Clicking Ticking Knocking noise when turning wheel L & R - Steering Box?

**Muncheeese** · 10th June 2025, 07:51 AM

Originally Posted by AK83

Yeah, the most common leaks are from the bottom seal.

Mike from BritRest has a few he does up. Just the other day he got a cheapie Chinese box in to open up and have a look into.
He's in Canada, so LHD, and LHD boxes are getting hard to find now.

Brittanica Restorations on youtube

That link is to his Youtube channel. Look for a couple of vids about stg boxes, one labelled Chinese boxes and the other something about microscope, two vids in the last 7 days or so. he explains a lot of their inner workings. could be a bearing or something.

But a though just occurred to me about your click at about 90° turn. The oil cooler pipes can come a bit close to the intermediate shaft right where the slider section is. you have one lower uni joint, one upper uni joint(not replaceable) and then you have the sliding joint. All three have a bolt to to keep the connections tight. just make sure that the oil cooler pipes aren't too close to the sliding joint ... for example that whilst the steering is straight, there may be enough clearance, but when you turn, the shaft is wider at the sliding joint section, and possibly clipping the oil cooler line as it's turned .. or something like that.

Thank you Arthur, for your input.

I love watching Mike from Brittanica Restorations... He is so knowledgeable and a good teacher. Very easy to listen to.

Regarding the lower UJ bolt hitting anything on rotation... this is definitely a good thought, however not happening. I made sure to check this, as I actually shortened some high tensile bolts when I replaced the whole column. I wish it was that simple

Cheers.

**workingonit** · 10th June 2025, 04:05 PM

Might be a bit hard for you to assess your current setup not having a fresh system for comparison, but do you feel you have slightly sloppy or loose steering in general driving which may tighten up on full lock?

In simple terms there is a component in the steering box that is kept in place by a steel block. The component and steel block wear against each other. The wear may be concentrated in one area (urban daily driver) or be more evenly distributed depending on how much lock to lock action the box has seen (constant off roading). The steel block can be adjusted closer to the component to reduce the wear gap and so tighten up steering. If you are more the urban driver and you make too much adjustment you may find at full lock the steering becomes too tight because there has been little wear there. From memory the adjustment can be made from outside the box via grub screw but can't remember if you have to loosen something else first???

**PhilipA** · 11th June 2025, 08:07 AM

There is a locknut and screw on top of the box.
My thought now after your testing is that it could maybe not be the steering box itself but a tie rod end or the swivel joint bearings or the drop arm could be a bit loose. I once looked at a RRC for a bloke and somebody had bent both tabs in the same direction and the drop arm was about 2 threads from falling off. Or of course the most common of all. The Panhard rod bolts could be worn or the bushes gone or maybe just a little loose.
Regards PhilipA

**350RRC** · 11th June 2025, 09:41 AM

Originally Posted by Muncheeese

I can definitely hear the noise in the car, with it on, or off. .....................

I don't know if the blinker cancelling set up on a D1 is the same as a RRC.

If it is then there a metal clip that grips the steering shaft adjacent to the biinker switch that makes contact with arms on the switch when you turn the wheel either way to cancel the blinkers as the steering straightens up.

It's possible you're hearing something to do with that.

On a RRC you can remove the top and bottom covers and watch it in operation.

DL

**tobychap** · 30th July 2025, 05:47 PM

A single, repeatable click or tick every ~90? of wheel rotation on your ?93 200tdi D1 often points to wear inside the steering box, typically at the sector shaft or its internal bearings. Over time, the recirculating thrust ball bearings or the sector shaft support bearings can develop flat spots or slight play, which can create a distinct knock as the gear transitions under load in either direction. Since you've ruled out tie rod ends, the steering damper, and panhard rod bushings, the next step would be checking for any free play at the sector shaft and adjusting the preload via the top adjuster on the steering box?but only lightly, because overtightening can damage the 240/950 CA/W33 bearings.

Thread: Clicking Ticking Knocking noise when turning wheel L & R - Steering Box?

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