power steering saga

[thehanko]

HI everyone,

ive rebuilt the power steering box on my ln106, and reinstalled it after a bit of buggering about.

its all topped up with fluid but not working properly.

The steering wheel turns without much resistance but the wheels dont budge until about the last 1/2 of a turn, when the wheels dop turn it feels like normal resistance, then on the other way its the same thing, free spinning until the last half a turn.

On the toyotasurfasn web site they discuss opening an 8mm bleed on the box. where is this? or is it only on the surf box?

Does this sound like a bleeding issue or have i stuffed up somewhere. im pretty confident it all went back to gether properly as it seemed pretty straight forward.

but now running out of time to get it right...

[NeilF]

thehanko
not sure, i am thinking about rebuilding mine soon.
I have heard that it can take a bit to bleed the system, someone told me you have to jack both front wheels and with engine running turn wheel from side to side to work fliud through.
sorry not sure how accurate this info is or is it works but thought it may be of some use
please post how you get ot working
Regards
Neil

[dogbreath_48]

Doesn't sound like a bleeding problem to me. The wheels should still turn even if the box was dry.

[thehanko]

Yeah dosbreath you were right, I surfed the web for a while after posting and eventually found some info re bleeding it.

Tried this but made no difference, then i sat down and thought about it, and from what I had gathered when pulling it apart it was mechanical and had to still work even without fluid - it would just be heavy like when the engine is off.

SO... I pulled it down again, so much faster second time around, pulled it apart and got it oput of the vehicle, then removed the part I suspected was the issue and sure enough some how when re assembling it the piston thing with the worm gear style movement had twisted around so the teeth were not engaging. it had even started to damage itself - nothing major, just replaced a small bolt, but would have mashed it to far pretty soon if i had persisted trying to 'bleed it'.

I re looked at the surf asn thing and I think the issue might be that it just said reassemble.

Not sure if it matters but i think it does matter how the teeth re mesh.

What i did:

I turned the imput shaft (from the steering wheel colomn) from lock to lock and counted the number of turns = 4.25. I used this to find the center of its movement.

Then I got the output shaft (the bit that goes to your hub - think its called pitman arm) and rotated its teeth to sit vertically - Ie so it had equal rotation to the left or right befor it came to its limit of movement.

This meant evernthing was set up for straight wheels. bolted it all back together and perfect!!!



Took the car down to the blue slip place and finally got it all passed

ime to go driving

[thehanko]

Neil,

If its leaking then give it a go.

http://www.toyotasurf.asn.au/techsite/powersteering.htm

This link is very helpful. however as i said It wasnt quite so helpful when reassembling it all.

Tips Ive got.

use grease to hold the ball bearings in place when putting them back in - works a treat.

follow my last post re putting the output shaft in all lined up, then when the box is back together turn the input shaft by hand and make sure the output shaft is moving correctly. the input shaft should turn 4.25 times.

Some people have issues getting the piutman arm off - mine was easy.

I had major issues getting the high pressure line (it runs from pump to box) off the box. 17mm spanner simply didnt grip it well enough and space was limited. just do your best. maybe weld something to it to give you better grip??? I ended up cutting mine, then leaving 3 inches hanging off the box while i pulled it out. couldnt get the low pressure line off either but it had a rubber joiner i could split it there.

I bought a new high pressue line, but it didnt arrive it time, so I got a nut for a 10mm bolt and drilled it out with a 10mm bit then welded this as a sleeve over the point where i cut it. did it with a stick welder, did one side first so i could check for deformation inside the tube, but its wall is quite thick and it didnt change internal shape at all. easy welding. fits fine.

once the box was out i used a ring spanner (which i could now get on as i cut the hose) and a hammer and got it off eventually.

Also note that IFS Boxes and LN106 Boxes are a little different.

LN box does not have a step 8. Replace ‘O’ ring on retaining bolt.

LN box does not have an 8mm bleed nipple - but bleeding was easy, just open the steering resevoir and make sure its always got enough fluid while someone goes lock to lock, note when you turn the car off it will probably overflow, reset the level and degrease the car.

For the rebuild I went to the local industrial place, all up it was $12 in parts. I chose to get 2 of the seal on the imput shaft, 1 is normal, but this is the most common point of leaking, the shaft wears where it contacts the old seal, so sometimes the new seal does not fit tight enough, some also have rust from trapped gunk. but with a second seal put in it contacts a 'new' bit of shaft which was not damaged on mine. so far works a a treat.

good luck if you have any issues just ask. oh and its a messy job so put down some cardboard or somthing.