Triumph Repair: Steering problem, upper ball joints, rocker panel

Question
I recently bought a 1976 1500 and after having it for about 3 weeks I brought it to get the oil changed at a local shop. They took the the car up on the lift and changed the oil and had a look at the brakes...they didn't do anything to them but take the wheels off. after the car came down the steering had gone to hell. The wheel felt really loose and and seemed to sit of center and when i tried to turn to the right after about 1/2 rotation of the steering wheel, it wanted to stick and got really hard to turn. Then it didn't want to come back to center kind of stuck to one side? The left hand turn feels fine which is also strange. I noticed it right off the bat and they said "tie rod ends" and greased them and said it was better...it really wasn't but i had no choice as i needed to get home.   Any idea what they may have done?

Answer
Zeb,

I can't imagine offhand what they might have done, although let me toss out some ideas.

First off, what kind of lift?  Did it have separate pads to hit on the frame or was it one that lifted along the entire rocker panel?

Have you taken a good look at all the suspension and steering parts?  Are the steering rack boots still ok or are they split?  How are the upper ball joints?  Suspension bushings?

The only thing I can think of that'll make the steering bind quickly would be if they managed to bend the vertical link where it's threaded into the trunnion.  I had a similar problem with my '78 1500 and had to replace the vertical link completely.


Cheers,

Jim