Thread: steering damper

Originally Posted by onebob

I'm thinking that my Disco's steering should self center but it doesn't. It's always been that way since i bought her 3 years ago. Does this mean my steering damper is knackered?

I think this is normal.
Mine only started self-centring once the Truetrac went in.
How's that for an excuse.

It's called a damper (dampener), so its not "return to centre" (RTC). It is meant to stop the steering from going wildly left and right when you hit a bump (dampen the bump steer effect). To make it RTC, you would need to have a spring on it (or some other way to return it to the centre). If you have driven a solid axle car without one, you will certainly see / feel the difference (including potentially broken wrists, if you hold the steering wheel the wrong way).

That's not to say it isn't buggered though. How does the steering behave after a bump? Alternately, unbolt one end and see how much resistance it provides to you pushing it in and out. Like everything, it has a design life.

How does it behave after a bump ??

well we got a fright yesterday cruising at 100km/Hr down the freeway and we ran through dip, actually the road had subsided right after where it came off the overpass deck - the Disco lurched left and then right and i've got new springs and shockers (dampers) recently.

I figure that the steering damper just might be due for change after 13 years

Originally Posted by onebob

I figure that the steering damper just might be due for change after 13 years

Change it, they're not expensive. You can get a Bilstein one from the USA for cheap.

Is the car lifted at all ?

Castor is what determines self centring, and if the car is lifted this is reduced so the steering self centring is reduced too, to the point where if you have zero castor you'll no self centring and the car wandering all over the place.

Originally Posted by onebob

How does it behave after a bump ??

well we got a fright yesterday cruising at 100km/Hr down the freeway and we ran through dip, actually the road had subsided right after where it came off the overpass deck - the Disco lurched left and then right and i've got new springs and shockers (dampers) recently.

I figure that the steering damper just might be due for change after 13 years

Your last sentence says it all. And they aren't that expensive.

However, the dampener will not stop the car from lurching, just slow the steering from moving as quickly from one direction to another when you hit a bump with only one wheel. Like you say, a shock absorber on a car is actually a damper - it is there to dampen the springs from oscillating up and down (which would quickly become faster and faster, as the road height varies all the time, causing input all the time).

Thanks for all the responses - I'll get a Bilstein steering damper and find out what the castor is because i have had a spring lift + Bilsteins to suit on each corner.

Robert

Originally Posted by onebob

Thanks for all the responses - I'll get a Bilstein steering damper and find out what the castor is because i have had a spring lift + Bilsteins to suit on each corner.

As far as I am aware there are only three current options for castor correction - either correction bushes (such as those offered by Nolathan), correction plates (such as those offered by Les Richmond Automotive) or correction rods/arms (full replacement units to suit).
At 2" lift a lot of people ignore it and don't both correcting the castor. I run the correction plates from LRA and they seem to have worked.