Bris-Perth - So far so good

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Originally Posted by Davo

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I'd be surprised if you could twist the shaft in the relay, given how thick it is.
Did you hit something? It should be easy enough to check, if you haven't already. As I'm sure you know, the top and bottom arms are supposed to be at 90 degrees to each other. Have you jacked up the whole front axle and checked it lock-to-lock? Let us know what you find anyway.

Have fun!

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Actually not quite at right angles - the angle is shown in the workshop manual, although if it is at right angles, it will work OK. This is because, if you think about it, the relay unit turns the left wheel - which means it needs to turn further on left turns than right turns, as the inside wheel has to be turned further.

I agree that a twist on the relay shaft is highly unlikely, and if it has twisted, then failure is imminent.

Other possibilities include a bent drag link or track rod, or it could simply be that the steering stop on one side has moved, or the clamps have come loose and the length of either the track rod or the link from steering box to relay has changed length.

Another thing to check is for a broken centre bolt or main leaf (or a badly worn front bush) in a front or rear spring, allowing the axle to move, so that some steering angle is needed to go straight. A careful look should show this.

John

For some reason it's 90 degrees in the IIA book and 81 in the SIII book. For the SIII it's supposed to be that the bottom arm is 90 degrees to the track rod and then the top arm is 81 degrees from the bottom arm. I don't know what the difference is and haven't found out yet why they changed it.

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Originally Posted by Davo

For some reason it's 90 degrees in the IIA book and 81 in the SIII book. For the SIII it's supposed to be that the bottom arm is 90 degrees to the track rod and then the top arm is 81 degrees from the bottom arm. I don't know what the difference is and haven't found out yet why they changed it.

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Now that is absolutely fascinating! Before my post I checked it - but in my Series 1 (Autopress) book, which shows the 81 (or thereabouts). As the geometry is the same for all Series, it is difficult to see why it would be different, not the same all through. My guess is that it is an editing problem with the 2a manual - a draughtsman redoing the drawing assumed it should be at right angles, and then it was corrected for the S3.

John

Hi Guys! Thanks for the interest!

We are now in Adelaide, via the great ocean rd, grampians, and the Milmen (sp?) rock track through the big desert NP. The last track had plenty of 4x4ing and sand driving, the IIA went surprisingly well heavily loaded through soft sand. The steering is still the same (no worse). It gets full lock when turning left but has a 6ish mm gap between the stop and the bolt when turning right.

Doing the morning check on the vehicles, I noticed the nissan had done a CV boot and a bump stop on the milmen rock track (as well as another tyre - but this one was pluggable). Will be fixing the above tomorrow so will do a more thorough check on exactly what my steering issue is then.

P.s. - re the steering relat shaft - a mate managed to twist the shaft in a non-genuine relay he bought (driving over a log) - apparantly it is common. Mine is genuine though...

How I think it happened:
On the 2nd day of the trip I noticed the steering wheel was not in the normal position when travelling straight (later I noticed I had less lock one side). I think it happened the night before when I drover over a steep bank when turning around near the campsite.

p.p.s. - will post pics when I get back - not enough internet time now.

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Originally Posted by isuzurover

Hi Guys! Thanks for the interest!

We are now in Adelaide, via the great ocean rd, grampians, and the Milmen (sp?) rock track through the big desert NP. The last track had plenty of 4x4ing and sand driving, the IIA went surprisingly well heavily loaded through soft sand.

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You probably mean Milmed Rock Tk. A good remote track in Wyperfeld National Park. Did you sign the visitors book at the rock ?. It's a hard climb up the rock isn't it ;)

G'day IsuzuRover :)

Check if the pinch-bolt on the lower relay arm is tight, as if it is loose it will jump a spline, also, if you have the Clamp-On type of steering damper, check that it has not MOVED as, if the do they will give those symptoms, jack front of the vehicle up, turn to full R/lock and check if it goes to lockstop, then repeat with left lock, you might just find that the damper is stopping it one direction, I have a friend that owned a 65 with the clamp type damper and it had about 18*deg of Left Lock, undid the damper centred it and he was amazed, had driven it for 2 years like that:(

Best of luck (check for air leak in fuel system)

cheers

Thanks again for the interest guys!

Made it home yesterday. The clutch failed completely when we were about to leave the barossa and head to the nullabor. Luckily I had seen LandRanger spares on the way up, so headed back down and bought a new clutch MC (one of the few spares I didn't have). Apart from that, no problems on the way home, but the water pump is noisy and has some play, so looks like a new one is needed (not leaving yet though). The steering is still the same... I finally have time and gear to jack it up fully and check everything - so will let you guys know. UncleHo - you may be right on the bottom of the relay - I have had problems in the past with that bolt stretching or working loose. Damper mounts are welded on...

Had a great trip - we drove out to the bight, drove up a few 4x4 tracks to lookouts along the nullabor, and drove across a few salt lakes. Went home via wave rock and a few other places. Drove along the Coolgardie-York rd where those truckies lost their lives recently. There were at least 5 burnt-out cars along the road...

All up we did just under 7000km. Fuel consumption varied between 10-11 l/100km on the highway (pretty good considering I had a heavy load of spares, 285/75x16s, no OD, and was sitting on 90-95km/h most of the way).

The engine used about 5L of oil, but I think about 1/3 of that came out the rear main. T-case used about 0.5L (both output seals leaked slightly).

EDIT - wayne - yes that rock was hard to climb.. ;) - no we didn't sign the guest book - were too busy photographing our amazing achievement in climbing the rock... next time.

PICS to follow soon! (p.s. - anyone in Perth/WA want to buy a Nissan Terrano TD in good nick?)

Congratulations Ben & Bec. Another epic trip under your belts!

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Originally Posted by Dave_S

Congratulations Ben & Bec. Another epic trip under your belts!

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Thanks Dave - but I don't think it was quite on a par with you doing the canning alone in a SIII (with no brakes!!!). It was great fun though.

We went to see the cocklebiddy caves along the nullabor - they were amazing. I need to thank Ralph for that suggestion.

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Originally Posted by isuzurover

Thanks Dave - but I don't think it was quite on a par with you doing the canning alone in a SIII (with no brakes!!!). It was great fun though.

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Series IIIs had brakes??!!:p