.

We've replaced lower ball joints, strut rod bushings, tie rod ends, torsion bars, springs, shocks and sway bars. Did NOT do upper or lower control arm bushings, kinda surprised about that. Nor upper ball joints, not surprised about those.

I think you and RR are correct. I think it's slop that's causing (allowing) the wander, not caster. I should get it back from the tranny shop tomorrow, but time to check it out will probably be on the weekend, when rain is forecast so maybe not.

Robert

"It's got low mileage but really old radial tires in good condition."

This is the problem. DAMHIK! Replace the tires and it will be like driving a whole new car.

I had a wandering problem likes yours on my old Duster only when I mixed bias and radial tires on the car. I had put a "new" older idler arm that had sat on one of my shelf's for a long(10 yrs.+) time before I put all the new the front end parts on the car and drove it for around 500 miles before mixing the types of tires. It turned out that the rubber in the idler arm was badly deteriorated and it would allowed a lot of up and down movement before making the steering linkage go left or right I replaced it with another brand new Moog idler arm from the local NAPA store and that fixed it

lower control arm bushings.

I was hoping nobody would say that!

Robert

sorry and unless you installed the strut rod bushings personally, don't be surprised if the backside ones were never replaced.

Did it wander before it was aligned? If not, something was done wrong. Never seen new parts make old parts bad. Had my share of incompetent mechanics and then come up with the stupidest statements.

Ding ding ding I do believe we have a winna (I certainly missed it!) yeah it was rebuilt cuz (some of) it was worn out but was it wandering like it is now ???

Whenever I have purchased a car that I want to keep, that is 30-plus years old, I dont mess around with single components in the steering/front suspension. I take everything apart and replace all tie rods, idler/pitman arms, drag link, bushings, ball joints, rebuild steering box if needed and take a close look at steering shaft/joints, etc etc. This lets me start out knowing the condition of all the parts. But, I typically only buy stuff that is in poor condition, then fix it up. It's just so much easier to replace everything all at once while it's all taken apart.

make sure the steering box is centered.there is a high spot in middle of the gear that takes all the play out of the two gears where they mesh.that is where you want to make all adjustments.there is usually a mark on the shaft that should point up(12 oclock ).If you can,t feel the high spot replace box

Adam, in hindsight you're absolutely correct, that's what I should have done...

I don't have any help until probably Sunday, but I did look under the hood just now and did NOT find a rag joint, I guess mine doesn't use one?

Yesterday driving home I noticed I could "saw" the steering wheel back and forth ~ 2" with VERY little steering response. It seems like with radial tires (and tight linkage, steering box) I should be getting pretty responsive steering action?

Thanks,
Robert

Yes it should be much tighter than that. keep us updated

Did I miss something, or has the steering box been checked for play and adjusted if possible (worm end play as well as the sector shaft adjustment on top)?