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Resting gremlins

A pal at work (the one who catalysed me in to LR ownership) has a 200TDI disco that was suffering from tight steering last weekend when I saw him and drove it. I tried the machine in a car park and when I was steering on full lock and released the steering wheel it straightened up a bit but still steered in circles (worse on RH than LH, or maybe the other way round). Also on normal driving when slipping the wheel and allowing the castor to straighten things up it didn't want to straighten up properly.

I had a good read of the LR manual and the sequence of tests it suggests seems logical. Disconnecting the drag link and suchlike to find out where the friction is coming from etc etc. The plan was to dive in to it tonight except the plan was confounded by a) Other problems with another motor and b) The LR has "fixed" it's self.

Incidentally he has modular wheels with an inch or so offset on them so the steering stops could be wound back to allow a tighter steering circle for trialling, and when I prostrated myself under the machine it's clear both spherical joints are leaky.

So, any offers as to what fault with the described symptoms would apparently "fix" it's self. I'm not a big believer in things fixing themselves btw. IME it's usually the gremlins resting. Cheers Graham

Reply to
Graham Bowers
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I had the same thing on my 90, and it would often fix itself.

Lubricate the 2 uj's on the steering column, under the bonnet to the left hand side. Use something heavy, as WD40 or the like will not last.

Reply to
Mark Solesbury

Standard Disco 1 steel wheels have 33 mm (1.3 inches approx.) of offset. By changing wheels for ones with a lesser offset he's not helping things. However the problem probably lies elsewhere.

Try jacking up the entire front axle to take the load off ball joints etc.. You be able to determine if there are any tight points. Some joints may be dry/worn and obviously 'cratchety'. If they have grease nipples - grease them. Do oil and work the steering column joints as Mark suggests - this can bring about miraculous cures. Has the steering box been over-adjusted and is now too tight in the central position?

Reply to
Dougal

As others have said, and in my experience, the UJs in the steering column are usually to blame.

John

Reply to
John Greystrong

Very nearly frightened myself into replacing the steering box on my first RRC after excessive diligence when pressure washing the crud out of the engine bay. I had cleaned all the lubrication out of the steering UJs which, having been allowed to dry overnight, set almost solid. Wonderful stuff WD40!

HTH

Richard

Reply to
Richard

The box hasn't been touched so mal-adjustment isn't in the frame.

Reply to
Graham Bowers

Thanks all. Will lube the UJ's, change the oil in the sphericals and hopefully the problem will not return. Cheers Graham

Reply to
Graham Bowers

On or around Sat, 17 Mar 2007 06:07:59 +0000, Graham Bowers enlightened us thusly:

BTW, your disco has one-shot grease in the swivels, I can't remember if I got around to attaching the stickers to it.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Thanks The gremlins are in a pal's disco, but useful to know about the one shot. Probably explains why nothing much came out when I drained them :-))

Reply to
Graham Bowers

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