[Spridgets] I Lost my ability to steer

[Kirk Hargreaves]

Here I am driving through our neighborhood to check on my wife who is with
our grand kids at the park and find that I can no longer steer my 59
Sprite.  It went out when doing a u-turn. .  and I thought I heard something
coming from the steering rack.

I find that if I push the steering wheel in, push it forward hard, that I am
able to nurse it home.

I get home and the next day I decide to pull the radiator and then pull the
rack (I have another rack somewhere).   So I put a vise grip on the steering
rod and as I turn the vise grip I see that the front wheels are turning.

Turns out it was the cheap (no doubt Chinese made) after market steering
wheel that gave out. . the splines on the wheel wore down.  Fortunately I
had not taken the rack out.  Goes back to checking the simple things first,
which is something that I have had to learn the hard way.

So I put my stock wheel back on and all seems to be fine.  The stock wheel
is like something that you would use to steer a large sail boat.  Those
things are huge.

*What about these steering racks though . . do they ever act up?  Mine seems
to be doing well. . no issues as mentioned as it was the steering wheel
itself that gave me the problem.  *

It could have given up at 35 - 40 miles per while driving around town.  That
might have been an experience I might have not lived through to tell
about.

Kirk
59 Sprite