i know im a bit young and am not use to the old cars.. however ive driven the Lincoln number of times already and still not used to the steering.. its very loose!!! ive been told that thats how it was back then, but for some reason this car seems to have extremely alot of freeplay to the steering wheel.. How do i tighten up the steering so i can have more control of the car?
Are you sure your tie rods and ball joints aren't worn out? That would cause a lot of wandering and sloppy steering feel. Also idler arm bushings, two of my old cars had the idler arm bushings shot (one actually broke the arm off the frame!) you might check there. The other thought I had is, if you're not used to old cars, does your car have bias ply tires on it? If it does, they'll pull the steering around, they like to follow ruts in the road. Your Lincoln should have nice tight steering with little or no play if it is set up properly. Whoever told you "that's how it was back then" was full of shit. If it feels loose then there is a problem and it is fixable.
tat, Two likely causes: 1. You probably have a bad center link. The way the Lincoln steering linkage is designed causes these to wear at one joint. You can find new ones, but they're not cheap. Check ebay or contact Lincoln Land in Florida. 2. You probably also have bad steering box isolators. The Lincoln uses rubber covered mounts for the steering box. They consist of a metal sleeve encapsulated in rubber. The rubber rots away after 45 years and allows the box to move around. You can get all steel replacements or you can have yours rebuilt - again, try Lincoln Land. Check item 2 first, but most likely both are involved. Very common problems with these cars. - John
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