Talk Morgan Forums Thread Like Summary - 4/4 Sigma 2014, problems with the steering -solved

I had a clicking noise around the center position and a steering feel that was not quite right. André Koopmann, a very good Morgan workshop, has just taken the steering apart. The spring that presses the pinion into the rack with the nylon follower was correctly adjusted, so as indicated on Lorne's Gomog page, my son had carefully screwed the gearwheel with the screw and the spring underneath it to the stop four years ago and then unscrewed it a quarter turn. The cause of the fault is now that the nylon follower material has expanded over the years. It can no longer move freely in the metal bushing and is stuck in one position. This means that the spring, which presses the spindle against the rack with constant force, no longer has any function. The driving experience was very disconcerting, without any feeling for the road.
The nylon follower can be seen right hand at the photo. André ground it down a little so that it could move again and the spring could work properly with the follower. Now the steering and driving feel is wonderful again, just as it should be.
André says that these nylon followers expand after a few years and become stuck. It's almost inevitable and affects all Trads sooner or later.

Having like Heinz experienced intermittent clicking from the steering, the rack adjuster suddenly became worthy of investigation.

On releasing the 1 1/2" AF hex nut, star washer and unscrewing the threaded adjuster, the ID of the adjuster cylinder was measured at 20.0mm whereas the OD of the nylon follower was measured at 20.3mm!

I used a sharp chisel with the follower mounted in the bench drill to remove the excess nylon.

All reassembled with a dash of gearbox oil, a smear of grease and preloaded to fully tight minus a quarter turn of the adjuster.

No more clicking noises and no play at the steering wheel.

It's actually the most important unknown known that we've had on TM for a long time. Clearly the Dealers are aware but this issue has not been generally aired amongst owners.

So Heinz did us all a huge favour bringing this into the light.

The 4/4 has the narrowest tires and the lowest weight. Both together mean that the steering is very light around the center position when driving straight ahead, lighter than the power steering of other cars. This had the effect that the steering behavior was quite strange because it became even lighter with the stuck nylon follower. The resulting play at some points of the rack may have been marginal but it was enough that the car did not drive in a straight line line and always required small corrections. In a Roadster or Plus4, the steering forces are generally higher and the tyres are wider so you might not feel the influence of a stuck nylon follower so clearly. But the corrections when driving straight ahead could also be noticeable. Be that as it may, a nylon follower that has been made to work again provides a nice steering feel that is transferred to the hands and always corresponds with the impression of the same gentle spring pressure of the spindle on the rack. As a result, the effort required increases steadily and gradually when I turn a corner. Previously, the effort required when turning into a bend was not so gently rising. And it drives straight ahead again very nicely by itself.

Ah Dave!

I had a lathe too, being an engineer I had acquired an old'ish school lathe which was small and compact but had a good level of functions. When I moved from Kent to North wales I had a lot of workshop tooling to move and moving to a bigger space I had decided to up grade the lathe when settled so gave the old one to a friend before the move.
That was in 2000 and I still haven't got around to it yet although I still miss the lathe on probably a weekly basis---------guess that means I'm not settled yet!


One little tip for those of you who are now wondering if your nylon spring loaded steering plunger is sticking. .Jack the front of the car up at the front cross member and raise both wheels off the ground then manually turn the wheels from side to side, making sure first of all that the steering lock has been released! The advantage here is the reverse of the steering wheel input and although heavy it should feel smooth and evenly loaded. don't get confused with the oscillating type feel that will be fed back through the wheels, a ryhmic feel like pulsing, this is normal and is in fact the effect of the universal joints throughout the steering column when rotated by the front wheels. the plunger feels more like a creaking micro judder and is there all the time. you will probably feel it through the steering wheel if you move it slowly with the wheels also raised.