[ChappiesZook]

Hey guys
Just finished vit power steering to my Zook. Getting ready to bleed the power steering pump so I begin turning it lock left to lock right, and I notice something wierd. I steer lock left, clunk, can’t steer ANY further. Sweet
I steer lock right, clunk, and even after I’ve turned and it’s hit lock, I’m still able to just turn the steering wheel right, past the lock point, without the wheels moving at all. The body itself actually starts to move slightly to the left.
Plz help I’m so confused and got no idea what to do

[fordem]

I have limited experience with "worm & nut" steering, but, this sounds like the box has more travel to the right of straight ahead than it does to the left - either the pitman arm was installed on the box incorrectly, or, the drag link has been set incorrectly.

I would approach it like this - position the front wheels to the "straight ahead" position and disconnect the drag link, next turn the steering wheel from lock to lock, counting the number of turns as you go, turn the wheel back exactly half the number of turns so the box is centered in it's travel and then reconnect the drag link, adjusting it's length so that it can fit without moving either the steering wheel or the front wheels.

I've had to do the equivalent of this with rack & pinion steering on a number of occasions because, well, good alignment techs are not easy to find.

[ChappiesZook]

Cheers mate.
I’ll go give that a try and see it if fixes it. I was given the box, so I have no idea whether the pitman arm has been taken off/put back on, all I know is that I haven’t changed it since I’ve owned it.
Also yoi mention adjusting the drag link. How does one do that? It doesn’t seem to have an adjuster

[fordem]

The drag link should have two ends that screw into it - one should be left hand thread, the other right hand thread, you slack the lock nuts and rotate the tube, one way it should get longer, the other way shorter.

Edit - sorry, that's how you do it on the Jimny, for a Samurai you might have to move the pitman arm.

[Gwagensteve]

Sierras do not have adjustable drag links.

Can’t recall if the pitman arm is indexed or not, I don’t think it is, so removing the pitman arm, centering the box, setting the wheels straight and reattaching the pitman arm is the only option.

[ChappiesZook]

Ok so I have re aligned everuthing. Dropped the pitman and it worked a treat. Just took it for a test run and it had REALLY BAD death wobbles after hitting a small bump. It didn’t do it before I did the power steering, now it is. Does that mean my Pover steering box is stuffed?

[fordem]

Death wobble is the result of play somewhere in the steering and/or front suspension - the steering box is one of many possibilities - you need to investigate them all, one by one. If you didn't have it before the steering box change, it is possible that that is how/when it was introduced.

[ChappiesZook]

So I have replaced all tie rod ends, all of which were completely trashed.
It still has bad death wobble. Worse than I have ever seen. It happens at like 20kmh. Funny thing is When I hit a bump with the passenger tire death wobble happens, but if I hit the same bump with the driver-side tire it does nothing.
I’m thinking kingpins but I’ve jacked it up and it’s got NO play so idk. The passenger hub is leaking but that wouldn’t be causing it right?

[Gwagensteve]

The issue is kingpin bearing preload measured as starting torque on the knuckle, not play. If there’s play they’re absolutely trashed.

Also knuckle seal condition is important as this damps the movement at the knuckle.

[ChappiesZook]

Ok sweet. I just pulled apart the hub and yuck it’s like mud in there. It’s grease and diff oil all mixed into muddy-looking, runny, slightly gritty yuckiness.
The kingpins have a fair bit of play between inner ring and cage, but do spin (bit rough though)

Now I AM curious about shims. From what I can tell these kingpins have never been done even after 380k. There was still a little bit of (what I believe to be factory) orange paint on the kingpin assembly bolt holes.
The top has two shims, and the bottom has one.
I was under the impression that top and bottom had to be the same?

Also I don’t have any shims and the kit I bought doesn’t have any. Am I able to keep the current shims in and just put in new bearings?

[ChappiesZook]

So Kingpins are done (the dodgy side atleast) and wow the preload was WAYYY out, only being 1.5lb. ( Thanks Steve)
I adjusted it all and fixed preload, new bearings everything, and took to for a spin and it still had death wobbles.
I run 2” extended shackles (Road Safe Brand) and I was wondering, could they be causing the issue? They bend sideways a lot. So I took the shackle apart and attached the spring to the middle crush tube, essentially creating a shorter, close to stock shackle, and likr that, boom, wobbles 90% gone. The top pin is stripped and the bolt was far from torque spec so that definitely wasn’t helping, and was probably what was causing the last 10% of shutter.

Do other people have this problem with shackles? Cos I am very dissatisfied with mine, and have ordered a set of shorter 1” Low Range extended Shackles, and am hoping they will perform better, plus they are a solid shackle, not just two bits of 10mm being held together by a crush tube so I expect them ti not ahve as much movement.