Boothy

Following losing power steering on my last event out, I decided to change my steering box for what looks like a recently reserviced 4 bolt "like for like" one of a classic RR I broke last year. All the pipe work is good and the pump is a ZF74 one which was brand new a few months ago. The steering without the engine running on axle stands feels fantastic, really smooth and direct with virtually no play, "cracked it" or so I thought. Started the engine up to bleed through and the steering doesn't feel like its any better or being assisted, worked it loads of times left to right to remove the air, and time to let it down on the floor. Its cr*p and is hardly able to move at all, as soon as any effort is applied (which is a lot) to try and change direction (whilst stationary) is made all I get is that horrible noise that usually occurs when you reach the end of normal travel. What I did do (bad mistake and laugh if you've done it) is to undo the bleed nipple on the box with the engine running and try to steer, the fluid hit the garage roof and virtually everything under the bonnet, which makes me think the pumps pumping to some degree. Any idea's boys, qualified ones if possible please, common sense tells me its the pump, but its another £175 guess to replace it, I've hopefully got another steering box comming today to try, but the one I saved and changed in the first place was a good one. The original box was a recon from Paddocks last year. All the pipes are clear and not kinked etc, and yes its new fluid. Thanks lads

Congratulations and well done, Is it caged?, if so how did you manage to keep the weight so low, mine came in at 2225Kg's with only 4 wheels and no spare, that's in full rig ready to compete.

Pigster, YOUNG? if your'e much under 40 then I'm weight watchers slimmer of the year, we were disscussing who's the oldest Saturday on the way down, you or Adrain and we recon it's close

Right folks, I've been doing a bit of mooching on the B&B issue, the local pubs right by the site i.e. The Knott and the Royal Oak, they DO NOT do B&B, but about a half a mile down the road towards Macclesfield, the Rushon Inn does, but only has 2 double rooms with double beds available for the Saturday night (cosy hey lovers) at £68 including breakfasts per room, I cannot recommend it either way because I don't know and have never set foot in the place. Alternatively nearby are the towns of Congleton Cheshire (which is where I live, a place of highly intelligent gentleman with good looks and large members) which is about 5 miles away, or Macclesfield again about the same (but smaller members and not the looks), or Leek also 5 miles which is a bit smaller again and simpler. If anyone requires any help or assistance please PM me and I will try to help as best I can.

Saley, Remember when we set out sections for trials, we had set out some sections but had NOT drove them and were in no way advantaged on the day of the comp, except by knowing where they were, so if maps etc were not required I cannot see how an organiser could be advantaged unless he or she had set out ALL the punches to suit their own abilities, or had hidden them away somewhere. I would imagine the time and effort to set out 40 straight (not roped or taped) punches is huge and very time consuming if it was to be of a similar standard to what we are used to. And would there be enough marshalls/competitive vehicles "up north"willing to compete on a regular basis? Could be good this one

I'm sure you know you can count on me Alan to enter and put as much time in as possible that I can in setting up etc, but it depends on my job obviously, Sounds like a great idea, especially after another £145 on diesel again at the weekend out of my own pocket, plus petrol, plus entry, plus losing money whilst not at work, plus bribery to the wife which is probably the dearest bit, and that's before any breakages or failures of the truck, gets expensive doesn't it?

Great event, thanks to all involved again, especially the pig Saturday night, he went down well, many thanks to Mr Kemp for the long tow back to the trailer when the injection pump gave up the ghost, perhaps it was another victim of the Kirton water, and sorry to the Carol the Boss for demolishing SS1, fancy putting a tree there, I ask you, but when it's doing a bit the V8 I can't hear the lad so clear, so we use a sort of teleprathy to communicate, but it's carp cause he's got a stutter. See you all up North at the best site, Tong

Paul/Tony, the main road is actually shut at the moment so I cannot drive past on my way home, I'm doing the Howlin Wolf this weekend down Bristol way, but will try to get over Rushton way Tues/Wed and will post my findings, is that OK Boss? Happy camping

Is it one carefull owner with full service history Chris ?

The pubs are called the Royal Oak, and the Knott Inn, I will try to find out tommorow and post later all being well. I don't know whats good or bad as they are only 5 miles from home and I've never really used them except for meals, the Knotts OK or a reasonable meal. Hope it doesn't show, I only tried the salad bar, not the 16oz peppered steaks with a bottle of Chateauneuf du pape, (its wine Saley) and a good healthy cellary sweet.

OK Marsie I surrender

Bo Duke? Let me assue you Marsie, you don't look anything like Bo Duke, sorry to dissillusion you mate. Boss Hog perhaps

Check the A frame for security to the rear axle casing, you may have torn the bracket or damaged to ball joint.

