So I'm in the process of getting my ute roadworthy and the mechanic brought to my attention that the steering is slipping, and not like anything I can find in any tech wiki or previous posts on this site, it is aligned with the steering but after a 90 degree turn there is so much play that when the wheels are returned to straight the wheel is at a severe angle to the wheels, is this problem in the box or the column? Don't even know where to start as I doubt the steering box adjustment or a wheel alignment will fix this? Any ideas? Thanks..

It sounds like the splines on the shaft or the steering wheel are worn,remove the horn button assy and see if there is any sign of freeplay between the shaft and wheel also the coupling from the shaft to the steering box
Russ

Quote:That is one. The column is the box. The box is the column.

Quote:How much angle? Up to 45 degrees off is fairly common and usually caused by worn steering linkage.

To inspect for worn steering linkage:
1. lie on the ground near the driver's side door, looking at the underside of the car
2. reach up and wiggle the steering wheel back and forth (with the door open)
3. watch to see if any of the rods move independent of each other. If they do, the rod ends need replacement.
4. the steering knuckle, and thus tires, should move with the tie-rods. If a rod moves, but not the tyres, the linkage is worn at that point
5. the idler arm should NOT move up and down, only rotate. Replace Idler Arm bushings if ANY up-and-down motion is detected


Potential causes of loose steering:
* Bolts holding steering gearbox to chassis are loose
* Linkage is worn (perhaps ball joints, tie rod ends, or cross rod)
* Steering gearbox is worn (often causes up to 3" play at steering wheel)
* Front hub wheel bearings are not adjusted correctly
* Bracket holding the tension rod has broken

See Steering System Diagnoses

Here are the main areas to inspect

Thanks for the info guys I'll give it a look over when I'm with the car next and let you know where I end up.

Okay so I got about 5 minutes to look at the car today and didn't get far at all in terms of checking anything as the car lives outside and it was raining, but noticed I have the rippled column which means it's the collapsible type, which is strange as its a late 72 model which means wouldn't be factory, but does this suggest any other reason for the slipping in terms of maybe being partially collapsed or something? The column itself seems to have no in or out movement and seems quite stiff with no real play from wheel to box that I can tell... Thanks in advance.

check the idler arm bush. some guy had that problem and made a video on youtube. jack the car up and move the front wheels with your hands. should pin point if its the box or linkages

When the bushings on my idler arm went bad, it made a "tap-tap" sound whenever going over the slightest ripple in the pavement. It also made the steering only slightly loose (like 2" play in the steering wheel). Two new bushings were only $7. The idler was visibly bad when doing the visual test as listed above.

Quote:The way to check on that is to look for movement of the steering gear arm as you wiggle the wheel back and forth. The arm is visible under the car. Use two fingers to move the wheel back and forth. If the gear arm DOESN'T move but the steering wheel does, then the looseness is in the column/gear or steering wheel connection. This is very rarely seen even in my country where all the boxes are the collapsible type. More typically the gear will move in sync with the wheel, but some other part won't move (usually a tie-rod end is where the play is).