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Steering Box alignment/centralise?


allegedly

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Hi all! Novice 'mechanic' on my Disco 1 and I've replaced the ends on the track rod and drag link and I've read every thing I can find and they all say that, to align the drop arm on the box to centralise the steering, you place an 8mm drill in the slotted guide and locate it in the hole above. Lovely drawings showing just that. Except, when I grovel underneath, I can see the slot on the back of the arm but there's no hole to align it with! No probs, I've just got a different box to that in the manual(s) but I can't seem to find the way to do it without it. Any guidance will be gratefully received!

Rob

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Have you looked at this thread?

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=16765

The only hole alignment I know of is the steering link rod, which has to be located in a certain position so that the pinch bolts will fit. Alignment of the drop arm is done by master splines on the shaft. I may not have done a Disco, so they could be different, but the rule of thumb is the drop arm should be pointing straight forward when the wheels are straight and the steering wheel is centred.

Les.

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:) Thanks for the reply Les. Yes, I'd checked that one out, excellent step by step like everything on here but unfortunatly the actual drop arm is slightly different to the one fitted to my Disco 1 ('96). Mine has a sort on 'lump' with a slot cut in it at the back and according to the manual (downloaded from here, thank you very much) there should be a locator hole directly above it,(again some sort of 'lump' with a hole in it) when the steering is straight ahead. Its not there! :(

Agree the obvious thing would be to have it pointing straight ahead when aligned but what threw me I think, was in the drawings it appears to be offset by several degrees.

The steering had been getting very imprecise (Yes, I know, it's a Land Rover!) but in a straight line the steering wheel had gone from a vague '9 and 3' to a very vague '10 and 4' !!

I've renewed the trackrod/draglink ends and fitted a new steering damper plus new panhard rod bushes, as all were pretty well shot, so I thought the last thing to do there is ensure the drop arm and steering wheel position are correct. I've set up the links as per the manuals recommended gaps so I'll test drive it once I've refitted the refurbed brake calipers (another story! don't talk to me about wiper seal retaining rings!!) and adjust as required. Famous last words! Hopefully this'll clear up that problem and it's not anything more extreme/complex. B)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi all. Just to cap that last post,(busy as hell at work so apologies for delay in getting back),got the drop arm as straight as I could and tracking sorted at local 'major chain dealership' so final adjustment made by moving the steering wheel round a little.No probs getting it off by carefully inserting screwdriver past edge of central horn fitting. As mentioned on a post on here, the soft plastic of the body of the steering wheel moves much more than you'd think.Boss nut appeared untouched.

Couple of notes to other 'newbies' like me DIYing on older Discos (P reg):

the bolts on new clamps for drag link/track rods when renewing track rod ends appeared to be made of a material slightly harder than sliced white bread. Replaced with stainless. With hindsight, even if not intending to go offroad, maybe paying a bit more for parts works out cheaper in the long run.

As mentioned in a post on here, when rebuilding brake calipers, buy a couple of extra seal sets, fairly cheap but so easy to bend the metal bit of the wiper seal,(no....really????Feck!I should have listened Les). Saves hanging about while another set arrives by post, (if you live in the middle of no-where like me!).

If you're not lucky enough to have access to a 'gas axe', invest in a gas bottle blow lamp, the need to apply heat to various bits to ease removal was a constant surprise but made things much easier.

Without meaning to overuse the term 'invest', buy decent hex and multipoint spanners,I got a set of sockets for pneumatic impacts, good move it turns out!

Knowing I'll be back to these parts sometime, cant use enough copper slip!

Sorry this is a bit long, it's a steep learning curve and if it saves someone grief/money, time well spent.

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