[Luxaeternae]

Hello

I'm a mechanic and driver on a 24H of lemons team running a 1990 Toyota Celica.
The car was originally a race car form the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race in 1990. The car has raced then to now for an astonishing 23,000 track miles. Never registered for street driving.

We have an issue where the steering wheel wont hold adjustment and aim straight. The alignment was done it and it feels good despite the wheel not holding straight. To try and better describe the issue:
We do a lap or two, then we pull in and the wheel is pointing right, do a lap or two, pull in, and the wheel is aiming left.

Is the front sub frame moving around or something?
looking around down there nothing seems off.

any ideas?

Thanks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Pro/Celebrity_Race

 

[sefiro]

If only one side is out of whack, then check inner tie rod. The rack and inner tie rods are treated as 1 piece. When the rack moves left or right, the tie rods are pushed/pulled.

Disconnect the outer tie rod and try to push pull the inner tie rod. There should be no play.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Luxaeternae]

Thanks for the Advice Sefiro

I Preformed the test and there was no play or clunking in the rack.

I wanted to add. the car dose not pull left or right before or after the wheel moves. the alignment stays true even after the wheel becomes misaligned.

I inspected the swivels in the steering Colom and they seem ok to. is their a hidden steering Colom bushing that could be bad?

my current theory is the front subframe is sliding left and right under heavy loads during a turn. I checked the steering rack mounting points and it seemed good.

any other ideas?

 

[sefiro]

I may have misunderstood. Are you saying the wheels remain parallel but the steering wheel is now off? If so, then the rack gears are likely worn.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Luxaeternae]

yes just like you described. The car drives the same. but the steering wheel is pointing in a deferent direction after a lap. sometimes pointing left some times right. I don't hear any clunking like teeth skipping or anything. and when it happens its hard to notice.

 

[stinky817]

It can only be a couple of things. Either the steering wheel is slipping on the steering shaft, steering shaft is slipping at a joint, steering shaft is slipping on the rack, the rack is bad or the frame is shifting like you thought. You may want to start it up and turn the wheel full lock and then pull some more in the same direction and then see if you see any slipping...