i have a 78 cutlsss supreme and my steering wheel has alot of play in it. Its hard to keep the car going straight. Could this be cause by loose nuts or bolts.

 

Could be the same problem as posted ^^^^. Have you had the steering components ball joints, tie rods, idler and alignment checked recently?

 

No I havent but probably would be a good idea to replace all of that stuff being that its all original. Are those parts a pain to install ? I wanna start doing this kinda stuff myself to save $ .. But I dont wanna make problems worse. Ive done oil changes and brake pads but never anything to do with the steering or suspension. Any info would help

 

Welcome to CO, Cutdawg!
I moved your posts to a new thread, so you can get more help and visibility. Tacking onto an old thread is not a good idea.
A front end you canrebuild yourself if you have time, patience, good mechanical reasoning, and moderate strength.
There are many threads on here about rebuilding, so use the search function to find some.
I have one linked below - "front end job" that goes into mucho detail. The 78 is similar, so it will help you decide if you wish to do it yourself or farm it out.

How many miles does the car have? The steering box could be worn also. Mine was and it made for lots of play int he steering wheel. I had it rebuilt and now it drives great.

Hope this helps!

 

theres about 258,000 miles on the car. And about the steering box, do u know where i could purchase a new one or does the old one need to be rebuilt ?

 

Yow - if the box has not been changed before, I bet it is loosey goosey.
Chip at Power steering services can rebuild it - just google him.
That way you get the original housing back and you will know everything will fit. We warrants them for life, too, so he does good work.
Only issue there is that he is about 8 weeks behind.
You can also buy a reman from most parts places, but the quality and actual fit will be unknown.

 

Well Cutdawg,
Glad Rob moved your thread where it will get more exposure. One thing you have to be aware of with Rob and me. We will both encourage you to do as much as you can on your own (close to restoring) to save $$, give us something to comment on, and encourage you to learn more about your car using a hands on approach. We are merciless in our encouragement to do that 'one more thing' known as "Might as well" or the dreaded MAW. Don't let Rob fool you into buying a MAW protection helmet. Just listen to your pocketbook, time frame, and your sig other. That way you'll stay out of a lot of trouble.

Your 78 Cutlass ( I had one BTW - a Calais ) steering components are compatible with Malibu, Lemans, Regal, Grandprix from 78- 82 IIRC. So if your steering box is truly worn out? Easy enough to swap it for a boneyard special instead of spending around 500.00+ to buy a rebuild.

I would look at changing out the obvious wear items first (ball joints, idler arm, tie rods) before I even entertained the idea of changing the gearbox. Also, if you have 258K on that puppy, it's probably close to tranny time, bodywork time, suspension time, etc. Olds cars are neat hobbies, but they can also be money pits. If the car is a keeper and you're planning to save/restore? More power to you.

On the other hand if it's a daily driver you need to stay afloat? Only spend what you have to to keep it safe on the road.

Love to see some pictures of your ride.

 

"about" 258,000? You mean it could be 257,884 or 259,053 something like that? When you get that high, I think if you had just said "about a quarter of a million," we'd have gotten the gist!


Wow, that's a high-mileage car and then some. I would pay close attention to every mechanical thing on it before doing serious driving.