My KE35's steering is loose in the middle of the steering range when the car is driving straight, what parts should i replace?

sounds like you need to adjust your steering box....

 

how loose is it? how much do you have to turn the wheel to get any steering.

you can adjust the box down down so the steering is tighter, but it will also be heavier and less inclined to snap back to straight once you let go of the wheel. i did mine right down one day and the steering was so direct, it was awesome, but if you let go of the wheel coming out a turn it just kept going round. you can sometimes solve this problem by running more castor. you'll need a wheel alignment for that

 

unfortunately, these cars are getting old, and the steering box just wears out. every corolla i've owned has been a trade-off between light steering and a bit of play that gets worse at high speed. you can get another steering box from the wreckers which may or may not be better than yours. i've only ever found one person who'll rebuild a steering box and they wanted like 400 bucks for it

 

if you find someone, let us all know

Edited August 7, 200521 yr by Super Jamie

Go to Pedders and get a $14 steering and suspension check. Then you will know exactly what to replace.

you have to turn it about 20 degrees around either way to get any response out of it when its on centre, it seems quite dangerouse I think ill take the advice and head to pedders