Thread: Steering Relay Rebuild

How I rebuilt my steering relay: There’s plenty of how to’s out there, here’s a few of my tips though.
If you want the why and or full tale go here: Blue Bertha
First attempted to remove the relay form the chassis when this didn’t work I removed the bottom plate form the relay and tapped the shaft out onto some crumpled thick paper strategically positioned underneath the relay. I had removed the front end for easy access but this probably wasn’t necessary for imply rebuilding a relay.

To recompress the spring some handy tips had been given by Peter from All Four x 4. He suggested cutting a plate into a u shape to the shaft would fit through the u but not the spring. I had limited resources however and felt the spring was not going to compress easily under my weight. So I turned to my now trusty hi-lift jack. I had prepared the shaft and spring as pictured and was very careful to ensure the washers were in place before I compressed the spring.

Obviously this is asking for disaster but done very carefully one can complete it in relative safety. The second hose clamp was secured easily and the spring was ‘safely’ compressed ready for reassembly. The bottom plate was reattached with gasket glue and the flange plate reattached (do it properly and you may not have to take this plate on and off three times as I did).

Next I put the shaft back in removing the hose clamps carefully. With the shaft in place the relay was filled with oil and finally the top plate bolted down ready for the upper and lower arms to be reattatched.

Ensure the metal outer of the old seal is not still in situ.
The other thing is I have a hunch in the back of my mind that there may be two different seal sizes. I have a relay pulled down at present, I will check the seal sizes for you.


Cheers, Mick.