What have i done wrong here? Swivel preload

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owas

owas

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Posts
1,216
My steering has been feeling 'loose'
And i have gone through all the components and not found any play so i though the swivel bearing preload could be too light.

Took drivers side wheel off and there was no play in it at all.
So split ball joint, felt really light turning from lock to lock and was only around 2kg on my scale.

Removed the brake line bracket, took the bolts out and prised the swivel pin up, removed a shim and put it all back together how it was. (The pin went straight back in)
But now theres a lot of lift in it, im not sure how ive managed to do this?
Enough to now make the seal leak alot.

Any idea what ive messed up here?
 
owas said:
My steering has been feeling 'loose'
And i have gone through all the components and not found any play so i though the swivel bearing preload could be too light.

Took drivers side wheel off and there was no play in it at all.
So split ball joint, felt really light turning from lock to lock and was only around 2kg on my scale.

Removed the brake line bracket, took the bolts out and prised the swivel pin up, removed a shim and put it all back together how it was. (The pin went straight back in)
But now theres a lot of lift in it, im not sure how ive managed to do this?
Enough to now make the seal leak alot.

Any idea what ive messed up here?
Click to expand...
as soon as you undo top pin bolts swivel housing will drop a little allowing oil or swivel grease to leak out of the seal at the bottom, how old is your truck swivel preload is different depending on age
 
jamesmartin said:
as soon as you undo top pin bolts swivel housing will drop a little allowing oil or swivel grease to leak out of the seal at the bottom, how old is your truck swivel preload is different depending on age
Click to expand...

It's a 1986, it all went back together smoothly but now has a lot of play somewhere, you can lift it quite alot now.
There was no play before
 
owas said:
It's a 1986, it all went back together smoothly but now has a lot of play somewhere, you can lift it quite alot now.
There was no play before
Click to expand...
it should have about 10-12 lbs without the seal bolted up id go for 12-14lbs with seal in place, theres a thrust washer sits in the bottom of the bush has it come out with the pin and not gone back in
 
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jamesmartin said:
it should have about 10-12 lbs without the seal bolted up id go for 8-10 with seal in place, theres a thrust washer sits in the bottom of the bush has it come out with the pin and not gone back in
Click to expand...

Ah crap, i didnt see any thrust washer when it came out, i think that might be my problem. Ill have a look on the floor :oops:
 
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I removed some and managed to get 12lbs either side with the shims i already had

Its now worse than it was before o_O

The steering feels more 'solid' but its harder to keep in a straight line without correcting it.

This a tithonus and all the bushes look like they have been replaced, although that wouldve been around 10 years ago now, i cant find any play in anything myself but theres gotta be something wrong.

Unless its just the tracking needs doing. (Which i have no idea if the army would have done)
 
I'd check the steering ball joints move correctly. Not going straight is often an issue of a tight link in the steering not re-centreing, especially if only turned a small amount. I'd go as far as to say, stick a shim back in either side too and try that! .. :)
 
owas said:
I removed some and managed to get 12lbs either side with the shims i already had

Its now worse than it was before o_O

The steering feels more 'solid' but its harder to keep in a straight line without correcting it.

This a tithonus and all the bushes look like they have been replaced, although that wouldve been around 10 years ago now, i cant find any play in anything myself but theres gotta be something wrong.

Unless its just the tracking needs doing. (Which i have no idea if the army would have done)
Click to expand...
apart from an obvious failing joint etc tracking is the first thing to get checked
 
jamesmartin said:
does it have loose play or are you just pushing against the rubber, vid isnt working for me
Click to expand...

Im not entirely sure now, prying against the arm i can push it pretty much all the way either side, its not loose that i can move it by hand though so im thinking its probably okay.

Im taking it to get tracked in the morning so ill have them check it over and see if they can find anything im missing.
 
owas said:
Im not entirely sure now, prying against the arm i can push it pretty much all the way either side, its not loose that i can move it by hand though so im thinking its probably okay.

Im taking it to get tracked in the morning so ill have them check it over and see if they can find anything im missing.
Click to expand...
if you get someone to rock steering wheel hard you hold on to a whee and each track rod in turn, youll feel any play and where,unless tracking is spot on it will never feel right whatever else you do ,though its very common to have several issues
 
Unfortunately the tracking was perfect and didnt need adjusting, they had a look through all the steering joints ect and couldnt find any noticable play in anything.

Leaves me with the steering box i had taken off from my old scrap disco.

Im going to just go ahead and throw a new one on.
 
owas said:
Unfortunately the tracking was perfect and didnt need adjusting, they had a look through all the steering joints ect and couldnt find any noticable play in anything.

Leaves me with the steering box i had taken off from my old scrap disco.

Im going to just go ahead and throw a new one on.
Click to expand...
thats good and you know now for certain, have you checked steering box is centralised
 
The steering box droparm is well known to be hard to remove but once in a while one can come loose on the shaft resulting in iffy steering.Worth a look.
 
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jamesmartin said:
thats good and you know now for certain, have you checked steering box is centralised
Click to expand...

Yep, steering box is centralised.
All nuts ect were done up to the correct torque, and it felt fine when i first installed it.

I think the 'looseness' has been gradually been getting worse but I didn't really notice it till i put the roof rack on and now worse since i adjusted the swivel preload.

When it was still manual steering, i can remember it being quite precise and controlled so i do doubt it is anything else really, ive only done about 2500miles on road since the swap.
 
tottot said:
The steering box droparm is well known to be hard to remove but once in a while one can come loose on the shaft resulting in iffy steering.Worth a look.
Click to expand...

Ill check that now,
I managed to get it off fairly easily with two hammers when the garage had installed it the wrong way round.
 
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