Reply to "Steering Rack Play"

Loose steering is almost always caused by a pathetically poor stock rack bushing rather than worn balljoints or tierod ends. It's easy for home mechanics to mis-adjust the inner tierod connections too loose, or forget to 'stake' the adjuster and these will also lead to looseness. Occasionally, a perforated rack-boot allows all the lube to drain out and then wear of the rack gear and the pressure foot can happen. Steering instabilty is different and can possibly due to the small amount of caster available (only 2.6 degrees) in a stock Pantera with wider-than-stock wheels & tires. Adding offset a-arm bushings is the simplest way to increase caster; about double the max stock to 5+ will tighten up steering precision without increasing steering effort too much.