Thread: Heavy steering

Originally Posted by tam242

Steve

The steering on your county was alway alot heavier than my county and my father's county.

Reason not sure.

Adrian

Thanks Adrian. Its always seemed a bit heavy, but was drivable.
Its great that you've confirmed it was always heavier than yours, as that was with the 200tdi, and now its got the Isuzu pump so unlikely that both pumps would be causing the same issue. Since it was off the road for nearly a year with the conversion I'd really forgotten what it was like with the 200tdi.
If you thought it was heavy before - its now a double handed pull on steering wheel for parking etc

New box is on order, so hopefully that sorts it out.

Steve

Still waiting on my new steering box to arrive (Christmas and freight companies - always a good combination).

I got a couple of fittings today so I could check the pressure from the pump. I read that the correct way to do it is to tee the gauge into the pressure line, and have a shutoff valve to close flow to the steering box. That way you can check pressures with the steering box in the circuit, and then close it off to get the relief pressure of the pump.
That all got too hard as I was going to have to get another hose made up etc etc, so ended up just fitting the gauge in the pressure line and starting the engine for a few seconds.
Pressure was ~1200psi, which ties up nicely with the 1208psi spec for the relief valve. Gives me a bit more confidence that the pump is OK.

Started removing the old 3-bolt box tonight but ran out of neighbour friendly hours for bashing and swearing.
Looks like it might be easier to pull the radiator out for access too....

Steve

It has been a couple of years ago so I don't remember the details, but I know I did get teh box in and out without removing anything, although I seem to remember loosening the RH engine mount and jacking up the engine a few millimetres.......

John

Originally Posted by JDNSW

It has been a couple of years ago so I don't remember the details, but I know I did get teh box in and out without removing anything, although I seem to remember loosening the RH engine mount and jacking up the engine a few millimetres.......

John

Thanks John, hopefully its that simple.

Steve

Originally Posted by JDNSW

It has been a couple of years ago so I don't remember the details, but I know I did get teh box in and out without removing anything, although I seem to remember loosening the RH engine mount and jacking up the engine a few millimetres.......

John

Pretty much that was all that was required.

Took the bolts out of the RH mount and put the scissor jack from my daughter's corolla on top of the diff and under the mount to jack it up so there was about 20mm gap between the rubber mount and the chassis.
Only other thing was removing the mounting bolts from the coolant tank to get that out of that way.
I tied some rope around the box hooked it up to then engine crane and removed it out the top - complete with pitman arm attached. A real bloke could probably just reach in and wriggle/lift it out Much easier with the crane though.
Probably would have been easier if I had removed the pitman arm while it was still in the car.

Steve

Originally Posted by steveG

...
Probably would have been easier if I had removed the pitman arm while it was still in the car.

Steve

Sounds as if you have never removed a pitman arm in situ!

John

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Sounds as if you have never removed a pitman arm in situ!

John

Correct !!
I did start to remove it. Got the nut off but didn't have a puller that would fit and not desperate enough to get creative so I moved on....

What I really meant was "it would have been easier to maneouvre the box out if I had removed the pitman arm first".

Steve

Steve, what sort of box did you put back in 3 or 4 bolt? If you used the 4 bolt box do you use the old pitman arm? (the one off the 3 bolt box) And if its not too many questions where did you get the replacement from? and how much was it? (I've made a commitment to Danny's son in-law to help him get the white County back on the road)