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Steering

mike smith

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Apr 5, 2017
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australia
I was asked to post this as somehow, it got bogged down in another post.

Anyway the question was, how should the steering feel, mine feels loose and floaty. Having come from an M Class that is super direct, i find the 105 series(petrol for the ones who want to know) very strange indeed. Ok i have had it 3 weeks and learning stuff, but what i have found is this, after the wheel alingment, nothing seems to change, i think i got ripped there. It seems that over 80kl,s the steering feels very loose and around 100, if i hit the ruts in a tar road, it seems to drift a little, especially when trying to brake. The best way to explain this is as follows, when you travel on a normal road, you can see where the lines are after cars have gone over it, if i hit the middle bit thats up a little, it drifts and it needs controlling hard. Now this may be normal, but we have had some high winds lately and it just does not like the cross winds, its a bastard to control.

So the question is this, is it normal? should i do the front bushes with the fact that i will be towing soon, is there something else i should be looking for.

Boy do i ask some questions, but i am trying to learn from you guys as the truck is new to me.
 
Does this persist on an un-rutted road with no side wind? These are two normal reasons for a car steering (any car) to be all over the place?
 
When the road is smooth it handles fine, the thing is it just feels strange after the years i drove M class, my last M class was a 2005 ML500 and i think i got spoiled with this car.

Somebody mentioned adjusting the steering, how do you do that and where do you dit from.
 
Sounds like it could be ok then. Don’t forget, the ML series was largely designed for on road use while the 105 was designed to go anywhere with peacekeeping forces in it so may not be quite so well mannered on road.

Have a search on here for steering box adjustment. There’s a thread about it. The box wears and the steering gets a little wavey. Aside from the nut and screw on top of the steering box being a little tricky to get to it’s a very simple adjustment but needs a light touch so it doesn’t lock up but once done and tested its perfectly safe and would be one possible to tick off the list.

Also if your ML tyres had less sidewall between tread and rim there would be less rubber to float about. Another thing to look at for better fuel economy is good road tyres seeing as you I tend to mostly be on road.
 
Thanks for the help, now i know why people like the 80 series so much. On the Merc i used Pirelli Scorpions, a great tyre with great wear ability, the tyres on this truck are some sort of Michelin and they look like balloon tyres, i dont like them at all.

Can you help with the thread you mentioned, i dont seem to be able to find it.
 
Thanks for the help, now i know why people like the 80 series so much. On the Merc i used Pirelli Scorpions, a great tyre with great wear ability, the tyres on this truck are some sort of Michelin and they look like balloon tyres, i dont like them at all.

Can you help with the thread you mentioned, i dont seem to be able to find it.
Hmm, it doesn’t come up with what I said to look for, I’ll have a look, I know there's a thread somewhere.
 
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Search for ‘Adjusting 80 series steering box’
 
I might have said before, I had very similar symptoms with my 80, but Ive kept rather quiet with Mikes query because my truck is lifted circa 6” (110mm + 30mm) and as we all know, that buggers up caster angles, and its taken me a while to find the right caster correction combination.

OK Mike, please cover your ears, put your hands over them and hum, because this next bit will have nothing to do with your truck...

As it happens, the correction bushes were crap at one end of the scale, and super Chris Blakemore’s wonderful chassis dropper’s were too far in the other direction. So now I have Iron Man correction plates and it feels spot on.

OK Mike, you can stop humming (didnt want to mislead you).

I would take it to a reputable garage that’s seen and worked on a 105 or an 80 front axle before.

I truly admire you trying to do your own stuff, and its very likely you’re well capable, but you do have a steep learning curve to climb (I dont know how long you had the Merc for, but you sound as if you knew it quite well).

OK, if you dont know a reputable garage, youll have to look at it yourself. Start from the outside and work your way in.

Bushings.

The rubber cotton-reel things with a steel sleeve on the outside and a steel tube down the middle. There’s one at the chassis end of the big arm that holds the front axle on, and there’s two at the axle end of it. And there’s two of the big bars (as if you didn’t know already) that’s 6 bushings in all.

You need a big pry-bar and then try to wobble them front to back and side to side. There should be almost no movement in them. If you can get the big bar to move around at each end without the axle or chassis moving, then the bushings are probably fooked.

Before going further, a very long shot is to have a look at the steering box mounts to the chassis, check the bolts are tight and that there are no cracks in the chassis. Older 80s (like mine) are starting to crack there (ask me how I know), so that’s why I’m suggesting to have a look and a scratch around, they’re not always so obvious to see.

