steering wheel feels loose

[scooby622]

i have a 1985 ezgo gas golf cart. when I go to turn, the wheel feels loose and it doesn't turn right away. the nut is tight on the wheel. what could it be?

[ggroff]

First thing I would try is greasing the gearbox, that helped a lot on mine.

[StoveBolt]

Might get under the front have someone turn the steering back and forth and see where the slop is.

[DaveTM]

Originally Posted by StoveBolt

Might get under the front have someone turn the steering back and forth and see where the slop is.

Yup.....That's the best thing to do. Then you can study if the slop is the connection of the tie rods to the steering box, or perhaps the tie rods at the wheel are the issue.

I had my wife help me with this last year. Of course......that's when the fight started.......

[Dabble Inn]

Ah haha to Dave above, boy can I relate to that LOL.......

To the OP;
My 85 has a tiny bit of slop, I'd say about an inch at the steering wheel edge. Upon further investigation I found that it was the connection between the steering column and the little pinion gear at the end that goes into the steering box (rack and pinion housing). IF I remember right the gear has like a shoulder with a hole or slot in it and the column has a pin, apparently the gear hole/slot or the pin is wore so as they don't fit as snug together as they used to......

I once thought about doing some drilling to put a bigger pin in but decided to leave well enough alone till it gets really bad