101 Power Steering

[Defender]

I am trying to put together a few pictures together of what was done on my GS for the steering .Inthe meantime Google jeep Cherokee xj power steering box. It's a compact unit not dissimilar to the original Burman box the chassis needs no cutting as the box fits perfectly through the existing hole in the chasis. It can be rotated backwards to accommodate the steep angle of the steering column. The box itself is left hand drive and my Gs is right hand drive

If you could post some pictures that would be great, I would be very interested.

I currently have a box from a VW LT35 but haven't actually tried fitting it yet.

But I do have one question, the steering relay is much smaller, it looks very similar to the jeep one actually but how did you get round this? The options I could see would be:

1. Have a relay made that suits the VW box to the 101 ball joint = Mega expensive so most likely not an option.

2. Have a ball joint made to suit the 101 threads but the VW taper = Again probably expensive and not sure how feasible it would be.

I think this is why people use the LDV steering box because the 101 relay bots straight on to it.

[garrycol]

Sorry - I cannot help with that as none of the parts are familiar to me. Hopefully someone will have the answers.

Garry

[daslandroverman]

HarryBackhouse on the 101 club forum has done an LDV based conversion recently.

The box attaches to the chassis without much fuss, whilst he's had a 300 Tdi Disco drop arm (the one that fits a standard track rod end) forged into the shape of the standard 101 item and reamed out the tapered end to suit the larger 101 link ends.

Bit more of a write up and pictures here:

http://www.101club.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9196

Some people don't seem to like how he's modified the arm, I'm of the opinion that if it was done with some care it wouldn't be a problem.

[garrycol]

Unfortunately I am not a member of the 101 club so cannot view that.

The LDV conversion has been done quite a few times and seems to work OK. If I was in the UK or in a country where you could get the LDV gear I would definitely consider it - nothing local here though.

Garry

[daslandroverman]

Here's some cut and paste of the 101 club forum posts, basically the details of how it was fitted up, and the relevant pictures.

I fitted a Sherpa box to mine to avoid cutting up the chassis, I just welded and fabricated a mounting plate to the chassis and used the existing drop arm holes to make it simpler.

I welded a mounting plate over the top of the original and completely cut away the outrigger before cutting, shaping and welding it to shape before bolting it back on.
I did this so I could remove the box easily without damaging the frame or chassis.

I used a defender drop arm - with splines that matched the output shaft diameter of the box which was convenient.

The 101 steering box had a different shaft diameter.

The defender drop arm was then taken to a black smith where it was heated up and beaten to lengthen it to the correct length so that full lock each way can be achieved. It also had the twist put in at the small end for the drag link.

It was reheated and tempered two or three times to make the drop arm fit exactly after trial and error as the original one did.
The " small end" was re cut with a tapered reamer to fit the drag link ball joint.

Refurbished boxes are available over here, as are used examples from various breakers.
I've previously sent parts out down under for people, and happy to do it again if you were interested in an LDV box.

[garrycol]

Thanks for that - bookmarked it for future reference. That conversion is one of the better ones as minimal modifications are needed.

Cheers

Garry

[Robertdot]

You cant remove just power steering on a first gen and keep the a/c.

The pump acts as the tensioner. You remove it, there is no way to place tension on the belt.

Greg

[garrycol]

Hi Greg - not sure I follow - can you expand on what your comments refer too.

Thanks

Garry