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heavy steering!
flipper123 - 15/1/12 at 07:45 PM

hi guys first time posting for myself on here.

just wondered how tight and heavy your steering is mine seems to be very heavy it wont self center very easily and it seems ridiculously heavy for what is there the steering wheel isnt stupidly small about 11- 12 inch. its always been like this so im starting to think its an 'avon thing' am i wrong.

any help or advice would be really great thanks.

from craig

austin man - 15/1/12 at 08:06 PM

are you sure that all tracking camber tyre pressures are correct ? did you strip and rebuilt the steering rack you may have applied too much pressure onto the shaft inside are the balljoints etc in good order

whitestu - 15/1/12 at 08:37 PM

Is it still heavy if you lift the front wheels off the ground?

Stu

steve m - 15/1/12 at 08:44 PM

My 7's steering is lighter than the power steering on my mondeo!

so dont know what your problem is

mark chandler - 15/1/12 at 08:57 PM

If it's heavy when the wheels are in the air then disconnect the track rods and localise, when escort racks get bent they become very stiff BTH

macc man - 15/1/12 at 09:12 PM

Do you have a quick rack fitted. Mine is very heavy at 2.2 turns lock to lock. Check the allignment or the steering shaft and any bearings for stiffness.

britishtrident - 15/1/12 at 09:15 PM

ISTR from looking at photos of some examples the Avon has strange geometry due to position of the the steering rack. The rack is mounted in a position ahead of the track rod end centres.

flipper123 - 16/1/12 at 09:56 PM

quote:
Originally posted by austin man
are you sure that all tracking camber tyre pressures are correct ? did you strip and rebuilt the steering rack you may have applied too much pressure onto the shaft inside are the balljoints etc in good order


good shout thankyou i will look at that thanks.

flipper123 - 16/1/12 at 10:00 PM

thankyou guys i will investigate all theses

flipper123 - 16/1/12 at 10:05 PM

quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
ISTR from looking at photos of some examples the Avon has strange geometry due to position of the the steering rack. The rack is mounted in a position ahead of the track rod end centres.


would this make it heavy? what is the problem with the way it is? why is being in front of the track rod ends a problem? sorry to be straight to the point
would i be able to modify easily would you know

britishtrident - 16/1/12 at 10:24 PM

quote:
Originally posted by flipper123
quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
ISTR from looking at photos of some examples the Avon has strange geometry due to position of the the steering rack. The rack is mounted in a position ahead of the track rod end centres.


would this make it heavy? what is the problem with the way it is? why is being in front of the track rod ends a problem? sorry to be straight to the point
would i be able to modify easily would you know



It will cause anti-ackerman ie you get toe-in when the you turn the steering, toe-in in turns makes the steering heavy and downright strange in tight turns.

flipper123 - 17/1/12 at 12:25 AM

quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
quote:
Originally posted by flipper123
quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
ISTR from looking at photos of some examples the Avon has strange geometry due to position of the the steering rack. The rack is mounted in a position ahead of the track rod end centres.


would this make it heavy? what is the problem with the way it is? why is being in front of the track rod ends a problem? sorry to be straight to the point
would i be able to modify easily would you know



It will cause anti-ackerman ie you get toe-in when the you turn the steering, toe-in in turns makes the steering heavy and downright strange in tight turns.


your description sounds uncanny hope that it isnt going to cause me trouble.

flipper123 - 28/1/12 at 08:30 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mark chandler
If it's heavy when the wheels are in the air then disconnect the track rods and localise, when escort racks get bent they become very stiff BTH


how heavy would it have to be ive just jacked it up and i couldntfun the wheel from left to right in one full turn with one hand had to take two attempts at it i.e. had to take my hand off and reposition it to get it to go the rest of the way.

whitestu - 28/1/12 at 08:48 PM

It should be pretty easy to turn the steering but pushing on the wheels with it jacked up.
Stu

britishtrident - 28/1/12 at 10:20 PM

Bent steering rack or rack damper pad done up to tight or steering column universal joints seized

rodgling - 28/1/12 at 10:58 PM

Undo all the bits (one at a a time) from the steering wheel to the uprights with the car jacked up and see what makes a difference.

For example, does disconnecting the uprights from the rack help? If so then your track rod ends may be very stiff (I had this problem due to, presumably, rust as the boots on the TREs were split - replacing them made a world of difference).

flipper123 - 28/1/12 at 11:07 PM

hi,
just had the steering assembly apart,

found that when the column is disconnected i can turn the wheels at the front by hand. as soon as the column is connected i cannot twist the wheels at the front i think this is going to be a hard one.

ive decided that the bush which holds the triangle shaft cannot turn very well as there is no bearing so a redesign i think is needed.

DJT - 6/2/12 at 04:29 PM

Yes, I had problem with this. The steel tube that holds the Sierra grey plastic bush was not optimally aligned on mine. It is a lot better if I have the steering wheel adjusted to the upper half of its travel. Much worse (steering tighter) if adjusted lower. In the end not too much of a problem as I wanted the wheel quite high and I have bolted it into a fixed (height) position.

I did get some improvement by slightly filing the edges round on the steel tube as well as adding a smear of grease.

I agree a solution with a bearing in would be much, much better.

supercat - 9/2/12 at 03:44 PM

You can make it a bit better by sanding the inside of the tube to remove the layer of powdercoat from inside, and lightly greasing the bush. You can also gently sand the bush down slightly. Its not ideal but quit easy to do.

I am working on fitting a proper bearing to mine at the moment, will post some photos when I have something to show!

James

flipper123 - 11/2/12 at 06:51 PM

hi guys ive fitted the bearing and its made a great amount of difference even though i havnt been out of the garage with it yet

i had to completely take the column out and cut the tube welded to the chassis out to fit the new bearing i did this with a recip saw and a log blade it cut it straight off then i made plate to which i mounted the bearing and its housing then the plate was bolted in posistion to the horizontal chassis box section the tube was welded to.

hopefully it will be a different car once out on the road

flipper123 - 11/2/12 at 07:01 PM

just have to put the pedal box back in and the master cylinder hmmm..... maybe floor mounted pedals !