Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hey all,

i bought a steering box of ebay a while back as i damaged mine offroad. Was getting it put in today and the guy at pedders tells me the box wont 'self centre' at all likes meant to.

any suggestions? or anyone have a good box at a decent price cos this exercise is costing WAY over what i expected so far

Feroza steering boxes don't self centre...... if you turn to full lock for example and let go it doesn't spring back to the straight ahead position automatically. True self centering is extremely rare - Citroen.. ?

So I am assuming he means something else or is looking to make some easy money.

I think I'd check really carefully - another friend had a similar experience with Pedders recently - lots of replacement parts and $$ that was very questionable IMO. Changing a steering box in is about 2-3 Hours work tops without any special tools except for a ball joint splitter and they aren't expensive from Supercrap.

Workshop manuals are available on www.warfs.org

i dont mean a true self centre but by the sounds of it when he took it for a test drive and turned a corner it just kept turning whereas a normal car will sort of return the wheels to centre. (well i know my mx6 does and im pretty sure the feroza did.........)

the guy down there has been a good help so far but as you say it could be a $$ making scheme so i may go down and take it for a test drive.........

he said he is going to have a look at adjusting it (i assume the bolt on the top)?

The bolt on the top is to control backlash, if over adjusted ( which a pro won't do ) the steering can bind. but if there's a dead spot in the straight ahead position thats not caused by worn tie rods etc. the this may help.

The centering action is controlled by the suspension allignment and geometry most notible caster angle - not the steering box.

Its possible he's oversimplifying things to make it easy to understand - but so far its "seems" like double talk.

whats the allignment like ? if it hasn't been checked then how on earth can the steering box be blamed... you see the logic ?

yes this is true.....he did the alignment a few months ago (as i needed the car drivable asap prior to replacing the box) so that should be ok.

I will go down and see him on saturday and prob give him a call tomoz and sort it out........

so could it mean the box is stuffed?

Its possible of course, but Feroza steering boxes aren't known for an inherrent design issues.

With a steering box its hard to determine if lots or little of work has been done - take it out, clean it, put it back you wouldn't know if lots of stuff has been repaired or just a little.

If the box is very vague in the straight ahead position or binds or crunches then can't argue - just make certain that its not joints etc that are the problem.

Its just that the box isn't responsible for "centering"..... so its sort of an odd set of symptoms that reqires an expensive "solution"

Hope it works out.