Marathon loose steering

[LukeL]

I have very loose steering on a 1990 Marathon with a Curtis 1205 controller. I have replaced the tie rod ends on Club Cars and fixed this issue. Is it the same with this EZ GO?

[Cartmaster]

Get someone to sit on the cart and rock the steering back and forth. then you can follow the steering mechanism to find where the play is and rectify. Your question is a bit vague and makes it difficult for us to diagnose.

[LukeL]

Sorry if I wasn’t clear. The wheel turns almost half a turn before the front end steers. I didn’t know if it was a common problem and there’s a first thing to look for, like there is the Club Car.


Club Car DS Driver’s Club #59

[yamahaguy97]

the teeth on the rod arm in the steering box worn out. You can rebuild it or replace

[Lateparker]

I am about to do the same thing. Is it easier to remove the front cowling and work on the steering or can it be done with it left in place? Im working on a 92 Marathon gasser and the steering is just like what the OP says loose as crap.

[EZHO]

Originally Posted by Cartmaster

Get someone to sit on the cart and rock the steering back and forth. then you can follow the steering mechanism to find where the play is and rectify. Your question is a bit vague and makes it difficult for us to diagnose.

follow cartmasters post! ... you need to find out if its the steering box, or just one or more tie rod ends that are worn out or maybe just loose.,or you could have a combination of both . to get a good look at whats worn out or loose, just remove front plastic shield (red X ) see (pic 1 ) and you can see and get to everything easily .no need to remove the cowling
If the steering wheel turns alot before the top tie rod coming out of the steering box starts to move (pic 2), then its the steering box , if it starts to move right away then you should see which tie rod ends move before they start to move what there attached to , there for there wore out or loose .(pics 2 , 3 an 4 both sides) a little play in all of them can add up too..not sure you needed all that info but just in case

[Cartmaster]

Yes, it is a very primitive steering system on these carts and should be easy to find where the play is, and fairly simple to rectify. it may just be a small amount of wear in each moving part that equals up to lots of play at the steering wheel or it could just be one component very worn like the rack. As stated it is easy to rebuild these rather than replace the whole thing.