Make sure that when the car wheels are in a straight line, the steering wheel spoke is horizontal. Otherwise, determine the cause of the malfunction and eliminate it.
Turning the steering wheel from lock to lock, check visually and by ear:
- reliability of fastening of the steering gear and steering wheel;
- is there a gap in the joints of the rod ends and in the splined joints of the cardan joints of the intermediate shaft; are there any bulges or constrictions on the protective covers?;
- reliability of tightening of locknuts of outer rod ends and nuts of ball joint pins; whether there are any jams or obstacles preventing the steering wheel from turning.
If knocks or jamming are detected, disconnect the transverse rods from the steering knuckle arms and repeat the check. Once you are sure that the knocks and jamming are coming from the steering control, remove it from the car and check the clearance between the rack stop and the nut (see Fig. "Checking the gap between the rack stop and the nut"). The maximum allowable gap between the rack stop and the nut is 0.2 mm. If necessary, replace worn parts and adjust the gap between the stop and the nut.