Don't worry MrHT we will let you know who's co-driving, just in case they're sensitive again. Are you having a fueling station?, it seems an awfull lot of hours to keep a V8 sweet. last time we only did 4 furious hours and used half a tank following Glyn's demonstration of how NOT to fit a CV in a rush, perhaps he was still shock up after demolishing the farmers wall with his coach on the way in with Mr Magoo AKA Saley as a co-driver, who was unusually quiet during the aftershock. Looking forward to it.

Hello Mr T Save me a spot please, I hope to get a place higher than last time we did it.

Can't wait again, just hope that hurricane's "Gustav" and "Katrina" don't put an appearance in, because we've had some carp weather so far this year, and a hurricane or two would just fit in. Is there any water there, yet ?

I work with a guy who occasionally did vehicle inspections when he worked for the DVLA. He was told where to find chassis numbers, Vin plates and engine numbers etc, but has absolutely no vehicle training or for that matter interest in cars. He works for the same company as me now as a bean counter, at the DVLA he worked behind the counter doing things like tax, logbooks, cherished plates etc. Not very consistent me'thinks.

Seems to me we need an average traybacked, hybrid chassised including shortening, portal axled, externally rollcaged, dual winched, tubed winged front and rear, headlamp modified, HYDROSTEERED, altered suspension, Simex tyred, beadlocked, big engined, challenge style truck, that usually never see's any road use, and is always trailered to events truck as a guinea pig for an SVA inspection, one that the owner doesn't give a flying f*** if it makes the SVA guys fall over with exicitement and write a 300 page report on the failings of the vehicle. If it's a regulary trailered vehicle that the present owner has no real intention of ever using on the road. I don't think they cannot shoot you for trying can they? How much is an SVA and what's the crack?

Sorry Chris, I got disturbed and didn't see you lets forget it thread. Forget it.

Hello Alan, The hydro that I was planning did not steer without the pump running which is what put me staight of, I hold my hands up and say that I it was not aware untill Saley told me this morning that his would steer without pressure. That is the main reason that I backed straight off the idea, and are going to hydro assist, and still will, instead even though I realise it's an inferior system. I don't, probably like most lads, drive mine on the road unless essential for obvious reasons and none of them are the likelyhood of a mechanical failure. Most of the mechanically minded of us are all fully aware of what can be strained and damaged following any time spent off road (and that doesn't include the credit card) and I personally don't want to risk myself or anybody else for that matter by driving back on the road. Let alone damage to tyres etc due to poor tracking and so on.

Steve, I was disscussing this a while back with my brother who is a Ford Master technician and has been an MOT tester for over 25 years, at the time I was seriously considering fitting full hydro system, but then a full fledged conversation started with a couple of other testers where he works about the legalities and eventually I left the idea. Perhaps your right with the bit about the MOT tester but I feel sure I'm right about the rest of it, so who could the driver be sharing with?

I'm 99% sure that any vehicle having full hydualic steering should not pass an MOT classed as PLG or as a normal vehicle, which I think is class 4. Because of the lack of a mechanical link between the steering wheel and the steering linkages the vehicle should be classed as agricultural or plant and be classed as such on the logbook, and as such have it's speed restricted. If any part of the hydraulic system fails for any reason i.e. low fluid, pump failure, ram failure or hose failure, then God help the public and I'm sure the driver might also be sat in a small white room for a while to reflect on things, with perhaps the clown that signed the MOT certificate with him for company.

I use 2 19 row coolers mounted behind my truckcab, fastenend side by side on the roll cage, out of the airflow and with no fans etc on them and have had no problems with overheating or oil degredation etc, even after along hard challenge with a big V8 warming things up nicely. I just guessed that some lads don't bother cooling at all, so a reasonably big cooler with long pipes dissapating in air must be a vast improvement on a bog brush mounted behind a half blocked hot radiator on a challenge truck that hardly moves in fresh at all. I had a on site pipe hydraulic pipe man make a couple of swaged pipes from the autobox to the cooler with good strong angled ends on so the pipework of the box was dead easy and dead pro and cost about £40 if I remember correctly. Good luck and use a new or extremely clean cooler.

I was told by Rakeway if you use the thicker 4.7:1's (I think but i'm struggling to remember the ratio) that pegging is not then required as there is no way you can cause the thicker crown wheels to move or flex under shock away from the pinnion, so changing the crown wheel and pinion is not really that much more expensive than pegging, which is not the be all and end all because the pegging can cause the diff casing to break under shock, food for thought

Yep, Near Stoke at a place called Cheadle, Staffs, bit like deliverance up there, be carefull boys, but they do some excellent stuff real top quality, with a good website Boothy