Lumpy steering question

[Mr Bump]

Well, Ive broken it again    the steering has suddenly gone on the wonk.  


Needs more effort to turn the first quarter turn on the steering wheel then it loosens up.  Checked the power steering fluid and alls well and soaked the UJs on the steering rods but no joy.

Can anyone advise the best place to apply the hammer?

[Tigger]

Take the steering damper off and see if that helps.  Might be siezing.

Check the universal joints on the steering column..  if they look OK, then you might need to slide the column off the box and feel them.  Not unusual for these to be notchy when old.

Remove the drag link from the nearside wheel, and with the front wheels up in the air on axle stands, manually 'steer' the wheels back and forth (using the wheel) feeling for obvious lumpiness.   If it is present, you'll need to remove the track rod and repeat on each wheel to see if they are sticking... if so, it's likely a swivel pin / bearing.

Finally, with the above checked and with the drag link off, see how the steering box feels through the steering wheel.

[paul_humphreys]

As above. This happened to me, turned out to the the wheel bearing.

Paul

[Mr Bump]

Thanks, Tigger will give it a "bash"  

[drmike]

Aren't these symptoms of needing to bleed the power steering box?

Mike

[Mr Bump]

Thanks for all the replies so far, waiting for some time to investigate! in the meantime hopefully the WD40 is working its magic

[drmike]

Well I have had steering going stiff as well. It seemed to get stiff within 2 miles or so but after some 3 in 1 oil dumped on the joints it managed 20 miles today so maybe this will be the solution. I should really take it off and work the oil into the joint.

Given that you'd want a light oil is there any reason not to use ATF? WD40 is OK for the initial freeing up but it isn't a long term lubricant while ATF ought to be?

Mike

[Mr Bump]

Wd40 is my tool kit lol

Have now had a bash at taking the steering rod apart to clean, inspect and work oil into the UJs on the steering but can work out how to get the thing out of the car.. have removed three bolts that are on the steering rod but still can't remove it - hence the WD40 and a prayer that it will free the UJs up.

Think it must be them as the steering is "stiff,free,stiff,free" as the wheel is turned and the rod and UJs rotate.

[drmike]

I've done this on a RR. As I recall there's enough movement up the shaft if slacken both ends to get the end off the box splines if you follow and then you can pull the whole thing off.

So from memory, slacken clamps each end, slide top one upwards allowing lower one to come off the splines then remove top one.

The other ting I recall is that these clamps need to be tightened to some scary torque setting but I may wrong - no looking at the RR haynes I'm wrong it's quite a modest torque setting.

Of course you need to be careful to ensure the streeing wheel doesn't move etc.

Mike

PS I prefer Plus Gas over WD40 and in this case I'm not sure WD40 will help long term.

[Mr Bump]

Thanks Mike will give it a go. What's Plus gas?

[drmike]

Plus gas is a 'proper' penetrating or easing oil. WD40 is OK but it's not as good as the real thing - as always IMHO!

Mike

PS I was reminded that you must remove the clamp bolts as they go past a flat edge on the shaft and you'll not slide the clamp much if the bolt is in place.

[Litch]

What shaft have you got, the early type with the large lump in the middle (colapsable joint) or the later type with the round rubber bush?

With the early type the shaft is removed by sliding the two ends of the column together along the colapsable joint, might be stiff but by doing that you shorten the shaft by a couple of inches and allow it to be easily removed.
The later (expensive) type has a different arrangement (you can't replace the UJ's for a start) and the lower UJ slides up the shaft to allow it to be removed. Just fitted one of these to my 1986 90 and it improves the feel, can recomend them.