Heavy steering on '86 Turbo Esprit

[martini]

Hi all, I'm wondering if someone more informed could point me in the right direction: my Esprit's steering is super heavy, even at speed. I've had it for ~3 years and it's always been so. Here's what I know about the front-end:

• steering does not return to centre when coming out of a corner.
• front bushes all need replacing.
• front alignment is definitely out (due to aforementioned worn bushes, &c.). Front camber and toe are just a smidge out but front caster is about 3 times what it should be (3°53` and 2°39`). According to my source (Carroll Smith's book - Tune to win) the caster would explain the heavy steering but should also be causing increased return to centre force which it's not...
• I'm running new Pirelli 195/60R15 P6s on the front with 21psi in them. I have tried higher pressures and, if I recall correctly, it made little to no difference.
• ball joints & track rod ends all replaced recently.
• steering rack gaiters replaced as the old ones were split. I greased what I could while the gaiters were off and there was some mild surface rust but nothing alarming.
• with the front jacked up I can turn the steering lock to lock with a little finger. There is a 'very slight' increase in resistance every rotation which I think is likely the lower u/j being a bit weather worn.
• there is a little play in the steering wheel, perhaps 5mm, which I believe indicates some wear.

Any insights and opinions would be much appreciated,

Marty.

[ChrisJ]

That sounds very much like what happened to mine when I was driving home from a meet - the steering suddenly went very heavy and wouldn't centre.

Was the UJ - I soaked it in WD40, and it freed up, had it replaced at the next service, been fine ever since.

 

[Steve4012]

Lubricating inside the rubber boots on the steering rack made my steering lighter and recentred the steering wheel after corners when it wouldn't before.

[Bibs]

Removal of the spare tyre makes a lovely difference too! 

[C8RKH]

@Bibs, I have often wondered if that would had an adverse effect on handling, in the form of generating more understeer due to loss of weight over the front. Is that not the case?

[Bibs]

Nope, not at all. In fact, Esprit super-guru Brian Angus recommended its removal to make low speed steering easier. 

[C8RKH]

Wow. Great insight. Thanks

[martini]

Cheers for the replies everyone.

Steve re. the steering rack gaiters I did grease the inside of them when installing the new ones so they should still be good. Cheers for the tip though, it wouldn't have occurred to me.

Bibs, I'll give that a shot one day to experience the difference.

Chris I did give the u/j a spray a few years back but it was a half-hearted squirt, so... Operation WD40 has commenced.

Procedure:
1. Jack up front. Discover not enough access to the u/j. Lower it again
2. Loosen wheel nuts and realise the wheel lock-nut socket has been misplaced
3. 90 minutes later discover the wheel lock-nut socket hiding in the boot under the carpet
4. Jack up front and remove wheel
5. Spray lower u/j, turn steering lock-to-lock several times, repeat
6. Let soak and repeat step 5 over the coming days

The car was sitting for the past couple of months and once on the jack I noticed the steering felt heavier than I remembered but it did loosen up a bit once sprayed. Will report back later in the week after a few more applications.

[martini]

In the spirit of trying to fix one thing and finding something else wrong: I think there may be another issue at play here. Namely the steering u/js being out of phase.

From the trusty workshop manual, Steering - Section HB, the diagrams show the upper u/j as being rotated 3 splines counterclockwise of the lower u/j. While the photo in the footwell shows the upper u/j in an orientation roughly inline with that:

 

The photo of the lower u/j is showing what looks like a rotation 45° counterclockwise of where it's supposed to be:

 

Please understand that I would be very happy to be corrected on this.

Other than a bit of a tight-spaced fiddle, the procedure to correct doesn't read too onerous and sounds like it won't require any replacement parts (barring some new nyloc nuts). It may be that the lower u/j still needs replacing but my immediate concern is getting the car ready for a 300km drive to our new house in a few week's time.

[ChrisJ]

If I remember correctly, I soaked the lower UJ in WD40 every evening for a week - this is a short term fix as it was replaced at the next service.

