[Rapson]

Am after some advice re the sloppy steering on my SJ40.

To date I have:
Replaced all tie rods.
Replaced Steering dampener
Replaced front bearings
Wheel alignment
Replaced steering box with 2 second hand boxs. Not real sure on how to adjust them properly. I have had a go at it and there dosent appear to be any movement in it.
All linkages appear good with minimal movement.

Any advice on where to look next would be appreciated.

[Taff]

How sloppy is it?

Both my zooks have had a fair bit of play in the steering, you get used to it

[Damo]

Rapson wrote:

Replaced front bearings

Does that include kingpin bearings?

[joeblow]

ahhhh....welcome to sierra steering!......

[Rapson]

Taff, approx 12 oclock to 3 oclock to keep it straight on the road.
Damo, yeah king pin bearings as well.
Joe, Thats what I thought, what do you expect from a 1984 vehicle. I had a 1965 Kombi that was similar...good for keeping you awake!

[lump_a_charcoal]

To tighten the steering box, undo the nut on top, and screw in the grub screw a bit. Then retighten the nut.

[Rapson]

lump_a_charcoal wrote:

To tighten the steering box, undo the nut on top, and screw in the grub screw a bit. Then retighten the nut.

Yeah I got that. Is it possible to over tighten the screw? how far do you go?

I have a manual but it is all double dutch to me.

[Damo]

joeblow wrote:

ahhhh....welcome to sierra steering!......

The Vitara boxes are a bit nicer eh Joe?

[royce]

if you cant see any slop chances are there are none

have you had proper alignements? with reports on camber and cator, if thats out it will be crap

stick little tyres on and pump em up to 40psi, if its good then you know the problem

[mcwilly]

mine is also very sloppy i havent really looked into it, ill start with wheel alignment as its been off the road for 2 years

[Hybrid]

You sure its play in the steering and just not sierra wander? If everythings checked out tight I'm backing its wander. Think of it this way, even with all the steering play in the world the car should track straight with the correct alignment and castor. If your constantly moving the wheel to correct it driving straight then thats wander. Try some castor wedges. I've put them in both my zooks now and still say they are the best on road tracking fix hands down.

[royce]

the big problem as I see it with sierras is the sidewall height and low pressures, there isnt a lot of stiffnes and the tyres tend to roll down the camber of the road so you always feel like you are correcting it to stay straight

big example of this is on the highway when you change from left to right lane (not the natural home of the sierra) and you need to hold the wheel to the right rather than the left to keep straight

[Damo]

royce wrote:

the big problem as I see it with sierras is the sidewall height and low pressures, there isnt a lot of stiffnes and the tyres tend to roll down the camber of the road so you always feel like you are correcting it to stay straight

big example of this is on the highway when you change from left to right lane (not the natural home of the sierra) and you need to hold the wheel to the right rather than the left to keep straight

Time for some 24" chrome spinners and licorice strips eh Royce?

[royce]

that and negative camber, negative camber fixes all your woes

[Damo]

royce wrote:

that and negative camber, negative camber fixes all your woes

Cool, gotta find me some sand dunes in that case

[Rockhopper]

@ Hybrid. How many degrees are your castor shims?
@ Rapson. I agree with most of the posts I've read here, but am wondering if you have fitted extended shackles on your car, as that f#$@s up your castor angles big time and will give you what you are experiencing.

[Brett]

it can also be worn bushes in the springs, i had a problem with bush's being to soft in the wifes old car made the steering reallt sloppy and got big death wobbles after any bump if you were going over 20 ks. put some bushes in that fitted right and it was fine after that. its the only thing i changed.

when you get bushes make sure you get a metal sleave that goes with the set that was the problem with mine.

[Rapson]

I replaced all the bushed with polyurathane when I got the car as they were all shot.

Caster angles, that givems me somethingto think about, will have to do some research on that one.

I am pretty sure the shackles are stock standard to.

[Hybrid]

I can't remember what degree caster shims I got. I think they were 3 degrees. I cut down hilux ones for the black zook but I bought some sierra specific ones from superior engineering for the green zook.

http://www.superiorengineering.com.au/p ... ts_id=1606

[joeblow]

sorry to go off topic but geez that superior mob spin some shit. first they say longer shackles gives you more wheel travel.....WRONG...then they say thier body blocks for sierras are legal in all states.....WRONG again.

[BlueSuzy]

My steering was like that once before.. Much better now but..

All i did was tighten the box so when i steered i adjusted it accordingly so i got the least movement with no binding etc..

Then it was all loose again because of the tightening nut came loose so it all screwed out again..lucky i didnt loose it....Then re tightened and all was good

She still has play, but not 1/4 a turn i think..

[Fatzook]

joeblow wrote:

sorry to go off topic but geez that superior mob spin some shit. first they say longer shackles gives you more wheel travel.....WRONG...then they say thier body blocks for sierras are legal in all states.....WRONG again.

none of their products are engineered. A guy at work has their full suspension kit with new arms etc on his GU, and none of it is legal. he also had their A-frame for the rear but it broke 3 times, and after that they stopped warranting it.

For the money they ask for their products you would hope they were transport approved.

[Scrawny]

Rapson wrote:

lump_a_charcoal wrote:

To tighten the steering box, undo the nut on top, and screw in the grub screw a bit. Then retighten the nut.

Yeah I got that. Is it possible to over tighten the screw? how far do you go?

I have a manual but it is all double dutch to me.

Yes it is possible to over tighten screw. You need jack front wheels off the ground then tighten screw till all the slack is taken up in the box. Swing the steering from lock to lock to check for tight spots in the steering, if there are any then loosen till they are free again. Test drive to check, you may need to re-adjust if it is too tight.