Next check the steering arm nuts and studs where they’re attached to the bottom of the hubs. There’s 4 nuts and studs on each side and they should be tight and lock-tite ed (done up with lock-title on them to stop them coming loose).

Read the manual, and don’t snap any of the studs off, ‘cos they’re a nightmare to get out unless you’re Trev or Chris or any one of the real hero smart-arses on this forum.

If they’re good and tight, then check all the steering ball joints. There’s 4 of them. One at each end of the steering bar (which goes from the Pitman arm at the steering box end down to the left front wheel) and one each end of the track-rod, called ..... track-rod ends (surprisingly).

How you check them is your business. Best way IMO is to have someone cranking (not turning) the steering wheel left to right and back again repeatedly, while you lay on your back in the mud wrapping your hands round each joint. If there’s play there you’ll feel it, so replace them.

Next is to go inside the axle, and here I get a bit lost ‘cos I’m lazy and scared of messing it up, so I take it to a reputable garage that’s seen and worked on an 80 before (mine and many others).

Mmmm, we seem to be back where I started.

Anyway, inside you need to check wheel bearings for play, and then strip the hubs and check the top and bottom swivel bearings. They are taper rollers and often the bottom ones go rusty (from condensation pooling at the bottom, or water getting in from wading in rivers, especially if the truck han’t been used very regularly).

That’s the limit of my small brain on the subject of steering, oh, apart from tightening up the play in the steering box, as per the link that Trev kindly offered you (twice).

Don’t overtighten it!!

It will be worse than too loose, and you’ll end up going off the road.

Adjust the pin in, in very small increments, and all the time spin the wheel from lock to lock to check its not binding, before going in with one more small increment. Always tighten the lock nut before trying it because its very sensitive, just the play in the lock-nut thread is enough to make it bind.

Now I need to go for a lay down...

Good luck.
 
Oh, a short PS Mike, I forgot, you should check the bushings each end of the Panhard rod as well, that’s the one that goes diagonally from the chassis to the axle. Again, there should be almost no movement with a pry-bar.

Don’t take me too literally on the no movement bit, they are made of rubber after all, but they should be very firm.
 
Here is the steering box adjustment thread (I’ve put this in the same question on the 105 section) Guide is HERE.
 
and before I go to bed (I’ve earned a thread-jack here I think) it snowed today, about 8” in old money...

9A090C46-0B20-4C7A-986A-160FF877698C.jpeg


And its a bit nippy as you might imagine...

DE4A3719-AE13-4C95-8F72-C6BA346A8004.jpeg


So enjoy your sunshine Mike... :lol:
 
....and I got home tonight to a broken ball-valve arm, in the cold water storage tank, so I had a 3” deep flood in the basement to deal with...

Tomorrow is house maintenance, a new ball valve and installing an overflow pipe in the tank.

Thread-jack over... nite nite
 
Oh dear and its only 31C here and people complain its too hot, they all forget one thing, ITS BLOODY SUMMER FOLKS AND IT GETS HOT.

I am not sure about global warming, because its sprouted all new industries subsidised by Governments. I have lived in Canberra for 40 years. When we first got here we had very cold winters and im talking minus 10 overnight. In summer it got to over 30. Over 20 years it got warmer in winter and colder in summer, but now over the last 15 years its going back to the days temps, when we first moved here, my idea is this, it seems that the world is just making a few corrections to itself and it will all change again in another 20 years, so do i think its global warming, i dont know, but i think the planet understands itself better than we do. Oh yes one final thought, electric cars, do me a favour guys, if they are so cheap to run, why are they so expensive to buy and why are there no tax benefits from the Govt to not only buy them, but to produce them. Two words sum this up,OIL COMPANIES.
 
Im sorry buy i am not messing with anybody, i dont understand what you mean by those numbers, thats why i asked you what, was i supposed to look for something, i just dont get it.
 
When you post up a new thread you make the first post. When the first person replies, that’s the second post. When there’s a third reply that’s post number 3, etc, etc.
 
The post number is located right next to the like button bottom right hand corner of each post Mike, this post is #2o on this thread.

I posted #8 to #13 and you posted #14 about global warming or some such.

Please think logically, you need to scroll up after you’ve posted, to see how folks are trying to help you with their responses.
 
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