[Barrykearley]

If it’s the UJ - which it sounds like it is - then simply replace it. It might improve for a  short while with WD40 but it’ll never fix it properly.

[LotuStuart]

Would grease be a longer term solution? I always fear that WD40 is too thin to remain where sprayed. It is useful to free stuff off, of course.

[ChrisJ]

Changing the UJ is the long term solution - WD40 is a very temp fix.

[Painterdave]

WD 40 is to repel water duck oil is better and it's best replaced 

[drdoom]

More specifically WD40 will serve to displace water when applied in an effective manner. We learned just how ineffective WD is in terms of water protection when a 907 crank which had been thoroughly wetted and wrapped for storage was later unwrapped revealing abundant rust. Fortunately this was superficial and readily cleaned up

Cheers 

[martini]

Thanks for all the feedback folks. More progress, although the time to completion seems to be getting longer rather than shorter...

With idle curiosity I checked the position of the steering wheel at left and right lock and found it's out. The steering reaches left lock (from centre) at almost 2 turns and right lock (from centre) at under 1.5 turns:

 

This leads me to think the steering rack wasn't centred before assembly by whoever worked on this last. I'm basing this on a comment by nic996 in another thread that mentions centring the steering rack. The manual doesn't seem to mention it so it must be something they teach you in mechanic school.

So I measured the travel of the rack from lock to lock and got a figure of 136mm. Divided by 2 gets 68mm each side:

 

And when I move the rack to that spacing the steering wheel and alignment goes out but you can't make an omelette, &c, &c.

So I think I know what I'm aiming for now and will start undoing the u/js tomorrow and realigning everything. It would be ideal if I could replace the lower u/j at this point but I've been bitten by delayed shipping from UK before and don't want to risk not being able to drive the car to our new house.

Edited February 15 by martini

[martini]

2 hours ago, martini said:

The manual doesn't seem to mention it so it must be something they teach you in mechanic school.

Found it! Section HB - Steering. Sub-section: Steering Wheel Alignment.

[lotus-62]

the "phasing" of the u-joint is for the "feel" the steering wheel does in both directions, nothing to do with going back to the center position, that is the caster doing (more caster= heavy steering at low speed but more high speed stability (centering) less caster easy steering at low speed but less self centering...  if the rack is in dead center, check for play in the pinion as the rack wears most in the straight positions. 

 

[martini]

The u/js are now in phase and the steering rack centred and the difference is tangible. Once out of the car, the lower u/j movement felt the same as the upper. Both moved freely with no tightness or sloppiness so I think the lower doesn't need replacing yet. Which is good because it was a cramped and fiddly job both in the footwell and under the car. Tip #1: take out the driver's seat to give more room under the dash. Tip #2: use a large square shaft screwdriver with an adjustable spanner to spread the u/j split for easier removal (it looks like someone has previously taken to these using a cold chisel which could damage the steering column/rack if done in place).

I opted to phase the u/js out of the car and mark them with a paint pen (the mark isn't too obvious in the photo below thanks to the reflection).

 

Then, once in place, I lined up the marks rather than counted splines. It still wasn't straightforward as there is such a limited view of the lower u/j when it's installed but it seems to have worked out.

 

I made sure to tighten everything with the spline ends flush with the inside of the u/js to give maximum purchase while preventing fouling of the spiders. Prior to removal I noticed some of the spline ends were recessed (up to 5mm) rather than flush.

Once installed, and with the front off the ground, the increase in resistance every rotation that I mentioned in the first post was completely gone. And, huzzah!, during the test drive the steering felt lighter and had centring force. It's still not as good as I would like/expect but I'm happy with the progress given the worn bushes and general misalignment of the front and back end.

I've re-centred the steering wheel, so I have equal lock to lock rotation, and now just have to check everything is still in place following the test drive. Finally I need to adjust the track rod ends so the wheels point straight for this job to be labeled done.

Edited February 19 by martini

[ChrisJ]

That is good news.