Defender Steering Drop Arm - Removal

Hi guys,

I've been told that my power steering box is leaking on my 90. And that I need to change the seal. Problem being I've undone the big nut below the powersteering box holding the drop arm on. But it won't shift!

Apparently this is a nightmare of a job?? Can anyone give me an insight as to how to get the drop arm off without damaging the splines on the power steering box???

James

Big hammer and drift with puller

Here ya go http://www.landroverexpedition.com/technical/replacing-steering-drop-arm/

Blimey! Looks extreme..

OK. So it looks like if I can get it off its best to replace with the Discovery item. :doh:

After a bit of Googling I found this:

HNJ Engineering - Land Rover Parts - Land Rover Defender Steering Puller - HNJ7000000

Has anyone ever used one? It certainly looks up to the job.. Pricey mind you.

I don't have a standard puller to try. As for grinding it off. I'm not that good with a grinder, and don't want to risk damaging the splines.

Thoughts??

Replacement boxea are cheap enuff.

There's a buster photo thread on this

I pasted it into a similar post a couple of days back

Sorry - can't be bothered to do again - just search Buster's threads. It's near the bottom of page 3!

they will come off with a big drift and big hammer ,pullers on at same time helps ,its held by a taper so whacking side of arm will let it drop off eventually

Oh sod it

This is the thread from earlier this week

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f7/steering-box-drop-arm-nightmare-234294.html

Post 9 has the Buster Photo link

Station House said:

Oh sod it

This is the thread from earlier this week

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f7/steering-box-drop-arm-nightmare-234294.html

Post 9 has the Buster Photo link

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You old softy

mick the builder said:

You old softy

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Yeh I know - t'was a 'be kind to the newbie' moment

Thanks guys. I shall have a read. Wish me luck!

Hi mate I started a thread about this the other day and I had loads of great advise thanks to all by the way.
I had the same problem the puller and smacking it with a chisel didn't move it so I had to use a combination of it all like you I didn't want to damage the threads so I used the grinder and went nearly through then attached the puller and put the chisel in the cut one good smack and it fell off job done hope this helps all the best. Mike

Currently having the same issues.

I'm feeling lots of love for the grinder and large chisel approach.

Grinder does work - that and a puller is where I ended up earlier this year - although the grinder was tricky to get access to the right place and took longer than i expected to cut through

jamesmartin said:

they will come off with a big drift and big hammer ,pullers on at same time helps ,its held by a taper so whacking side of arm will let it drop off eventually

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I have a big two legged puller, laser cut to my design by local ag. machinery place. Puller is made to be hammered on with drift and big hammers
I have removed afew like this, but still find it sometimes takes patience, I wind the puller up tight, give it a few smacks with the hammer, leave it a few hours, come back and give it few more smacks, they come off after a few goes.

Turboman said:

I have a big two legged puller, laser cut to my design by local ag. machinery place. Puller is made to be hammered on with drift and big hammers
I have removed afew like this, but still find it sometimes takes patience, I wind the puller up tight, give it a few smacks with the hammer, leave it a few hours, come back and give it few more smacks, they come off after a few goes.

Click to expand...

its taken me an hour odd times but they do allways come off

jamesmartin said:

its taken me an hour odd times but they do allways come off

Click to expand...

Done a few for mates as well as mine a few times. Never had to cut one yet, but there is always a first time

Turboman said:

Done a few for mates as well as mine a few times. Never had to cut one yet, but there is always a first time

Click to expand...

Same here. Sometimes applying pressure and then leaving it as is and then coming back later can work wonders.

ratty said:

Same here. Sometimes applying pressure and then leaving it as is and then coming back later can work wonders.

Click to expand...

Often have to do this on tractor parts, which tend to be large and left unattended for years
Another thing I have noticed with these and similar hefty components is that they are not a problem second time around. Once its been apart and reassembled nicely with copper grease they usually pop off easily in a few years.
I think the problem is that people don't like taking them off, so they do the joints in situ and the arms are untouched for decades in the hostile environment of a landy.

A couple of months ago I got a second hand Steering box from a scrapped Disco and it still had the steering arm on and of course it was the wrong arm (straight one) So after much hammering and WD40 no movement.
Sadly the OCD (or wallet) kicked in and it had me make up a puller.
Used bits from the scrap pile.

2No. 120mm Lengths of 40mmx40mmx5mm angle iron and cut a semi-circular hole in the middle of each piece so that when place together it made a hole to match the spline above the drop arm.

1No. 250mm long square box tube 60mmx40mm.

4No. 350mm long (depending on the height of your jack) 25mmx5mm flat iron.

Used two lengths of threaded rod to join flat iron to tube and 6mm bolts to join flat iron to angle iron so that looking from the side it made an A frame so that a suitable jack would fit on the square tube.

Attached it so the angle fitted between arm and box using a G clamp to hold the angle together then used the jack to force the arm from the splines. Had to apply the pressure then leave it for some time then go back and pump up the jack again until it separated with a loud crack.

Used this home made puller twice now so far so good.

Still trying to follow the threads to download pictures so I will post pics later.