Thread: Steering relay! IIA

Hello All,

Geoffrey Croker at the 12:39 minute mark of a YouTube clip performs a radical redesign of a Series 3 steering relay to prevent future extraction issues. Accessed 22nd January 2022 from,
Land Rover Restoration Part 15 - Chassis Repairs 3/4 - Bushing & Relay Removal - YouTube

Kind regards
Lionel

Thanks Lionel

Well worth a watch then, anything to improve things!

Cheers

JRT

I've also heard that wrapping it in Petrolatum tape before re-installing is a good idea. I would have done this with mine if I know about the tape before I reinstalled my relay.

Cheers,
John

Thanks John
I’ll do a bit of research and see where I can source the tape in the UK. I’m wondering if it’s similar to something called ‘ denso’ tape we get here used to wrap metal pipes to stop corrosion 🤔

https://www.denso.net/products/denso-tape/

I’ve managed to put the relay back together,the spring was a bit awkward but the tool did work thank goodness 😅 felt a bit like having a UXB in the vice 😬

I’m just filling it up with EP90 overnight. Update to follow.

Cheers

JRT

I think you may be overthinking future relay removal.

A decent coat of paint on the relay and inside the tube in the chassis lasted 30-40 years. I haven't had any rusted in, it was just the buildup of dirt that slowed their extraction. I'm sure some rust in place because they've been parked in the open for years, most won't get treated like this if someone is going to the trouble of overhauling the relay.

Grease, anti-seize, grease tape etc will hold the dirt. I'm not sure whether this makes the situation better or worse.

When new it was probably used as a daily driver for many, many years in all weather so there was a lot of water & road dirt going down beside the relay. Most nowadays will be lightly used and mainly on dry days.

I went through this thinking process with one of my Land Rovers, do I grease, maybe silicon around the top to stop the water getting in, fit an O-ring around the body of the relay to stop dirt getting down too far ???
I then realised that if I do a good job of overhauling the relay and then maintain it there will probably be no need to remove it again in my lifetime.


By all means grease/anti-seize/tape but I'm not convinced it's needed.


Colin

Originally Posted by JRT

Thanks John
I’ll do a bit of research and see where I can source the tape in the UK. I’m wondering if it’s similar to something called ‘ denso’ tape we get here used to wrap metal pipes to stop corrosion 🤔

Denso Tape™ - Denso

I’ve managed to put the relay back together,the spring was a bit awkward but the tool did work thank goodness 😅 felt a bit like having a UXB in the vice 😬

I’m just filling it up with EP90 overnight. Update to follow.

Cheers

JRT

Yeah, I think there is an equivalent Denso tape in their range.

Here's a link to the specific tape I referred to : GUARDIAN Petrolatum Tape HT (High Temp) 75mm x 10m roll | eBay

Cheers,
John

Originally Posted by JohnboyLandy

Yeah, I think there is an equivalent Denso tape in their range.

Here's a link to the specific tape I referred to : GUARDIAN Petrolatum Tape HT (High Temp) 75mm x 10m roll | eBay

Cheers,
John

The best use for this sort of tape is wrapping leaf springs.
Oil or grease the springs then wrap with grease tape. The outside surface gets covered in road dirt and stops being sticky but inside the leaf springs stay well lubricated.

You could buy leather gaiters for leaf springs on high end cars from Wefco. Looks like they are still available but at about 280GBP per spring they are a bit expensive.......
Welcome to Wefco Gaiters


Colin

Hello Guys,

Well the relay proved a bit 'stiff' in a couple of areas whilst rotating the shaft after the rebuild.
I perserved and gently tapped the shaft up and down with a soft faced hammer and kept rotating the shaft whilst held in a vice, and in the end the relay turns smoothly throughout 360 degrees.
I cleaned the steering relay aperture out in the chassis and finished with emery cloth 150 grit and its pretty good. I decided to use a product called 'Owatrol' to paint/coat the aperture and then refitted the relay, with plenty of copper grease anti seize compoiund on the lower portion of the relay.

The brand Owatrol>Homepage>All our products


I figured the first 58 years of the steering relays life were tougher than anything the future holds so hopefully the steps taken should be enough to make future removal manageable.
It was a job worth doing and the feel of the relay now compared with before and is so much better and smoother, it was really bad before.
Thanks for all the input and replies on this post.

Cheers

JRT