Steering suddenly became heavy at centre position

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the_wolf

the_wolf

Well-Known Member
Posts
16,852
Location
Stonehouse, Scotland
I've tried a bit of fault diagnosis and searched too but can't find anything which will give me an answer to my problem. Basically the steering has suddenly became very stiff in the centre. When I'm turning it seems to loosen up but still not a great deal and I still feel as if I need to give it a bit more force than normal to get it back into the centre. Drop arm ball joint was changed recently (albeit britpart so not the best), track rod ends, drag link, drag link balljoint are all fairly new. Power steering fluid is plentiful. Steering UJs have been oiled and I've tried adjusting the screw on top of the box but it doesn't seem to have made any difference.

The steering damper mounts are a bit loose but I wouldn't have thought this would cause the problem and its due for replacement anyway.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Dave
 
Had this twice,first a slightly bent track rod binding in the guide under the diff but you may not have this with your heavy duty one.Then a dent in the steering damper making it stick at one point.
 
steering box is so designed that in center postion input worm and sector shaft are closest ,the further you go in each lock the greater the play there is between them ,hence only adjust screw in top when box is central ,adjusting is done by rocking input by hand whilst adjusting screw clockwise till you can feel play just removed ,if its adjusted when box isnt central center can become very tight to get through ,dropping drag link and trying wheels when jacked up will show if problem is in box or axle etc
 
jamesmartin said:
steering box is so designed that in center postion input worm and sector shaft are closest ,the further you go in each lock the greater the play there is between them ,hence only adjust screw in top when box is central ,adjusting is done by rocking input by hand whilst adjusting screw clockwise till you can feel play just removed ,if its adjusted when box isnt central center can become very tight to get through ,dropping drag link and trying wheels when jacked up will show if problem is in box or axle etc
Click to expand...

Box was central and I rocked the input by hand and it seems to be fine. Will jack it up and take off drag link and go from there. Cheers
 
Ok jacked it up and removed drag link, steering is still tight so I'm assuming its something to do with the box or the shaft. Where do I go from here? Is it worthwhile turning the adjustment screw back slightly and/or removing the UJs and greasing them properly? Or am I looking at a larger problem inside the box itself
 
I had a similar problem just this last week. I know you said in your initial post that you had oiled the uj's in the steering column, but that was where my problem was. Does the effort required to turn the wheel vary as you go lock to lock or is it constant? If it varies I would recheck the uj's.
 
An update on this. Took the main steering shaft off and worked the UJs until they were properly free, oiled them liberally and greased it when putting it all back together. It's made a world of difference and the steering is now a million times better than its ever been. Many thanks for the answers
 
I had the same result! Quite rewarding when you get a good outcome. What's the next job? Always another challenge waiting, such are Landys! :):)
 
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