Steering drop arm

My 90 is fitted with a Discovery steering drop arm (for easy ball joint replacements). The retaining nut has a nasty habit of coming undone (by 1/8th of a turn or so - but it's enough to make the steering feel like i'm stirring custard). Until pretty recently, i would just nip it up every year or so, now it's coming undone every couple of days and it's really bothering me. I think I'm not bending the tab washer over far enough due to the fact that the steering guard makes access a tad more difficult. Should I apply a drop or 2 of thread lock?

Are you bending the washer over both the arm in one direction and the nut in the other?

Boris113 said:

Are you bending the washer over both the arm in one direction and the nut in the other?

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+1 the tab washer should have an upwards tab that locks it to the arm then the other portion bashed up tight to the nut flat.
The arm should lock on its taper? it shouldnt just rely on the nut anyways.

For reliability and peace of mind it's worth undoing the steering guard temporarily to make sure the nut is properly tight and that the washer is fully engaged with the flat of the nut and the arm itself so the nut can't turn. A drop of Loc-tite won't do any harm. Maybe, if the nut has been on and off a few times it's getting a little stretched and a new one might be in order, along with a new lock washer.

Thanks for the tips. So far it's behaving. i think I wasn't bending the lock washer over as far as I should. To be honest I'm not sure it's bent over the arm. I'll buy a new one for safe measure and fit it the next time it gets undone.

reiny said:

Thanks for the tips. So far it's behaving. i think I wasn't bending the lock washer over as far as I should. To be honest I'm not sure it's bent over the arm. I'll buy a new one for safe measure and fit it the next time it gets undone.

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That nut should be done up pretty tight, over 100 ft/lbs IIRC. Are you sure the washer is the only problem, or are you not getting the nut properly tightened?

To be honest the washer is just a back up, basically if the nut is coming undone you have a problem, ie damaged threads or splines.
Mine did same thing a few years ago it actually got that loose it jumped a spline! loctite and an air gun and its been fine ever since.

lynall said:

To be honest the washer is just a back up, basically if the nut is coming undone you have a problem, ie damaged threads or splines.

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+1 Or maybe the arm is so worn it has gone up the splines until the nut is at the end of the thread.