Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) 2017 Plus 4 steering

When I bought my Plus 4 the steering at first felt very strange - like the steering wheel wasn't connected to the wheels.
I adjusted tyre pressures & greased the front suspension & for the next 100miles it felt a bit better.
After that it felt quite strange again, this time when turning the steering wheel it felt like the universal joints have seized with the first half a turn on the wheel being very light, the next 1/4 very stiff, then becoming light again. Ive checked everything & the UJs appear to be Ok but then I noticed that there is probably something like 1/4 inch of movement of the wheel compared to the steering column, 50 miles later I've read up about the top bush on the column wearing but cant believe that a 2500 mile 2 1/2 year old car would have that amount of wear, and by this time the play is up to half an inch!

I don't have time to take to dealers so took the cover off from around the ignition & stalks to find its actually the nut holding the steering wheel on thats loose, I managed probably 6 or 7 complete turns on the nut before it even started to tighten.
I noticed that the covers had oil/grease dripping from them so cleaned all that up & refitted.

A test drive now shows that someone had put the grease there on purpose, there is a horrendous creaking noise from the steering & can see that the boss for the steering wheel is scraping on the covers. Is this normal or have I got either deformed covers or an abnormal boss fitted to the steering wheel - its a mono-lita one. I also cant work out if thats why the steering keeps going heavy its catching more on one part of the rotation.

When I had the Roadster there was a similar issue.
The upper and lower plastic covers were rubbing on the steering wheel boss.
I increased the size of the aperture in the covers for the column and that helped, a lot.
There is a UJ in the column along side the engine. That also required lubricating.
But the problem was solved with hard chrome "king pins" and the SSL suspension upgrade.
The varying friction can be due to the lower springs rubbing as the steering moves. With the SSL upgrade the lower spring doesn't touch the suspension unless the car is under downward load.
Anyway, the car ended up with no "nodd", much lighter steering load and no friction, anywhere.

It doesn't sound right to me.
If you wont go to a dealer why not remove the covers & see if that helps.

Someone posted on here about the UJ's not being set at 90degrees to each other. It might have been Heinz, but whoever it was had this tightening effect on lock.

They must be aligned properly or this can be the effect. A search might bring up the post. I don't have time now or I'd look. See below......first hit!


http://www.talkmorgan.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/616202/1

Dave W, yes, that's the thread you meant. It sounds to me like Andyrich could have several problems at once. Andyrich, your description of the changeable sluggishness could have the same cause as it did for me in the thread Dave posted. Especially if the first joint doesn't have the exact alignment, which is invisible in the upper part of the steering. I would also check the other joints to make sure they are correctly aligned...in the lower part of the steering. Have a read in the thread posted by Dave.
But the way you describe it, there might be other irregularities in addition. There are so many ways why a steering system can be faulty. I would have the whole steering system checked by a professional (or you are a professional yourself). I would tell him to check even the first invisible joint under the steering cover for the exact connection. This joint is there because the steering can be adjusted in height.

"there is a horrendous creaking noise from the steering " , perhaps the needle bearing which is at the top of the column. Disconnect an UJ's and test the steering wheel turning free without connection to the wheels.

CBY are you sure they still use a needle bearing? My 2005 Roadster had a needle bearing which cracked went sluggish and eventually blocked the steering wheel totally an hour later. So I had time and a kind of pre-warning. But I thought that the needle bearing was replaced by something teflon or the like later on?
Anyway, Andyrich, take it serious.

Thanks for the suggestions

I think the creaking is actually something rubbing on the plastic column covers. I wouldn't have thought a bearing should have failed on something with only 2500 miles? I wonder if the grease that I found on the covers was someones attempt to stop the rubbing.

The alignment of the UJs makes sense & If I thought that maybe one drive was with the steering column in the highest position & one could have been on the lowest that could explain why the tightness varies.

I will get the covers off again & check the alignment & report back.

Some UJ connections are force-guided and others can be freely plugged together. Don't be surprised that the first rod you see in the engine compartment has twisted angles. This must be because of the spatial angles. In the front wing there is a sheet metal box that can be unscrewed. There is another UJ which is free to rotate before you put them together (but I forgot on which end of it). I would control all of them down to the rack, if the forces are so irregular.

Here is a pic of the older steering (without the adjustable high and therefore without the additional UJ in the shroud) from the Gomog site.

https://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/steeringr&p.html#WATCHPOINT

Worth a check that items 4 & 3 are not rubbing on the radiator. ( I had to get mine replaced)