Steering

[The Nige]

The steering on the cerb has developed a slight play in both directions only a couple of degrees from straight, I have done a search and have come up with something called the backlash adjuster. checked both UJS and are ok. I hope mikesr doesn’t mind but I have used one of his images from a previous post.


The question is how is this adjusted?
Not sure if this is the answer to the problem.
Typical with Chatsworth just around the corner.

cheers

Nigel

[cerdad]

Dont know if this helps but years ago my transit had excess play and you undo the locknut ,tap the centre and lock back up ,it might be the same ,it worked for me .

[Ireland]

Check the universal joints on the steering column first.

It's most likely to be them.

[mikesr]

The nut is a lock nut for the threaded grub screw. The screw bears on a metal disk under the cover plate and applies pressure to the pinion effectively squashing it against the rack.

Undo the lock nut, tighten the grub screw and lock off with the nut.

Its very easy to apply too much pressure and make the rack very stiff. So check it is rack/pinion free play first. I did this by grasping the bottom UJ and twisting backwards and forwards whilst holding a track rod to feel for pinion movement being transmitted through the rack.

There have also been reports of the pinion being completely dry. Removal of the cover plate allows grease to be applied to the pinion. IIRC there is a spring under the metal disk and something between the spring and the pinion.

Removing the plate allows the grub screw and plate to be cleaned up so its easier to adjust. I used a smear of silicon to seal the plate and stop crud getting in.

No probs using the picture. It was taken just after the front end repaint 3 years ago. Not quite as clean as that now
But the paintwork is still all intact. Damn good stuff that POR15

mikesr

[Brummmie]

I set this up on mine, it pushes the drive into the teeth on the rack, while there you could take the plunger out and put some fresh grease in, made a big difference to how smoothly it works. HTH

[Basil Brush]

It may be play in the input torsion bar assembly itself, rather then between the pinion and rack. Adjusting the pre load on mine made no difference to the play, just made the steering stiffer.

[The Nige]

Hi guys

Thanks for the input, took cover off backlash adjuster, removed plate, spring and plastic seat packed with grease, gave ujs a good covering in grease and took for a spin and what a difference.Thanks to mikesr for loan of pic I did take a pic of mine but when compared to yours I decided against using it.
Slightly off topic but had new screen a couple of weeks back now with a nice green band across the top.



Thanks

Nigel
Might meet some of you guys in Chatsworth.