Thread: The final indiscretion

Originally Posted by bviking

The steering box literally fell out, all 4 bolts shearing off, while my wife and 3 kids were in the car.

how the hell do you get a lr steering box to shear the 4 bolts holding it in place?

was the thing in a prang at some stage?

excellent question

no prangs while in my ownership - but that said I haven't owned it from new. I suppose it is possible that a previous owner collided with something hard and forgot to mention it when selling, but (according to the specialist mechanic who has bolted on a new steering box for me) there's no other evidence of such an incident. He also said he's never seen this happen before.

the forces involved would be immense.

unless some peanut over tightened the bolts too hell and back...

would love to see some decent pics of the bolts where they sheared...

As Inc says, the forces to cause that failure AND still be able to drive the vechile is just about impossible! Post some pics of the bolts please, I have seen front end collisions of all many of vechiles and have never seen steering box bolts all break! 1 or 2 but mostly they just tear out of the chassis!
Cheers Scott

Were they the correct grade bolts?
Low grade bolts tightened to the specified torque for the steering box would likely be overstressed.

Steve

I have heard of a model disco (I don't know which one) had to have the area where the steering box is fixed strengthened as it was too weak from the factory. A local welder was doing this for the agent as it was a default that had to be fixed under guarantee. [That is what he told me] But your case seems to be different. Bolts sheering off. Wow!
It is good that nobody was hurt as it could have been very serious at 110 kmph

Originally Posted by gruntfuttock

I have heard of a model disco (I don't know which one) had to have the area where the steering box is fixed strengthened as it was too weak from the factory. A local welder was doing this for the agent as it was a default that had to be fixed under guarantee. [That is what he told me]

Sounds like the guy knew what the procedure for the fix was, but not why it was done.

PROBLEM:
KNOCKING / CREAKING NOISE FROM THE FRONT OF THE VEHICLE
Knocking / creaking noise when turning at slow speeds (predominantly steering from lock to lock).

CAUSE:
Movement of internal spacer in the front longitudinal chassis member where the Power Assisted Steering (PAS) box is located.

The fix was to stop movement of the internal spacer that was causing the noise - it wasn't considered to be a safety issue, and was only addressed if someone complained about the noise.

cheers
Paul

He was a welder working for a independent company and the L/R agent sent the Disco's to him and he welded something on the chassis or in the chassis, I cannot remember that but I clearly remember him telling me it was for the steering box. He did many. Actually for a time that was all he did.