Video of binding steering - what's happening?

[yimstiz]

Newbie here. I took this video of the steering system that I think shows what I felt during first time out on my new-to-me '94 Mariah Davanti Z225 7.4L Bravo III. It's hard to turn steering wheel at first, but then it sort of "releases" and turns but it still feels tight. This is true when turning both directions. Please turn up your speakers to hear the noise it makes in the video. There is music in the background for about 10 seconds but I turn that off so you can hear clearly the squeaky/binding sounds. I'm hoping it's just a lubrication issue and nothing major. If it is just lube, any advice on how to properly do that would be appreciated.

 

[alldodge]

Howdy

It would normally get tighter as the wheel goes further off from center. The reason is the rubber bellows are getting tighter, and thereby there would be more force on the steering.

Is it hard to steer with the motor running? If so look to see if the slots on the steering ram are straight up and down as in top right pic below. Can also disconnect the tiller arm and see if it moves easier (it should some). Then go to the drive and move it by hand.

Also note, the drive should be down when doing this

 

[yimstiz]

Thanks Alldodge and sorry for the delay in responding. I'm a weekend warrior so I plan to continue to attack this issue tomorrow morning using your direction above. I'll let you know how it goes.