Steering problems

[Wadsley]

My car's got a knock from the left hand front that i suspect is my lower ball joint? But the car is quite stiff to turn right when going slow and when i'm going around a left hand bend my steering wheel snaps to the left or it will attempt to straighten itself up its really unstable, also when i put left lock on and pull off the car doesn't straighten up the steering wheel just stays on left lock. The steering wheel is also off to the left a bit now when going straight and there's a bit of play in the steering. Is this a steering rack fault? What do i check for otherwise? Any help and advice is appreciated.

Cheers, Matt.

[Allan]

knocking does sound like the balljoint.

As for heavy steering, check the tracking / camber.
And take off the shock and check the bearing in the topdonuts, they could be gone which makes it rough and harder to turn, but as its stiff in 1 direction only i would sugest you have a problem with tracking.

play in the steering will normally be either trackrod ends/arms on the rack, if there is a lot of play then mostlikely you have a worn vibration damper in the steering column, either get a new one or have it welded (you will feel more vibration if its welded)