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TR6 TR6 Hard steering

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hondo402000

hondo402000

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I figured I would start a new thread on my steering issue. I have always thought my steering felt harder that is should be, I did rebuild the front end when I purchased the car 5 years ago, rebuilt steering rack, new upper ball joints, tie rod ends, and lower trunions. Well since I have the engine out(see other thread) and took the steering rack out and by the way the rubber covers are shot on the tie rods, another issue. the wheels are difficult to move left and right, so I took the 2 bolts loose on the upper ball joint and whala it moves freely, the trunion is not the problem, but the upper ball joint is really stiff and when I try to bolt it back I have to force the upper A arms to align up with the ball joint holes, Is it possible that these ball joints are really not correct? they were made for the TR6 but seems you have to have them in a bind to get the bolts ligned up, they are at full extension since the front end is on jack stands but I think they should have accounted for that

comments welcome

Hondo
 
Which way do you have to strain things to line up? ISTR the stock ball joints are symmetrical, so if yours are mis-made I would expect that things would change if you turn them back to front.

FWIW, Herman van den Akker reported some years ago finding that his vertical links were actually bent. ISTR he looked at 6 of them before finding 2 that weren't bent, so apparently it's a common problem.

Also, are you sure you've got the upper arms installed the right way? They have some offset built into them (to match the caster built into the lower trunnion).

Beyond that, I would be looking for distorted inner pivots, bent frame, etc. One way to check is to have a shop measure the caster & camber, but even that is no guarantee. I once had a shop swear they were fine, when one of the lower pivots had ripped out of the frame!
 
Randall
when I rebuilt my front end I did end up getting the upper A arms backwards, but I figuered that out and did switch them the bently book and pics helped on that one , now did that screw up the upper ball joints???? the frame looks fine, I see no evidence of warpage, and since I am putting in the gussets I have looked every thing over and all appears to be ok, I have not driven another TR6 so maybe all is good just seems to be more effort at slower speeds

Hondo
 
The part about having to force the upper A-arms to line up does not sound right to me, so I think you do have at least a small problem. But I work pretty much exclusively on earlier TRs, so I could be mistaken.

On my TR3, when everything is right except the tie rods disconnected, the vertical links will literally flop to one side under the weight of the caliper. With everything hooked up, I can fairly easily turn the steering wheel by grabbing the rotor and twisting it with both hands.

And everyone claims rack and pinion is better :laugh:
 
Hondo, you are right that something is not as it should be. You are welcome to check out mine and see if you can spot something amidst. Could it be that power steering has given you a different feeling??

Wayne
 
For what it is worth I have always found TR6 steering to be very stiff when the car is in the air if you try to turn it via the front wheels rather than the steering wheel.
 
well its definately stiff, maybe I will get some new ball joints and see if thats the issue, all else seems ok, Wayne, I will let you know if I need to check out your setup, thanks

Hondo
 
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