Play in Steering Wheel

[Bill Lawless]

My steering wheel, measured all the way out, has about an inch of movement before it turns the wheels.. How much is normal?
Steering Coupler is nice and tight..

[David Jones]

Bill, you may be able to take up some of the slop by the adjustment on top of the box. Refer to the factory manual, the tech website or past forum threads for more info.

[Mike Wilson]

Also check that the clamp on the shaft is tight and that the steering coupler isn't cracked.

Mike

[Wes Bender]

Bill, what do you mean by "all the way out"? Is that a push - pull on the steering wheel? Or do you mean all the way to one end of rotation? If the latter, the play is normal, or close to it. If you try to remove that, you won't be able to get it to go past the center position.

[Jay Darlington]

I have about the same (near 1 inch) at the rim of the wheel, talking rotational play, that quite a lot to me. i have the box adjusted as close as i can, any tighter and its to tight. it has a new joint and suspension parts and i have checked for looseness all the way to the spindle, everything is tight. i think its in the box but this may be normal as 1" out at the rim of the wheel is nearly microscopic at the box shaft SO posibly ok ?
Jay D.

[Wes Bender]

That's the way the worm shaft is machined. Most wear is at the straight ahead position, hence it's tighter there. The slack at the end of rotation is only noticeable when you check it while sitting still. If the car is moving, the forces that are trying to bring the steering back to center will take up the slack and you won't normally feel it. If you can measure that slack at the end of travel while driving, then you have something binding.

[Jim Liberty]

+1 - Wes. .............Jim.

[Martin Benade]

Of course inspect the tie rod ends closely, they could easily give that amount of play.

[Jim Liberty]

+1 Martin. ...........Jim.

[Jay Darlington]

kingpins and link pins also.
Jay D.

[Bill Lawless]

I'm just getting back to this...
Thanks All, The Tie-Rods, Link & King pins are all close to new.
The 1" is measured at the outer edge of the steering wheel, where your hands go. Just as a reference.
The rotation I see goes into the Box, with no movement on the Pitman Arm on the output of the box?? I have not noticed the play while driving(Next drive I will see)
To be honest it works fine I was just wondering if it's something I should be concerned about.

[Wes Bender]

...and we're saying it's normal.

[Martin Benade]

Sometimes looking too closely is a problem. I have often bled brakes and thought they still felt squishy. I finally learned that driving it was a better indicator than studying it while sitting still.

[Art Caputo]

My two 356’s have .5-1” of free play, parked. It’s not noticeable while driving. IMO, it’s much more important to have the steering box “center” indicators, and front wheel alignment matched, and the steering box adjustment screw properly set.

[Dick Weiss]

If all the tie-rod ends including the suspension are OK, most likely it's the roller-peg (in the ZF box)
having some damage; I saved a couple to repair by refinishing them on my special tool grinder when the peg
wasn't available many years ago. Usually, a chip-out develops on the diameter and I had them hard-welded.
The worms were OK w/o showing/feeling any damage. Pegs have been available for several years--@ a price.