Hi all Apologies if this has been done before. So, had my 71 crossover for about 4 years. The steering has always been quite good, but noticed recently that it has started to wander a bit & there is some play, ie. you turn the steering wheel & the road wheels don't move straight away. Any ideas what I should be checking. Any advice gratefully received. Thx.
Should i check for play with the bus on the ground, or wheels off the ground? Do u think the steering box may need adjusting?
From the top. Steering column rubber coupler failing. Steering box wear and adjustment. Steering box not tightly bolted in. Drag link ball joint wear. Worn bushes on steering relay lever arm pivot. Steering relay lever pivot fixing welds failing. Track rod ball joint wear. Suspension ball joint wear. Any or all of these will cause steering to have slop. The only thing my bus has not had is the "Steering relay lever pivot fixing welds failing." All of these faults are independent and may happen in any combination. With wheels on the ground, turn the wheel and watch. The most likely two are the wear on the steering box needing adjustment (turn steering wheel and nothing moves for a bit) and /or the pivot pin bushes wearing out. (Can see the pivot pin rocking)
Find a friendly MOT garage with a thingy on the ramps that shakes the front wheels. These things are magical, you switch it on and wander underneath looking for where the play is. It could be a lot of little bits adding up or one component. Takes all the guesswork out of the job.
Have a good prise of everything to check for play. If everything checks out, you can tweak your box up.
Jack it up and with hands at 9 and 3 o’clock, (inside under neath),rock the rock the wheels. . Should see the play, if any there.
And do it at 12 and 6 to check if it's possibly also the wheel bearings... Rock around the clock.. Ideally the slop should be just about zero with the steering wheel straight ahead when everything is back in place with fresh parts, and the steering box is adjusted.
