As I said I looked it up on google and saw pics of what zed has mentioned. zed is absolutely correct that new specially made parts would be needed and probably a special non standard drag link as well from what I could see. All sounds risky and expensive to me and may not work out as you want. How many times a year do you drive your van? That should put the cost into perspective. Also have you proved the steering box is bad? I suggested replacing the coupling with new genuine part along with new fixings. I would do that first and see if that improves things. Easy to do and cheap.
The steering box has no more adjustment left and everything else has been changed; the coupling and damper were the first things gone over. So once I have a "new" box and it is as expected I will be getting Litesteer. And just to be clear Litesteer is not a rack system, it is electric motor assisted, speed sensitive steering. My bus isnt a weekend "Show Queen" it is for touring and going up and down mountains so PAS is a necessity. Some people choose nice paint jobs, flash interiors, dropped spindleys etc I choose easier handling, less obvious but or me much much more important.
I thought about it but for me a rack made more sense: Light and direct, where as PAS is just light, unless you swap out all the knackered bits.
There is no extra load on the steering box, rather like vacuum assisted brakes which just reduce the pedal effort; EPAS simply reduces the steering input effort – your arm power.
Mine from the other company that I seem to mention too much uses a T25 steering rack. Makes sense really as it is already designed for a bus that already uses a bevel box, could even still fit PAS if Mrs Pkrboo wants it
That can't be true unless you're a Russian weight lifter! Can you spin quickly from lock to lock while stationary without it?
Quickly no, and speed is not torque, put enough arm power into the steering wheel and it’ll go from lock to lock, PAS simply reduces the torque required at the steering wheel - but you know that. I can’t understand why you’d want to turn the wheels while stationary but whether you do it with or without PAS the load on the steering box is exactly the same.
The old fashioned notion that you only steer when moving is based on the fact that it's very hard to steer when stationary with a non-PAS setup. With PAS, of course I would steer lock to lock when stationary as it's easier when in tight spaces. This will put more load on the box than non-PAS as I can't do that with non-PAS.
Getting blown about is due to suspension and steering geometry, not the weight of the steering, which is fine when on the move anyway. Maybe the Red9 set up makes this better, but you can get rid of the wandering with the HD front anti roll bar and fit a rear ARB as well, stock height and stock shocks.
Just a happy thought - try this if you've tried everything else to stop it blowing about: Open cab doors Jack up one front corner Can you close the doors still? If not it's because your bus has flexed and changed shape and if that will change it's shape then maybe... These buses exist and it's the reason I never jacked up one corner of customer's buses. Mines fine because it's solid, no effect whatsoever on the cab doors just as it should be. Pre-resto it may have twisted I think, but I didn't try it.
My dad taught me when learning to drive that you should never move the steering wheel when the car is stationary because it puts too much strain on things. To this day even when I do a 3 point turn I still stick to this (mostly) and have reversed my lock completely before stopping. Could be an old wives(dads) tale of course.
The ARBs are about the only things I havent changed. I will investigate further. From the dents in my van I think they were driving through the forests of Oregon in the great outdoors quite a lot.
Mine has a bit of play in the steering, not too much. It was pretty bad in cross winds and the ARBs fixed it without touching the box.
Mine is definitely the box, everything else is good My van tracks straight in a road but the slightest bit of wind and because it is basically floating in a straight line in the middle of the free play if the bix the wind hits it and it moves, so I then have to correct it and its constantly like this. I tow a puck as well and it has been pretty hairy at times. Bring on my red9design beam and steering rack. By Christmas I should hopefully be able to give a full account of whether it has made a difference or not
Hmm, I've driven my own buses with no play, correct geometry and still had to graunch the wheel round a 1/8th turn into the wind. Stuff gives I reckon, from the coupler to the tyres. Geometry changes have always returned the most improvement, but still out in the flatlands, as you know, blow about hell! I suspect after you have your beam fitted it'll still blow about in the wind I'm afraid. I hope I'm wrong.
I second @zed, eventually after I had the steering column coupler replaced, the drag link replaced, the idler pin replaced and then really tightened up with a jack before letting the clamp drop down, steering box cleaned, new seals, new oil, adjusted, steering centred by adjustment to the box centre point and tracking done to specification, and new front tyres, the steering is really positive. And this is with 185/65R15 tyres and at 92000 miles. I have let go of the steering at 70mph to see what happens -- not a lot. Before this I had clunks from below and a lot of sawing away trying to run straight. Even so, the wind blows the bus around and you have to correct. But we are talking smaller movements, and certainly not the old hopping lanes on the motorway trick it used to try. No longer do I have to steer away from a truck then towards it to overtake in something like a straight line. And if you are stationary , you can easily turn the steering an inch or so, and you can see the wheels turn in step, but the tyres are staying put on the road. So the wind can still roll-steer the bus, even like mine which is lowered and runs on stiffer than stock front suspension.
Nicely put^ Looks like you may have to drive your heavy, heavy westy a bit slower when you're tacking into the wind.
