Axitech

All, my wife's 67 is giving me fits. The steering has developed a shimmy at speeds above 40, when in a slight (lane change) drift left or right, and it is worse if you hit a bump or pothole. I shook down the entire front end and here is what I found: The camber on both sides appears to be in the positive range, and should be 1/2 degree negative. Here is the real concern though. the control valve 'ball joint' seems really loose in it's socket at anything off of center. At center, it seems fairly snug, but if I turn the wheels more than 1 complete turn in either direction, it gets really sloppy. I am checking this with the engine off due to wife won't get in car with me under it (on safety stands).
Thoughts/advice? I am ready to throw in the towel and order a new control valve tomorrow morning.
Thanks, Bob

Axitech

When I say 'sloppy' I mean I am grasping the wheels and shaking them and am seeing the play at the pitman arm/control valve joint.

chockostang

Can a 40 year old mechanical piece wear out, yes it can.

Does the control valve ball stud (part you see moving) have movement when shaking the wheels, yes,

So is the movement you see a case of being worn out, or normal movement to activate the spool to direct fluid movement??

No one without a perfectly working crystal ball can answer this. I'd take it STRAIGHT to a old Mustang Mechanic, have him look at it before you kill yourself, or someone else.

Dan @ Chockostang

synthartist69

I am ditching my factory power steering and going with the borgeson unit. That factory setup is notorious for roadwalk.

hotrod351

i replaced all my power steering parts with rebuilt parts. theres also a youtube video that shows how to rebuild the control valve. doesnt look that hard.