Steering box or relay

Hi,
I have finished refurbishing the rear axle on my S3 and moved my attention to the front.
Dropped the front axle off to replace the springs\shocks and track rods etc and have a good look at everything.
The swivels are quite corroded so I thought they were causing the heavy steering.

I expected when i disconnected the drop arm that the steering would to be nice and light - it dosnt seem much different to when it was actually moving the wheels (very heavy and clunks when you rock it left\right).
Just after a suggestion as how best to proceed ?
Should I just disconnect the steering box to relay bar and try and work out which is causing the most friction ?
How difficult are they to strip and rebuild etc - or is it a case if you have to as then stick with with recon units!

Thanks in advance.

Rich

yes remove an arm or arms to locate which is the problem ,new steering relays arent dear ,its getting the old one out thats hard, steering arms are set at specific angles its worth going through them all by the book

Thank you,

restoring an old Land Rover, a gift that keeps on giving....
Eventually if I take enough bits off I'm sure I will find one that is actually serviceable !

Try taking two screws out of the top of the relay cover. One to fill with EP90 and the other one to let the air out. Relays get very stiff due to lack of oil and are the first thing I look at when steering is heavy.

Be aware that the steering relay contains powerful springs. These can fly out if you disassemble it incorrectly. There is more information on this in the Repair Operations Manual.

I found an article about rebuilding them http://ollr.createaforum.com/technical-archive/how-to-rebuild-a-steering-relay/ using a home made spring compressor rather than the official repair tool
But if I'm honest I also checked on the John Craddock website and they list NRC 1269 for £39.55 +vat + delivery (about £53.46) so I kind of think that maybe the simple option !
Just need to take the wing off to get access to the box and relay link as I want to change all the ball joints anyway.

Check who's manufacture the Craddocks part is there was a batch of Britpart ones awhile ago which where reported to have rubbish shafts to the extent they would snap whilst in use.

If you can weld make your own like I did ! Use my pic as a guide
Chris

It's likely the steering relay, mine was stiff and caused horrid sitcky, heavy, dangerous steering. After freeing it off its a lot nicer to drive and can go in a straight line on the motorway instead of a series of zigs and zags.

I ended up rebuilding mine in-situ the first time (swapped chassis since) as I couldn't get the body out. It's a bit of a faff but not impossible. You'll need to fabricate some spring keepers to hold the spring down while you slip the bushes on then tie wrap the bushes in place and slide it back in.

Done that myself - not too difficult a job in situ but I wouldn't trust tiewraps - I used jubilee clips!

I did that the first time - big tie wraps were stronger and didn't cut my face and fingers open when I clumsily managed to release the whole thing into my teeth! Modern jubilee clips seem to all be made of some sort of mixture of cheese, lead and monkey metal.