Steering wheel of death...?

I'm working on my first car which happens to be a 73 maverick. I am 18 years old and have no prior mechanical experience, but have gained quite a bit of knowledge in the past 8 months of working on my car. Rebuilt the transmission and motor, replaced and repaired almost every part (except for the body- that is the next step, but it is in good condition), replaced carpet, reupholstered seats, new stereo and speakers, etc.
I have a problem that has me really stuck. The steering wheel goes into a violent back and forth shaking motion. I have replaced the control valve, rebuilt the steering pump and power cylinder. Do not know what to do to fix the steering problem. As I mentioned I do not know much about cars, but I do know that I can't drive my maverick as is! Please help!!:confused:

 

Is this while moving? Does it drive good and then all of a sudden do this? if so go get your front end checked. I had a car years ago that did the same but cant remember the exact cause, but it was in the front end.

 

If it occurs while driving, it is very possibly a worn out idler arm.

 

definitely get the front end checked. this could be a serious safety problem.

 

It happens when it is sitting and I move the wheel a little bit.

 

I haven't had that happen to me when a car was sitting still but I have heard other people with that problem on a power steering car. If I remember correctly, they told about hooking up the hoses on the control valve in the wrong place. I'm not sure if you can do that but it's worth looking into.

 

hmmm, I had not thought about that. I will check that out.

 

My brother (A.K.A. Torino/Cyclone GURU) said "He thinks the ball and socket in the control valve could be out of adjustment"... Not sure without seeing it...

Could just make it manual steering and look like popeye

 

I replaced the idler arm already.

Thanks

 

I will look into that, I did replace the control valve, but it possible that it is out of adjustment.

Thanks for the info....

 

Hey, thank you so much! I checked the hoses and reversed the hook up and it worked great!! I was able to test drive it around the block for the first time in 8 months.
Thanks to everyone that gave input.

 

Glad I could help...now I got the BIG head

 

ram

i had the same prob but my wheel slamed back and forth and almost ripped my hand off

 

Yes, that is what it was like. My dad was helping me the first time it happened and his hand was shaken so violently that the nail of his thumb was lifted off. After that I knew that I had to turn it off immediately when this started again (for fear of having my arms ripped off!). But thanks to the advice I received from Ray and others, it is now fixed. Probably will replace the steering gear box anyway. But still have a few things to work on. Hope to start the bodywork this coming week. Can't hardly wait to be able to drive it daily to college.

Again thank you guys for your help and I probably will need help with the body work, so you'll be hearing from me.