KE20 steering - what should i replace?

[Bananaman]

Gday lads,

So i've decided i will be leaving my steering, and not converting to rack (have to draw the line somewhere). It seems silly to build / replace absolutely everything on the car and leave the steering, which i imagine would be relatively cheap. What parts are worth replacing, and if you happen to have part numbers too (assuming they're still readily available) that'd be great.

Also, is it worth changing the oil in the steering box? Figure i had might as well while i'm at it, what grade do you use? I've seen mention of this on here somewhere as well as how to tighten the steering box if its a biit sloppy, i'll find this again if i need to do that, and guess put that info in here for the sake of completion for future searches.

If there is any tricks as far as giving reduced number of turns lock to lock and that sort of thing that'd be great too.

Don't go telling me just to use rack either

Cheers
Bardin

[Bananaman]

I meant to put this in tech and conversions, if a mod reads this can someone move it please

[MRMOPARMAN]

id go over the steering and check to see what actually needs replacing first. if it aint broke, dont fix it..

while its up on blocks with the wheels off the ground. get under the car and push and pull both front wheels together and apart. there shouldnt be any slop. if there is, you'll be able to see where the slops coming from... eg worn idler arm will make the whole drag link move up and down, tie rod ends will move side to side.

and replace from there. if the tierods etc are still good, but the boots broken, boots are readily available form parts stores.
the tolerance for steering wheel play on ke2x is 0-20mm.

my little ke25 owners manual doesnt state what steeringbox oil to use, but from my experience with vals, you can get oils and grease to do the job. id go grease myself. just go into your local parts store and get their oil reccomendation book, it should be listed in there what to use hopefully.

to adjust the box, swing it onto full lock and adjust play from there. IIRC you should leave a minimal amount of play, and when you bring it back to centre it will tighten up a tad (unless you box is heavily worn). just make sure theres no binding at all when going from lock to lock.

[Bananaman]

Cheers mate, good info, just about got it all in one +rep

[PMP020]

ive looked into it B man.

replacing all steering components that actually wear out.

which include
pitman arm, idler arm, inner and outer tie rod ends.

is a pretty expensive task, well over 250-300 for quality parts
u could do it on the cheap with crappy parts for under 250.
but ull be replacing alot sooner.

generaly ull get away with replacing idler arm, outer tie rod ends, replace steering box oil and retension and itll steer like new after a good wheel alignment.

cheers scott

[Bananaman]

Thanks scotty.

I'm borderline on my car being a full blown restoration, so for the sake of completion I may replace what can be replaced, but i'll check what its like now like mrmoparman said and also price the replacement parts.

Once its on the road, i want to avoid it coming off the road again for minor shit if i can avoid it, its easier to do things now, and i hate to admit it, but $300 is SFA in the scheme of what this has all cost me

Cheers lads

[YLD-16L]

Replace it all in one go Bardin, it'll save you money in wheel alignments in the long run each time you have to replace something else.

I did the old "if it aint broke don't fix it" with the steering parts. It started with the ball joints at the bottom of the strut, they were dead so I only replaced those, but at the time I also bought all new tie rods, pitman arm, idler arm, sway bar bushes, control arm bushes etc etc and just put them away in the garage.

So after only replacing the dead ball joints I had the outer tie rods flog out about 1 month later, so I replaced them, then shortly after that the pitman arm died, then the idler arm then the inner tie rods. I should have just replaced everything at one - it was all old.

Change the oil in the steering box too, it actually made a noticeable difference to the feel in mine, the oil was pretty low too.

My KE25 manual has the recommended gear oil for the steering box, the bottle is still on the shelf at home so if I remember tonight I'll see what weight it was (I think it was just SAE90?? will confirm).

Remember too that with your new setup and wheels all the steering components are going to cop a lot more abuse than they ever have before.

[Bananaman]

Interesting. My car i think has had a not so great past as well, so all the more reason. I've called my mate who works at american autos / rare spares, he's getting back to me with a price on everything they can get later today.

The car already seems to have had nolathane (?) bushes put through it, i'm not sure whether to do all of these as well, or not. Until i finally do a test fit i won't know if my bigger swaybar will fit either, i've no idea if its going to be unfriendly with my sump or not..

[oldcorollas]

i would say:
ball joints
inner and outer tie rod ends
check the tie rods aren't bent
pitman and idler arm
nolathane the idler arm (at least with something abit more solid than the original rubber, otherwise you have funny uneveness over bumps)

and...
change the oil seal in the steering column, where the (whats it called?) shaft that comes out to attach to the pitman arm.
if you change the seal, then you can use oil in there.. gearbox/diff oil is ok. grease can get pushed away from the surfaces with time.. oil is better (or oil with some grease mixed in )

also... thouroughly check the steering box. check that there is the same slop in the centre and about half turned.. if that is ok, the box is servicable.. if there is a big difference, find a better one.
you can also change the bush that supports the aforementioned pitman arm shaft. these wear into an oval shape with time.
the top half of the column should be fine, but.. basically replace anything that could possible wear, and check the steering box innards very well....


edit: as for changing the rate of steering, you need either longer pitman/idler (KE30 is longer but dunno if the pitman arm fits (KE10 does), and dunno if they will foul the cross-member..
shorter steering arms would also make it faster BUT, it will magnify the slop and free play, since smaller movement of tie rods is needed to effect movement of wheel.. piutman and idler is what i would look at..

[YLD-16L]

Is your new swaybar designed as a direct replacment for a stock one?? i.e. the same shape??

Iv'e got either nolathane or new bushes all the the front and rear as well, made a huge difference to the leaf rear end once they were replaced. The bushes are cheap and easy to replace, you can get a good idea of there condition from looking at them most of the time.

Edit:

Good info on chaging the sterring rate OC, I'm not sure the KE20/25 would have much room for longer pitman/idler arms though as things might start fouling on the crossmember (depends on how much longer they are though).

[Bananaman]

Good info Stu, thanks mate

The swaybar i have i think is just a stock replacement, thats why i'm worried that it will foul on the sump. I got it because it was cheap (off ebay.. unused) - i'll just have to wait and see if it fits or not, if it doesn't then i guess i will get one made.

[Bananaman]

The price i got on all of it was next to nothing, so i've ordered pittman arm, idler arm, inner and outer tie rod ends, and the lower ball joints. I assume that the drag link itself doesn't wear out?

[ROTORACE]

The drag link itself should be ok. Just a visual inspection will do. No bends, holes arent elongated, chuck it back in.
As for steering box fluid, penrite make steering box lube for classic cars (that's you!) It's pretty thick stuff, i took the top plate off of the steering box to get it in. It works well though.
Apart from that, replace absolutely anything you can get you hands on. As has been said, all ball joints, tie rod ends, pitman, idler and all bushes. All these parts can be sourced new and pretty cheap from a decent spare parts store.
Then it'll steer like a new car! well almost....

[YLD-16L]

I just checked the manual and the bottle I used for the steering box oil, it's SAE90.

[Bananaman]

stuff...

Then it'll steer like a new car! well almost....

I just checked the manual and the bottle I used for the steering box oil, it's SAE90.

Thanks for the info everyone, i'll post back when i get around to doing it all if i have any dramas

+rep