[alien]

[Highway-Star]

What about a collapsed king pin bearing? or even broken pin itself?

[alien]

whats the easiest way to check? not very familiar with king pins etc.

[BlueSuzy]

Whole wheel/ knuckle/hub will flop around

Jack her up and have a feel.

Id also check the box by itself, and the uni's/uni in the steering column shaft at the firewall. They can seize.

[joeblow]

will be the uni's in the steering shaft.

[christover1]

joeblow wrote:

will be the uni's in the steering shaft.

Yes mine did that once.
Also steering box can do that, too, but more likely steering shaft unis.
I got by with spraying unis with wd40 type stuff for a few days

[MrRocky]

dont forget that simex's tend to wander around abit on the road and they are a stickier compound than most tyres, they get stickier as they wear.
Maybe you need some lube/graphite grease in your steering box.

[Red89]

MrRocky wrote:

Maybe you need some lube/graphite grease in your steering box.

My box did the same thing when it was dieing. It was like the gears werent meshing in it and so would lock up every now and then.

[Joe]

If it is the sterring box it might be time for a p/s conversion

[alien]

hmm interesting... i've jacked up the front end and can't find a thing wrong... made a vid while i was out there, here it is on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV_uSA6PLx4

http://www.suzistore.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=1822
steering uni aint cheap either!!! bugger.

[alien]

yeah i just inox'd all over the uni joint, no change at all.

its doing it more in just 1 spot, the spot shown in the vid, i just replicated it then after lots of left and right it suddely bound up again.

[MrRocky]

u need to lube the box itself me thinks, i didnt have a grease gun so i just took of the top of the box and filled that sucka up with grease.

[alien]

so just drop off the 4 screws on the corners and pump it full?? what kinda grease?

As an aside - how much of a safety issue is a failling box or uni if thats what it is? ie: chances of losing steering altogether?

[Joe]

alien wrote:

so just drop off the 4 screws on the corners and pump it full?? what kinda grease?

As an aside - how much of a safety issue is a failling box or uni if thats what it is? ie: chances of losing steering altogether?

I'd say thats what would happen

[alien]

hrm - lol i've undone all the nuts on the top plate and the dam thing wont come off!

[alien]

nevermind - hammer and screwdriver tapped it free...

now- the grease inside - is it supposed to be runny, feels like engine oil consistency but its browny murky coloured.

[alien]

ok - well inside the box only had 2mm of oil/grease - everything inside was oiled but there certainly wasnt an abundance of the stuff.

out of curiosity, what are you supposed to put in there via the filler hole?

going for a test drive shortly to see what difference adding a few glops of grease has made.

[alien]

ok - test drive complete... everything seems to be working as normal, no weird steering.

oddly, since spraying the uni with inox my squeaking steering wheel has stopped squeaking! thats kinda cool.

will update if the issue comes back.

[mrw82]

the steering box should have a gear oil in it (I think specifications recommend a 90 grade). it shouldn't have grease and it definately shouldn't be 'brown murky'.
from the fix of putting grease in making a difference you should pull the box apart, clean it all out and reassemble and fill with gear oil, while your at it replace the seals too.

[christover1]

50/50 gear oil and grease was what I used in my Sierra steering box for years.

[alien]

cool - so how does one drain the oil from a steering box? lol

[christover1]

alien wrote:

cool - so how does one drain the oil from a steering box? lol

I'm 99% sure you need to remove box to clean it and change its oil.
I never had to, just topped mine up.

[alien]

mmm i spose i can be lazy and top it up with gear oil for the time being - i dont like the idea of the brown oil though... lol

how far do you fill it with gear oil? all the way up to the filler screw or only a bit?

[christover1]

alien wrote:

mmm i spose i can be lazy and top it up with gear oil for the time being - i dont like the idea of the brown oil though... lol

how far do you fill it with gear oil? all the way up to the filler screw or only a bit?

I filled mine up, not sure if that is right, just it is what I did.

[atari4x4]

got a large syringe & some small bong tubing?

[alien]

lol does anyone have a genuine manual that can confirm what oil and to what level??

mine only had about 2mm if that of oil in it when putting a screwdriver in next to the bit that holds the adjuster screw. i didnt get a good look deeper down but it was only just wet in there, not completely submersed in oil.

[alien]

downloaded the FSM from suzukiinfo.com - you're supposed to use SAE90 gear oil and fill it 35mm from the filler cap =)

this means that mine was low on oil, but given the grease i added should now be about right.

[christover1]

Mine was overfull then
Tho it probably all leaked over time anyway

[alien]

cant be too bad - its a worm gear so its not like its going to froth up the oil, most likely just unneccessary to have the oil up there where theres no moving parts.

[Highway-Star]

Good time to buy a P/S box