Def90 Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 With the MOT coming up on my truck, I'm after some advise regard play in my steering. About a year ago I bought a TD5 110, whilst it has had a hard life, it drove fine - Steering spot on and very shape. After a particularly engaging offroad session with the AWDC at SLab common I managed to make funny animal shapes out of my Track rods. So I have replaced the track rods with Heavy Duty sumo bars (inc track rod ends), replaced the drag link bracket, Steering damper & the drop arm ball joint. All went together ok and I have been driving the truck since. However, ever since putting it all back together I have found that the steering seems vague, there seems to be travel in the steering wheel before I feel any restistance/reaction at the wheels. The Tracking is ok (1230mm track rod centre to track rod centre - with 2 degress toe out, when putting it all back together I didn't notice any play in the steering box or leak from the seals. Before I start to take it all apart again, to check settings, is there any "usual suspects" I should be checking? I have been told you can adjust the steering box to take up the slack in the steering, is this something just for old series vehicles or can this be done on a TD5 - Can anyone offer advise on making this adjustment? Any advise would be appreciate, as I have this weekend to look at it before the MOT ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 slacken the big nut on the top cover, adjust the central allen/socket head screw in the middle & retighten the outer big locknut, check steering through full range, you don't want any 'tight' spots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puffernutter Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Note - only adjust at the extreme ends! Those wear the least. If you adjust in the middle (straight on) you may find it jams at either extreme! Cheers Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Note - only adjust at the extreme ends! Those wear the least. If you adjust in the middle (straight on) you may find it jams at either extreme! Cheers Peter NO - thats not right really - there is naturally more play at each extremity and, if you adjust at the extremities, it may well jam as it passes through the middle - very dangerous if it does that. It must be adjusted in the straight ahead position to the point where it runs smoothly from lock to lock. If you have so much wear in the middle that it jams at each lock, you really need a new box fitting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cackshifter Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 If you do need a new box rj landrovers had some new ones the other day for £200 which seems a snip. Regards Nigel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Def90 Posted March 25, 2011 Author Share Posted March 25, 2011 Thanks Guys, So does that mean my diagnosis is correct, it is the steering box adjustment - No other obvious suspects to check before I try this? I'll give it a go at the weekend and let you all know how it goes Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Henson Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 You jack both front wheels off the ground, adjust it a bit, turn from lock to lock to check for tight spots, then adjust more until it feels ok. Les. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzza Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 With the MOT coming up on my truck, I'm after some advise regard play in my steering. About a year ago I bought a TD5 110, whilst it has had a hard life, it drove fine - Steering spot on and very shape. After a particularly engaging offroad session with the AWDC at SLab common I managed to make funny animal shapes out of my Track rods. So I have replaced the track rods with Heavy Duty sumo bars (inc track rod ends), replaced the drag link bracket, Steering damper & the drop arm ball joint. All went together ok and I have been driving the truck since. However, ever since putting it all back together I have found that the steering seems vague, there seems to be travel in the steering wheel before I feel any restistance/reaction at the wheels. The Tracking is ok (1230mm track rod centre to track rod centre - with 2 degress toe out, when putting it all back together I didn't notice any play in the steering box or leak from the seals. Before I start to take it all apart again, to check settings, is there any "usual suspects" I should be checking? I have been told you can adjust the steering box to take up the slack in the steering, is this something just for old series vehicles or can this be done on a TD5 - Can anyone offer advise on making this adjustment? Any advise would be appreciate, as I have this weekend to look at it before the MOT ! That seems a lot of toe out, do you mean 2mm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicks90 Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 you havent mentioned checking the steering column UJs, this can make things a bit wandery and vague if they are worn out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 When my Defender had too much play at the steering wheel, I adjusted the box as above but the problem was that the bottom bolt holding the uj to the spindle on the box was loose. Luckily the splines on the box are harder metal than the UJ splines so I fitted a new one. That was years ago now. The official play at the steering wheel rim is 24mm or one inch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Def90 Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 Thanks for all the suggestion and recommendations Guys, Thought I'd report back. Jacked the truck up as recommend and set about adjusting the steering box. The locking nut had obviously not been shifted since the factor and was well and truely stuck. Not least of all the EGR unit was in the way, so I couldn't easily get good access to the locking nut. Eventually gave into to brut force and got a breaker bar and socket onto the locking nut, after a bit of effort, this shifted it. Having lost all referance to the orginal alignment (due to the use of the socket) I then worked the locking nut and the hex bolt so that they moved more freely in the box, to aid final adjustment. I found it very easy to tighted the hex bolt so far that it started to fall below the level of the locking bolt - I felt this was to far. Also, turning the steering wheel lock to lock, I can't say I felt any tight spots. With this level of adjust and no obvious sign of the correct setting I thought I'd approach the adjustment a different way. So I slackened off the hex bolt until there was play once again in the steering wheel. I then repeatedly made small adjustments until the play in the steering wheel seemed to be taken up. I then locked off the lock nut. After a brief road test this seems to have done the trick, steering is very positive again - Only problem is, that having taken the slack out of the steering, My steering wheel is now off centre by a quarter turn, so this is another job for another weekend !. Thanks again for all your help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.