How to tell if idler arm bushings are shot?

["Kevin Redden" <kredden@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, last posting for today, I promise...
 
I've been having a problem with too much play in the steering wheel
(about 2 inches) which seems to cause some interesting squirrelly motion
when hitting certain types of bumps in the road.
 
I've tried tightening the screw on the top of the steering box but that
doesn't seem to help.  I did some more digging in the archives and saw
that a number of folks had very similar problems to mine and that it was
fixed by replacing the idler arm bushings.  So I'm trying to figure out
if that is the problem I'm having before spending the money on the
rebuild kit from IAP (and the time tearing it apart and getting the
replacement bushings reamed or the new shaft welded on).
 
I had someone jiggle the wheel while I was underneath looking at the
idler arm and saw very little motion, a few millimeters at most, which
might have been caused by the wheel getting to the end of the slop but
I'm not sure.  I jacked up the car and tried pulling the wheels back and
forth and there was no discernable rock.
 
So is there a way to tell if it is the idler arm bushings without taking
it off?  If I do need to take it off is it fairly simple to do?  What
other things would cause the play?
 
Thanks,
Kevin
86 Spider
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