Some quick Steering Questions

[Smokey228]

Hey guys, i got my RnP in and all is well as far as i can tell, and i dont notice any serious bump steer, so nothing that exciting to report.

My first question, the upper uni joint from the coloumn to the shaft that reaches out to the rack... How much angle can they joint have?

Also, that shaft that reaches out, it has some play, and i suspect thats the reason for my vibrations and steering play at speed and perhaps why my tracking is so unpredictable, is because of this free play in the shaft.
If you can picture it, it is a spline at two ends, that are plugged into a steel tube with two brass pins. Now i geuss the pins have come loose and my question is, am i able to tack weld two blobs on either end of the tube? Or should i drill through the tacks and plug weld the tube back to the shafts?

Finanly, i kinda hope that that spline section isnt supposed to be a sold tube is it? It hasnt snapped in the middle or anything and it is simply two seperate sections?

+rep for anyone who can help and thanks in advance,

Cheers,
Jase

[big_zop]

If you can picture it, it is a spline at two ends, that are plugged into a steel tube with two brass pins. Now i geuss the pins have come loose and my question is, am i able to tack weld two blobs on either end of the tube? Or should i drill through the tacks and plug weld the tube back to the shafts?

Would this have anything to do with the deformable part of the steering column - or is that elsewhere? If so, i doubt you could do much to improve it (by welding the tube on) other than ensure there is no slop between the brass pins.

Also, is ther any bushing in the system as this is a problem on Nissan cars (they often replace it with a solid alloy piece to rplace the bush and give 'better' steering feel)

Got similar problems with my steering and im not sure if its the rack of the bushes - hope its the bushes coz i have replacements for them!

[Smokey228]

Well i can physically see the movement in that section of the steering, and it almost accounts for all movement, but ofcourse i cant find any movement elsewehere untill this movement is taken up...

So you reckon, go nuts, weld tacs on? Im worrie dhtat doing so might cause something to move slightly out of center and make something else worse. But i have no clue

I'll probably weld tabs on this weekend and then replace both unis all at once... See how i go from there... I just want to drag race lol

Cheers<
Jase

[big_zop]

So you reckon, go nuts, weld tacs on? Im worrie dhtat doing so might cause something to move slightly out of center and make something else worse. But i have no clue

Only if its NOT the deformable part of the column - but you are gonna have to find that off someone else.

Why do you need to fix the steerign for drag racing, is it that bad you cant keep it in a straight line (ignore the fact that the lack of traction doesnt help!)? Besides, im pretty sure that these days you sign a waiver that claims your car is your responsibility and drag event organiers cannot be held accountable for any issues.

[Smokey228]

Im fine with ti ebing my problem, its cause i dont want to crash or loose it or aynthing at 160+km/h...

ATM, it gets a wobble just randomly, and also, from time to time, it tracks almost violently. Which at speed has me really paranoid that im going to take my mates rx7 off the road too

Cheers,
Jase

[LeeRoy]

If your talking about the uni joint it has the two bolts that clamp it to the spline and then it has the two pins much the same as a tailshaft that it pivots on and allows the angle in the joint to move freely and not bind up.

If the two pins in the uni are shagged then id probably look at getting them refurbed - maybe try a diff shop of even just replace it with another one. You might even be able to still buy a new one from repco.

How are your ball joints and other suspension components? Does anything clunk or knock? Are bushes in good condition? and have you had a wheel alignment? All of these things are contributing factors to loose steering and other associated problems.

I probably wouldnt go welding the uni thing.

Edit: The angle should be as minimal as possible in an aftermarket setup but this isnt possible in most cases so as long as it doesnt bind up it should be fine. On a side note a friends dads hotrod has a front mounted rack and to bypass the headers (v8) it runs 2 unis on some pretty serious angles but also has a connecting shaft between the two unis which utilises a rose style bearing which allows it to move but not so that it makes the unis bind up.

If your worried about the angle think about the angle a tailshaft has on full droop and how this doesnt bind up.

[Smokey228]

Yeh i dont some googling on Geometry of Steering components, and on some custom Hotrod RnP setups, they say the maximum amount of angle allowed in most Unis should be around 30degrees...

I'd say mine is very close to that, maybe a little bit more, but i cant see there being much of an issue provide the uni's arent binding up and that its not rediculously more

I want to pull the front left strut apart and test all the components at that end, but i've lost my lock nut, so will have to either find one to check, or destroy the existing one and replace later...

Cheers<
jase

[The Real Roadrunner]

how much bumpsteer has the car got?

measure that before checking for other things, if its as bad as IBZ's car then i would be looking at fixing that before anything else.

[Smokey228]

I havent noticed any bumpsteer, but i havent measured it to be sure yet either!

Hopefully be able to make something up this weekdn and manage to workout how exactly to do it

Cheers,
Jase