Steering Issue. Ideas? - Honda Prelude Forum

1996PreludeVTEC · 09-24-2010, 03:55 PM

Ok so when Im cruising on the highway and my steering wheel starts to shake. (probably balance on the tires) or i hit bumps my wheel will start to rattle constantly. i can also feel about a half an inch of play. with the car off and parked i can move the wheel a half an inch with no resistance. so i was thinking on this one it could be the steering shaft itself. anyone have any suggestions or things to check?

minilogoguy18 · 09-24-2010, 08:15 PM

Outer tie rods are more than likely shot.

1996PreludeVTEC · 09-24-2010, 08:41 PM

i believe they are. how hard is it to change them? im putting on koni yellows and teins next weekend so it probably wouldnt be hard to do the ties either. guess once i rule that out i can move on to the colum and rack. but hopefully its ties

minilogoguy18 · 09-25-2010, 04:45 AM

You'll definitely need an alignment after changing them but you'll also need one after lowering as well. Just look at them, if the ball joints look all messed up and the front wheels have play in them then there you go, pretty simple to diagnose.

1996PreludeVTEC · 09-26-2010, 02:12 AM

boots are actually starting to come off the balljoints. and look pretty dry. wheel has slight side to side play as well. is this even safe?

minilogoguy18 · 09-26-2010, 07:11 AM

Well in the rain it more than likely isn't because you can lose traction.

1996PreludeVTEC · 09-26-2010, 12:49 PM

well i guess im going to go ahead and do that. it looks like in the helms manual there is no innner tie rod to replace. it just has tie rod on the outside and rack end after that. i guess the rack end is not a part you would need to change right?

minilogoguy18 · 09-26-2010, 01:48 PM

It does cover it some, it just refers it to the rack ends which is another name for inner tie rod. If you can lift the vehicle from the ground and grab one of the front wheels and it has play and you can see the ball joint moving around inside the knuckle then replace the outer tie rods. Something to help so that you can get your car to get aligned without it driving funny is to either mark with a marker or count the threads from where they start on the rack end to the lock nut against the outer tie rod so that you can get the new ones close to where they were.

1996PreludeVTEC · 09-26-2010, 04:28 PM

thanks for the tip. i just went by autozone today and they want 23 a piece for outer ties theyre duralast. wondering if these are dependable (guess a ball joint is a balljoint) and would it be better to you a pitman arm puller or ball joint separator (fork thing) to get these off

minilogoguy18 · 09-26-2010, 05:52 PM

I never use those separators just because on stuff that because when you're removing a balljoint that you want to reuse it can ruin them. I just take a heavy mallet and hit the knuckle right where the tie rod connects to get it loose, just make sure you have good accuracy. Dunno if this will be hard for you since I work at a dealer and have lift where it might be scary to beat the knuckles with the car on stands. The aftermarket ones should work fine, I'm using some from NAPA since the dealer never has parts for my car in stock and it was a last minute decision on replacing them as I was also replacing the entire rack.

Before you do it too I'd check the rack and make sure the boots on the rack ends don't have any tears, now would be the best time to replace them if so.