Stiff steering

G

Gary

New Member
My Series I 2000 (1965) has stiff steering and around the straight-ahead position, turning the steering wheel seems to have a slightly delayed response, turn the steering wheel slightly and then the road wheels respond! It feels notchy and not smooth around the straight-ahead position.

Last year, I had replaced all the suspension bushes with superflex, replaced the top & bottom swivel joints and two years ago, I fitted a new old stock steering box, steering idler off a low mileage car and new old stock steering side rods & track ends.

The tracking has been re-set after each change and at this year's MOT, I had the tracking re-set again, it was on the limit of the recommended setting and is now just under 1.5mm toe-in, but the garage said that there was not any wear on the tyres indicative of mis-alignment.

My tyres have inner tubes fitted (this was how I got the car & I have not got around to changing this - I understand that the valves needed for my wheels are the 15mm size) and this has been the case since I have owned the car since 2005.

Car is a daily driver and I did around 5000 miles last year, and I am getting a bit fed up with the stiff steering and any thoughts on what seems to be wrong would be appreciated, many thanks.

Gary
 
spot on , i did this to a volvo amazon , adjusted the steering box free play with the steering near a lock result stiff steering in the straight ahead , back it off , dont suppose the p6 suffers the p4 malady where the steering column bush seizes when its not used but this frees up fairly quickly, good luck , rich
 
Thanks for the replies, that is interesting about the adjustment, it was fine for the first year, but I will do this to see if that cures the problem, thanks, Gary
 
Just a quick update on the steering, the adjuster was completely immoveable, so I removed the top and freed this off. I have backed off the adjustment (it was only just in contact), but I have since found that the steering column UJ has play in it, which is certainly not helping, don't know if this has worn due to the stiffness or not. Not road tested the car as yet!

Gary
 
The steering box was brand-new old stock just fitted two years ago, and I would have done just under 10,000 miles in that time. I had the steering column off about six-months ago to improve on the alignment of the steering wheel in the straight-ahead position and I am sure that the UJ was not worn then.

Anyway, drove the car to work this morning and I could not really detect any real change, it is the windy country roads that the stiffness is most apparent! So, I will have to wait a few days before I can try this out!
 
If adjusting the box doesn't cure it you'll have to systematically disconnect the steering until you find the tight spot.
 
Just to bring matters up-to-date, a year later!

The stiffness got really quite bad a few months ago, particularly in the straight ahead position, the steering would almost be stuck in a single position and unresponsive when a slight tweak to the line was taken, around town and at speeds under 30 miles an hour or on dual carriageways, not a noticeable problem, but on windy country roads, the car was getting to the point to being quite a handful and it was getting to the point that I did not feel the car was safe to drive.

So, when another new-old-stock steering box came available, I bought it, unfortunately, the bottom seal leaked, so this had to be replaced - which was easy enough once the drop arm had been removed - which was on quite tight!

I swopped the steering boxes over and once the wheel alignment was re-set, the steering was transformed and I am pleased to report all is well.

As for the old steering box (which was also NOS and had probably done about 14,000 miles in total), I stripped this down and there were wear marks on the drop arm where the roller fits inside and it would seem that in the straight ahead position the steering was locking up, hence the tightness I has experienced. The rest of the steering box was unworn.

So, problem resolved!
 
That's very interesting. Do you happen to know whether the second box was the later 2200 type - although interchangeable the 2200 was from a different manufacturer. The 2200 boxes have a reputation of being much stiffer thatn the earlier type, to the point of driving 2200 owners to power steering conversions. I wonder if your observation could be the cause of this?

Chris
 
Yes, it was the later type, I have reverted back to the original type - the internals are quite different and in my view, the original type has a simpler arrangement and is much smoother to operate, glad to be rid of the other one!

Gary
 
I had a problem with heavy steering on my 2000TC a few years back.

I'd had the car since 2001 and it had always been heavy on the steering, but it had got progressively worse, and reached the point where there was a creaking noise from the left hand side, when turning the steering.

So of course I checked all the "hard stuff", made sure the idler wasn't dry, checked the steering box for oil etc. Strange thing was, it didn't seem too bad with the front jacked up.

Anyway in the end it turned out on of the upper ball joints had dried out, the rubber gaiter wasn't a good seal and water had got laid in there and caused it all to rust inside. Anyway pulled back the gaiter, freed it all up with penetrating oil, then greased it up and the steering has been great since.

I pondered as to why it hadn't seemed too bad when jacked up, and when I thought about it, any friction in that upper joint would have quite a big effect with the car down, as the joint has the full weight of that corner acting down on it, via the longitudinal upper wishbone and spring.
 
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