If you have loose steering on a club car DS and are wondering where to begin, take a look at the anatomy of the steering system here to begin your own troubleshooting of the steering component structure.
Loose steering would be defined as when the wheel is moved 1 inch to the left or right the tires do not move with the same fluidity. If this occurs there are many parts to investigate under the cowl that will allow for a fast and easy steering repair on your Golf Cart.
Once the front body cowl is removed it will show you the club car’s simple steering and suspension system. In this post, I will go over the points of movement where parts normally wear out causing the loose steering issues on a golf cart.
In the instance of my club car ds golf cart the A-Arm bushings had worn out. When I turned the wheel side to side I could see lateral movement in the bushings. A lift kit would replace all of these parts but OEM parts can be obtained if you want to keep the stock look and performance. Nothing wrong with that.
This particular golf cart needed a tierod end and drag link replacement 2 years prior to my purchasing it. This drag link is the only connection between the golf cart’s rack & pinion steering box and the actual spindles.
Tie rod ends are famous for wearing out at the joint and boot sectors. Look for movement in the boot when rocking the steering wheel back and forth without the actual tie rod moving. This is how you know if you have bad tie rod ends. These tie rod ends on Amazon are a good value for money as they do last about 10 years before they need replacement. If you want to spend a little more money you can get greaseable tie rod ends here but I have never needed to run with those tie rod ends on a club car DS. The standard non-greaseable (sealed) tie rod ends will work just fine.
The last part to replace would be the actual steering rack and pinion or steering gearbox. This part is easily removed with three bolts and a new one can be purchased off of Amazon here. I replaced my rack and pinion in the project club car DS because I felt a little grind when the steering was turned to full left lock.
