The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

The steering on the Sprint hasn't been returning properly from full right lock properly; especially when it's turned there and reversed a bit. It's been getting stiff and lumpy turning back, though that seems to clear after going forward for a bit. Possibly as part of that, the rack needs replacing, and that's being done Thursday.
I've asked them to look and the bushes and such at the front when they're doing the rack, see if there's any obvious wear, but I wondered if anyone has any specific suggestions where they might look, especially if its somewhere less than obvious, etc.

Graham

Hi Graham, i had the same on my 1850 and found the u/j on the shaft was partially seized.. I did manage to free it off and it has been fine since.

Tony.

dollyman wrote: ↑Wed Jul 08, 2020 9:57 am Hi Graham, i had the same on my 1850 and found the u/j on the shaft was partially seized.. I did manage to free it off and it has been fine since.

Tony.

Thanks Tony, I already looked at the UJs in the column - I have two since the FAM1718 replacement came apart while driving - and they seem to be fine.

I think it's something that gets displaced in how one of the vertical links is mounted when it's at the limit of travel, because it happens just one the end and more when there's an unusual force on it from reversing at full lock. The lumpiness is, I think, in the rack itself, responding to the force needed to return the steering from this displacement. But I also think I don't know enough about the subject for my opinion to matter.

Graham

The problem i had Graham was that the steering was not self centering and funnily enough it seemed to stick when reversing. Hopefully a new rack should cure it for you

Tony.

Hopefully. It's going in for that and Alun's NOS disks tomorrow. I'll report when I get it back.

Whilst rack wear can't be ruled out for this symptom, I too would look VERY carefully at the upper intermediate column UJ. You often can't tell, from the feel, if anything is wrong till it's off the car in your hand! Problems here are particularly common on cars that get only infrequent or intermittent use.

Steve

I got the car back last night, with issues over the wheel nuts. But the steering seems to be entirely fixed by the replacement rack.
I didn't think it was the column as it turns many turns without issues to get to full lock and it was only after going backwards at full right lock there was a specific issue. Also, that was all replaced not so long ago. But I was worried there was an issue with the suspension mountings causing the steering to semi-jam at the end after the unusual force from revereson at lock. But it all seems fine now.
Still needs tracking, cos they ran out of time and I needed it for shopping today. Steering seemed a little heavy at first, but part of the problem was it had gone far too light and sloppy. So it may take a bit of getting used to it now it's fixed.

Only real problem is, I forgot to get them to put the new bulkhead rubber in. So some of it's got to come apart again anyway.

Graham