justustwo Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Hi all hope everyones having great weekend. I have just overhauled my passenger swivel with new seals and check of pre load along with all 4 ball joints(the steering box ball joint is still to go on and drivers swivel was done 6 months ago) I got it all back together last weekend and all nice with no leaks and not so much vibration on tsteering wheel. The only problem i had was my steering was very slightly going to the left and my steering wheel was annoyingly off centre by about 10 degrees. I had tried to get the ball joints in exactly the same length but i have also replaced a badly bent track rod. Question: i want to do the tracking myself with a bit of string around the car which i feel happier to do rather than let an uninterested numpty guess what it should be as he thinks about what his dinner will be that night . I have seen a lot of posts saying that the drag link should be a specific length and this will set the steering wheel straight ??...but cant find any data for what length this should be?? , is it just a case of adjusting the drag link length untill the steering wheel shows straight(it always was straight before last weekend) This weekend i am replacing that last ball joint on the end of the pitman arm going to the drag link and then will try to get it nicely tracked if can get any answer to the above Thanks all and enjoy the weekend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 drag link 'nominal' length betwwen ball joint pin & drop arm pin hole should be 924mm as a starting point. Track rod 'nominal' 1230mm between pin centres, once both are set & tracking is correct, If the steering wheel is offset then adjust drag link to align steering wheel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justustwo Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 wow great stuff Western,....such a quick response, where on earth did you find that... i looked all over in the LR manual Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 found while browsing mu LR RAVE manuals CD, both pages attached below, drag link is in the Defender manual & track rod is in Discovery 300tdi manual, as both use the same front axle & have the same wheel track width. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Sparkes Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Queries. If the drop arm is being disconnected, isn't this a good opportunity to ensure the steering box is centred, before the arm is re-attached? (I've recently discovered the drop arm on my 1960's Series 2A had been positioned off-central, by a mechanic 'some time ago', judging by the dirt on the locking tab washer). When the box is proved centred, isn't that the time to set the steering wheel level? That way you always know when the box is centred. The point here is that any PO, or mechanic, can 'easily' have moved the steering wheel away from 'steering box central', just to get the wheel looking 'right'. Only then do you adjust the drag link, to ensure the vehicle goes in a straight line when the steering wheel is level. As you might guess, I'm not a Defender expert, do they specify the box should be centred when the steering wheel is in the mid position? Regards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justustwo Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 i Managed to get all done yesterday and just going to check the tracking this morning.As for the drop arm on a defender i thought it could only go on in one position? one thing i did see from the ball joint replacement in situ on Les Hensons thread in the tech archives, the spring that goes underneath the pin and cup i have put in with the small diamter of the spring facing up towards the castleated nut/pin(large diameter of spring towards the circlip/disc) as i could not read/understand how Les was explaining that the` thinner` part of the spring should be at the bottom.I took it from the diagram in LR manual Lastly what a pain it is getting those rubber boot retaining clips on especially the small one which defeated me for at least 30 mins with my blood pressure rising steadily,any hints for next time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo Murphy Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Welcome to the drop arm ball joint club Took me 10 years to get round to doing a Discovery flat drop arm conversion. Now I just have to change a standard ball joint rather than one of those confounded kits Mo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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