[T3] front end woes

[Bobsnotch at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/29/2015 12:29:15 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
fiestacranberry at gmail.com writes:

I think  my front end is shot.   Well, not *my *front end, but  The
Baroness'.  I took her up to Marin yesterday, over the  bridge.  Every time
hit an expansion joint, the front end would jerk  violently to the right,
and it was quite difficult to steer it back to the  left; very sloppy
feeling.  Same thing on curves to the left; it  wanted to go right.  I
eneded up driving the whole way back at 40  mph.  Very, very scary.

So, just how difficult is it to find  replacement ball joints?  I'm also
thinking the steering box may be  shot?  Does it sound like that to you
guys?  Is that  findable?  Where?
 
Most of the parts are available, but there are a couple that aren't (beam  
bushings). 
Didn't you say Lloyd was back from wherever he went? If so, have him do the 
 checks for you that Mike suggested, as he'll most likely find the problem. 
 ;-)
 
One of the most common problems on a type 3 is the upper sway bar  
adjustment. It doesn't get adjusted. :O When the bar is loose, it'll make the  front 
end feel loose. The adjustment is taken up on the right side. Bentley  
covers it on page 16 (section 8.1) of the Front Axle. You might want to look  
thru the front end section, so you have an idea of some of the things that can 
 go wrong, or just need adjusting. But, I'd start with the sway bar 
adjustment,  then look over the tie rod ends and ball joints. On the ball joints, 
I'd  definitely look for cracks and tears in the boots. Lloyd could check the 
 steering box for slop, and maybe do the dime adjustment (using a dime 
instead of  a screw driver to take the play out of the box on the adjuster 
screw). The  idea behind using a dime is to NOT apply a lot of force on that 
screw.
 
Keep in mind that a lot of these things need to be checked semi regularly,  
so trouble can be spotted ahead of time. And dealing with a 40+ year old 
car,  many of these parts are still in place (all original equipment).
 
I hope this helps.  

Bob 65 Notch  with sunroof

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