Heavy steering

[crankedup]

Had a tow to garage for my Morris 'Bullnose' to recieve a bit of attention and found that the steering is very very heavy indeed. It makes my Austin 12/4 steering feel positively light and accurate. Methinks the Morris cannot be quite right in the steering department, any ideas?

[jith]

crankedup said:

Had a tow to garage for my Morris 'Bullnose' to recieve a bit of attention and found that the steering is very very heavy indeed. It makes my Austin 12/4 steering feel positively light and accurate. Methinks the Morris cannot be quite right in the steering department, any ideas?

Could be it needs a new PAS belt!! ONLY JOKING!!!!!
It is so long since I worked on these crankedup, but it will have either king pins or trunnions as the pivots at the hub and these had a nasty habit of seizing if the vehicle wasn't used regularly and not greased.
There should be two grease nipples per side, one top, one bottom.
The only way to be sure where the seizure is biting is to pop the track rod ends one at a time and if you can turn the pin king pin assembly by hand it's ok.
If they are both ok you have a steering box problem, again most likely a seizure due to lack of oil or water ingress causing corrosion.
Other than a total strip down, the best way to free of a seized king pin is with a gas torch on the bearing area, but be very careful not to ignite anything.
If it starts to free rock it back and forth whilst pumping grease into the nipples and it should free off; then reconnect your track rod ends and you're in business.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[crankedup]

Thanks jith, I let you know how things go. The car was imported during 1990-1 and has had very little use since looking at all the past MOT's. So it looks like seizure as you suggest. I will jack the front up tomorrow when it comes back from the garage and see whats what.

[tvrgaas]

jith said:

The only way to be sure where the seizure is biting is to pop the track rod ends one at a time and if you can turn the pin king pin assembly by hand it's ok.

Assuming it's not seized then it could be tracking or castor angle. I think the caster angle is set with wedges between the springs and the axle. If the springs have flattened this could effect the castor angle.

[crankedup]

Been doing some swotting up and it seems that a heavy oil should be used on the usual 'grease' points on the car. I see that grease has been used previously and that this cannot get right into the areas required for lubrication. The front tyres look fairly evenly worn suggesting tracking is OK, hope to get car back today and seems I have some work to do on it. I fear servicing took a back seat because the car was virtually unused since 1991.

[jith]

crankedup said:

Been doing some swotting up and it seems that a heavy oil should be used on the usual 'grease' points on the car. I see that grease has been used previously and that this cannot get right into the areas required for lubrication. The front tyres look fairly evenly worn suggesting tracking is OK, hope to get car back today and seems I have some work to do on it. I fear servicing took a back seat because the car was virtually unused since 1991.

With a great many of these older vehicles, it is wise to utilise some of the modern lubricants that weren't available when these cars were made.
If you pump grease itno the nipples under pressure after you have heated the seized kingpins it will run like heavy oil with the heat and penetrate the affected areas quite well.
Another trick I used to use on MGBs was to immerse the grease gun in boiling water and it would refresh parts that other grease can't reach!!!
Wish I was local to you and I could nip over and give you a hand: I really miss working on these old cars, there is something enchanting about them.

[crankedup]

Two top tips, thanks jith. The garage has done a great job in getting the cars timing sorted and its as smooth as a layer of butter (well almost). Starts up immeadiately, brakes are fine as is the clutch and suspension (boing boing. I have to change all the oils now and have a go at that steering, altho the steering did'nt feel so bad driving the old girl home last night, maybe just a bit of use and lube' will do the trick.

[M3 Mitch]

I have often found manual steering boxes of various types to be empty of lube - they will take about 10 years to leak down so people don't check them. This makes a big difference in steering effort, as does greasing king pins etc.

For a manual steering box I really like Redline 75-90 gear oil, but ANY oil is much better than no oil at all!

Heartily agree that you might as well use modern lubes on old iron - why not, there are some places like tires and lube where period authenticity seems to offer no advantage!

[ARH]

Watch out for modern detergents and stuff in oils as this can affect bronze bushes and bearings, apparently.

[crankedup]

At long last all problems seem to be resolved and I am able to drive the old girl :biggrin: a real turn of speed too, cruising at 40-45mph is no problem which compared to my Austin is really flying! Took the front wheels off today for a nose around and found that they had been put onto the wet paint on the brake drums, so just minor sticking to that paint. Tells me that is the first time they have been off since 1991-2!!

So thanks for all the tips and observations lets see how long they go before prob's rear thier ugly heads.