FINDING AND CURING STEERING FAULTS

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34046, 9 January 1976, Page 5

FINDING AND CURING STEERING FAULTS

The wife of a friend once gave me a lift in her old pre-war Morris, and as we bumped out of a garage forecourt after getting some petrol, the steeringwheel came away in her hands, writes Joss Joselyn in the magazine. "Road Safety.” Not one whit abashed, she muttered something about it. "always doing that.” instantly refitted it, and carried on driving. It was at that point I decided that perhaps I worry’ too much, Jocelyn writes You do not. need me to tell you of course how nasty that incident might have been in the middle of a sharp bend. It is not really very likely to happen but there are plenty of other steering mishaps that can. Just what can go wrong and the symptoms of trouble on the wav you can see in the chart. The first mentioned is ‘wander’ or ‘float’ and both terms are explicit. The trouble is that this symptom develops slowly and gradually and the driver tends to compensate for it without ever noticing and recognising it. A possible cause is uneven tyre, pressures and it is an easy one to eliminate. Some cars are verv sensitive to this and the’ effects of a soggy front tyre can be quite frightening. Probably the answer would be to get the wheel changed and have the tyre checked for leaks or damage. A second likely possibility is free play somewhere in the steering linkage. There are plenty of points where wear can occur and they do not all have to be in the steering — sometimes the suspension is the cause. Track

rod ends or other ball joints are likely to be the cause and often it is possible to find the guilty party 7 by watching the linage underneath while some one else waggles the steering wheel. You will spot free play by seeing the bits that move before the actual road wheels stir. With some type of joint it is only possible to discover wear by levering against the joint. In any case your garage should be able to help. If you have got a steering box fitted, the cause could be slack adjustment and provided the box is not too worn, this one is quite easy to cure by tightening the adjuster on top of the box. If your car has got a rack and pinion type gearfitted and wear is the trouble, you will probably find that fitting a new unit will be the answer. The trick with this type of gear is to inspect the rubber boot enclosing it regularly. If this becomes damaged and you can spot it quickly, you may be able to prevent the ingress of water and dirt and fit a new gaiter before the rack becomes worn and ruined Keep the steering rack gaiter well topped up with oil. Sometimes a lubrication nipple is fitted and this is the way you do it with a pressure oil gun. In other cases you just slacken the clip at one end of the gaiter and squirt oil inside from a pressure can. Another possibility is incorrect steering geometry. This is something only the properly-equipped garage can check and cure as precision optical alignment gear is required. If you suspect this may be the. trouble, you can double check by looking for uneven front tyre wear. Another simple possible

SYMPTOM CAUSE CURE Steering ; Uneven tyre pressures Check and adjust wanders Worn shock absorbers fest and replace and seems • to float Severely worn steering joints Fit new ball joints at spied Steering geometry incorrect Checked professionally Too much free play in the Adjust or fit new steering box or rack Box or rack mounting Check and tighten bolts loose Steering , Under-inflated tyres Check and inflate still ' - — 1 - I nlnbricated and binding Grease a,ld king pins heavy ■ Lack of steering gear Top up lubrication Unlubricated and binding Grease ) ball joints Incorrect steering geometry Checked professionally Steering box adjustment Adjust correctly over-tightened Steering ; Loose wheel nuts Check and tighten vibration .. . ~ ' ~~ ' ; I ~ Out of balance front wheels Balanced professionally Ball joint wear Fit new ball joints Worn hub bearings or out Adjust or fit new of adjustment bearings Steering box or rack with Adjust or replace excessive play ; Sagging or broken Check and fit new front springs Steering One front tyre under-inflated Check and inflate H -—- — —— —————— Binding brake on one side Adjust or fit new cylinder one side • ' • Binding wheel bearing Adjust or replace

cause of steering wander can be loose mounting bolts on the steering rack or steering box. Take a spanner to them all and it just might cure the trouble. Two of tiie previous causes can be responsible for stiff steering. Steering box adjustment over-tight-ened is one possibility and incorrect steering geometrv is another. The most like-y cause. however, is insufficient lubrication somewhere in the linkage, l ook at the kingpin lubrication, the ball joints and the steering box or rack. If there is a steering idler fitted have a look at this. Before you do any of these, things, however, have a Look at the fault that is easiest to cure — underinflated tyres. These can make your steering veryheavy indeed. Wear in the system shows up on different cars in different ways. It can appear as vibration or shake. Look particularly at bail joints, steering rack or box and hub hearings and king pins The two latter you can check by jacking up the wheel and gripping the top and bottom of the tyre and rocking it. Both bearing and king pin wear can show up this way. When vibration is the trouble there are other possible causes. Loose wheel nuts is one and out-of-balance front wheels is another. The latter you can only have checked and put right by a tyre specialist, with good wheel and tyre-balancing machinery. There are also further possibilities of trouble in the suspension and shock absorbers. Steering that consistently pulls to one side has to be distinguished from steering that pulls only during braking. Obviously this latter must be due to the brakes but a

permanent 'puli’ can have other causes One possi. bilitv is a single 'Oggy tyre — simple but possible. A binding wheel bearing is possible too and dangerous. particularly if it is breaking up. Do not eliminate the possibility of binding brakes — they could be binding on one side, whether applied or not. Even more nastv is the chance that the pull could be due to chassis distortion due to severe corrosion or perhaps incorrectly repaired crash damage Best of all, do not wait until you have symptoms to investigate. Make sure first that your lubrication requirements are carried out regularly when the car is serviced. Get the steering geometry checked out at regular intervals and keep a close eye on the state of your teres.