bennygoodman Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Well after getting my MOT on Friday and taking the car out for a couple of runs probably the first time in many a year I have found a couple of problems, obviously it has been very hot this weekend and I have been sat in traffic watching the temp guage steadilly rising, I'm not too bothered as yet because I gave it a good flush out when I got home and intend to fit an electric fan.But the steering is what is troubling me, it is really heavy and doesn't self centre, is it supposed to self centre?I jacked the whole front of the car up today getting the front wheels off the ground and found it really hard to move from left to right by pulling on the road wheels, should it be hard or is my rack siezed with very old grease, I have tried pumping more grease into it and it is going in and coming into the gator so I know it is greased. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Leccy fan may not help, the rad may require a record if it has been left, a flush won't fix it if this is the case. But worth a try, don't forget the drain plug on the block.....As to steering, have you checked the trunnions? My gt6 (many years ago) suffered a seized trunnion/upright that caused similar issues. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Royboy66 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Benny, is the tracking set correctly? :)Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennygoodman Posted July 13, 2014 Author Share Posted July 13, 2014 royboy66 wrote:Benny, is the tracking set correctly? :)Roy Don't know about that yet royboy66, I intend getting 4 wheel alignment done when I have sorted all the teething problems out but I can't see it affecting the heaviness with the wheels off the ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennygoodman Posted July 13, 2014 Author Share Posted July 13, 2014 cliftyhanger wrote:Leccy fan may not help, the rad may require a record if it has been left, a flush won't fix it if this is the case. But worth a try, don't forget the drain plug on the block.....As to steering, have you checked the trunnions? My gt6 (many years ago) suffered a seized trunnion/upright that caused similar issues. Just a thought.I took the track rod end off the nearside and turned the steering wheel and it still seemed heavy, I'll take the offside one off tomorrow and see if that makes a difference.Talking of trunnions, my haynes manual says use hypoid90 oil in themnot grease, is this correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Yes, deffo oil not grease. The trunnions my have been previously greased, and that can go hard. If so you may well get away with pumping oil in, then after a few miles, do it again. Eventually the grease will be flushed out.If it is bad, you will need to take the trunions apart and poke the graese out of the drilling in the upright.However, as it seems you may not have inspected the uprights, that is well worth doing. Any signs of corrosion on the threads, usually at the top, is bad news... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 you may have to remove the trunion and clear it all out the seize can be down to it being greased in the past and corrosion has set inthe trunnion is an actual oil bath it holds a reservoir of oil, this is a good time to examine for signs of thread corroision, which is where cracks start to appear and ultimate (unwanted) separation. if you go for any tracking adjustments bear in mind the spec in the manual is at its static ride height and to get that you need 150lbs on each seat on pretty well every triumph.get the spec and proceedure from a triumph workshop manual . as no tyre 'specialist' will have any clues and the result will be an expensive waste.Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Royboy66 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 4187 wrote:Don't know about that yet royboy66, I intend getting 4 wheel alignment done when I have sorted all the teething problems out but I can't see it affecting the heaviness with the wheels off the ground.Doh , my apologies! Should have gone to specsavers and read it all ! :B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Bancroft Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Suggest that the tracking may need adjustment and possibly the castor may need re-setting.Find a tyre specialist who can offer four wheel alignment, but take all the stats with you. Explain that you can adjust the rear toe in/out with the adjusters on the radius arms. I presume that the adjusters have been freed off when the suspension was re-built. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennygoodman Posted July 13, 2014 Author Share Posted July 13, 2014 OK guys thanks for all the replies but one crucial point, does the steering self centre? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Bancroft Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Yes, it should.Castor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Steering should self-centre.The self-centering effect is given by the caster angle (4º positive for GT6 IIRC).Greater caster angle increases the self centering effect but also makes the steering heavier. Heavy steering and a lack of self-centering suggests the problem lies elsewhere. Sounds like mechanical stiffness in this case.Best to disconnect both track rod ends from the steering arms at the taper joint and see whether the stiffness lies in the steering swivels on either side (trunion at the bottom of balljoint at the top) or in the rack itself.Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennygoodman Posted July 14, 2014 Author Share Posted July 14, 2014 Nick_Jones wrote:Steering should self-centre.The self-centering effect is given by the caster angle (4º positive for GT6 IIRC).Greater caster angle increases the self centering effect but also makes the steering heavier. Heavy steering and a lack of self-centering suggests the problem lies elsewhere. Sounds like mechanical stiffness in this case.Best to disconnect both track rod ends from the steering arms at the taper joint and see whether the stiffness lies in the steering swivels on either side (trunion at the bottom of balljoint at the top) or in the rack itself.NickThis afternoons job will be to disconnect both track rod ends and see what is causing the stiffness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velocita Rosso Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 4187 wrote:This afternoons job will be to disconnect both track rod ends and see what is causing the stiffness.A little lack of advice .....Once both wheels are up in the air, get someone to turn the st/wheel whilst you are sat watching the vertical link/s If the trunnion moves with the vertical link ie the link does not spin in the trunnion , and the trunnion twists in the wishbone, then it will be seized Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennygoodman Posted July 14, 2014 Author Share Posted July 14, 2014 Found the problem, the rack and trunnions are ok, once I disconnected the track rod ends it was still heavy so obviously I suspected the rack, I decided to uncouple the steering column from the rack, once I had undone the pinch bolt from the rack and then slackened the bolts holding the column inside the car it all went slack, I tightened the pinch bolt up again and it was still slack, then when I tightened the column up it went stiff again.Either I have overtightened the column or something in the column isn't lined up correctly so that will be tomorrows job, take the column out and see what is making it go tight, by the way should this car have a steering lock? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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