01-10-2019, 11:22 AM
Today I have had one of those "Eureka!" moments. During my long trip to Santiago I had a problem with the steering on the RP which I couldn't bottom. It wasn't new, but obviously on a long run like that it became a bit of a pain. It manifested itself in stiffness in the steering in the straight ahead position which meant that keeping the car straight and level on those long straight roads was difficult.
Rather than trying to mess with the car on the trip, I decided to put up with it and sort it out when I got home. Over the past couple of days I have been going through the car to bring everything back up to 'spec' and this morning I started on the steering. The drag link was removed and the front end was jacked and everything greased with the weight off. No worries, all smooth and as it should be. I then checked the steering box action. There was a tiny amount of free play, which was normal but no stiffness. Everything seemed to be working as it should. I stripped the drag link to make sure the ball pins weren't sticking, but no, they were fine too. I put everything back together and had a final check with the front off the deck. The stiffness was back, but not only that I could hear a slight knock as it tightened and freed off. Then came the Eureka moment...
It was the drag link cup retaining bolt that was touching the brake pedal pivot nut. As the drag link had been re-assembled on the bench I hadn't taken into account the fact that with the exposed thread on the rear cup facing upwards there was contact between it and the pivot nut. Having removed it and turned it the other way round everything is now fine.
Who would have thought it.
![[Image: 20191001-114011.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/13whvwvm/20191001-114011.jpg)
Rather than trying to mess with the car on the trip, I decided to put up with it and sort it out when I got home. Over the past couple of days I have been going through the car to bring everything back up to 'spec' and this morning I started on the steering. The drag link was removed and the front end was jacked and everything greased with the weight off. No worries, all smooth and as it should be. I then checked the steering box action. There was a tiny amount of free play, which was normal but no stiffness. Everything seemed to be working as it should. I stripped the drag link to make sure the ball pins weren't sticking, but no, they were fine too. I put everything back together and had a final check with the front off the deck. The stiffness was back, but not only that I could hear a slight knock as it tightened and freed off. Then came the Eureka moment...
It was the drag link cup retaining bolt that was touching the brake pedal pivot nut. As the drag link had been re-assembled on the bench I hadn't taken into account the fact that with the exposed thread on the rear cup facing upwards there was contact between it and the pivot nut. Having removed it and turned it the other way round everything is now fine.
Who would have thought it.