Extremely heavy steering

[KidDingo]

Hello all. Thought I would add to the collective knowledge housed at this site.

Bought a 1981 CS0 last October. Steering was extremely heavy.

After I did some research on this site (your collective wisdom is amazing AND a godsend, btw), I figured I would start with the idler and steering box. I found ManoaMatt's info (http://fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic.php ... oil#p65124) to be the most instructional for accessing and opening the steering box, however, I learned a few things that might help someone else attempting this lengthy job:

1. The locking nut on my car is 19 mm. I'm not sure if that's because mine is an '81 and Matt's instructions are for an earlier model.

2. The locking nut was incredibly tight. I think that's possibly because no-one has touched it in about 15 years. Anyway, I had to abandon Matt's advice about holding the adjusting screw until AFTER I had released the tension on the locking nut (I needed both hands to loosen the nut). After I had released the tension, I used a small screwdriver to hold the adjusting screw.

3. There was so much gunk covering the steering box cover, I struggled to find the 13 mm bolt that hides under the brake booster. The cover's splines conveniently point to the corner bolts so I managed to locate it and clean it off a bit. But man, talk about inaccessible! Getting that bolt unscrewed was tough because my 4" (10cm) long crescent wrench would only go 1/8th of a turn. You really need a short wrench to get more of a turn for that one 13 mm bolt. The others are reasonably accessible with a 6" extension on a ratchet drive.

4. Unscrewing the cover was complicated by a metal tube that extended from the bottom of the vapour canister, over the top of the steering box, and into some dark netherworld beyond the firewall. Holding the tube is a 10 mm body bolt and clip on the engine bay wall just below the access hole for the strut tower. Unbolting the clip allowed me to shift the line enough to get the cover on and off.

5. Once I had the cover off, I was able to wrestle with and loosen the square filler plug using a small adjustable crescent wrench.

6. Steering box had a couple of millilitres of oil left, but it was watery, red, and burned. The turkey baster wouldn't fit, so I filled the steering box with new oil. The burned fluid floated on the new oil which then allowed me to use the turkey baster to take out most of the old fluid. It was truly ghastly stuff.

7. Putting the cover back on was easier than getting it off. I left the filler plug off so I could top off the steering box oil after I had put the cover back on. Topping off the oil with the cover on makes a bloody mess, but mostly caused by my own impatience, I think. (For the Canadians: I got Motomaster 80W90 from Canadian Tire for about $10. If you read the fine print on the back of the bottle, it says it's EP friendly which is what the owner's manual specifies for the steering box AND the idler.)

8. When putting the filler plug back in, make sure you put a rag in the engine bay wall cavities. Thankfully the plug is magnetic so it can be retrieved, but it's a real panic until you find exactly where it disappeared to.

9. Adjusting the steering after it is all reassembled is a breeze (front end jacked).

10. Idler maintenance is made easier if you remove the exhaust manifold heat shield. I was able to wick out the small amount of gray sludge in the idler box using paper towels. I filled it in situ, then topped it off once the cover was back on.

Photo of empty steering box: http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h38 ... xempty.jpg
Photo of near-empty idler box: http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h38 ... xempty.jpg

All up, about 6 hours, most of which was mucking around with the locking nut and unscrewing/screwing that one 13 mm bolt under the brake booster.

There you go. That's what I learned. I hope it helps someone.


Michael.

[vandor]

Just a small comment: there are sockets for the square fill plug, likely sold at Sears, etc. They have 8 points instead of the 12 of most sockets. There is a SAE size that fits the Fiat fill plug quite well - 1/4", maybe?

[Ky2000]

How is the steering now?

[KidDingo]

Based on a to-and-fro while it's sitting in the garage, the steering seems lighter. It was only while parking that I noticed it most, so it's a fair comparison. But there won't a real test drive until the icy roads clear up.

[RRoller123]

I seem to remember that the 5/16" 12-point fit my steering-fill plug well. The car is a few miles away so I can't go check though.

[Kent124]

KidDingo, did you do both the steering box and idler without removing from steering / tie rods?

[KidDingo]

KidDingo, did you do both the steering box and idler without removing from steering / tie rods?

Hi Kent,

Yes I did. I found some posts on this site that suggested not doing it that way. But, upon thinking it through, it seemed like it would be OK to leave them connected. Some of the more professional mechanics will probably correct me, but my thinking went like this:

1. The filler plugs are there to allow top ups while everything is in situ.
2. If I fill the boxes as best I can with the covers off while still bolted in, and then top them up with the covers back on, what's the difference?

Also, I didn't see any reason to disconnect them from the tie rods for the same reason.

M.

[vandor]

Based on a to-and-fro while it's sitting in the garage, the steering seems lighter.

You can try it with the front end jacked up - it should be super light, ie. be able to turn the steering wheel with your pinkie.
BTW, how much pressure are you running in the tires? Fiat recommended 26psi, but I usually run 32 psi - that makes a difference too.

[KidDingo]

Based on a to-and-fro while it's sitting in the garage, the steering seems lighter.

You can try it with the front end jacked up - it should be super light, ie. be able to turn the steering wheel with your pinkie.
BTW, how much pressure are you running in the tires? Fiat recommended 26psi, but I usually run 32 psi - that makes a difference too.

You know, Csaba, I don't really know what the tires are at right now. They were at 28 psi before garaging. It's been sitting in the garage since November, so no doubt they have leaked somewhat.

Don't you find 32 psi wears the tires?

With the front end jacked, I am able to move the steering with a single finger now.

[leftfield6]

I've been known to fairly opinionated when it comes to tire pressures, so take all this with a grain of something.

I always run my pressure higher than the manufacturer recommended psi. The tire pressure recommendations are based on a compromise between performance and comfort. The lower the psi, the more "cushiony" your tires feel. Common practice to bump up the psi for a more performance minded driver. Reasonable increased psi reduces sidewall flex, and generally keeps more contact patch on the road.On all of my vehicles. On my Spider, my 185/60-14 tires are set at 35psi.

When you ask about unusual wear, are you concerned about the tire wearing in the center of the tread? If so, the tire would have to be drastically over inflated to deform to that degree. I would guess it would take close to 50 psi to do that. Just make sure you are staying under the maximum pressure listed on the side of the tire.

I don't have enough miles on my Spider to give you any info, but my daily driver Honda Element rolls on Pirelli P6 tires, which are basically passenger tires. Factory recommended PSI is 32 front, 34 rear. I run 40 front, 42 rear. No discernible difference in ride, but mpg went from 21.3 to 24.1. Running this same pressure, I got over 50K out of the last tires I had, no unusual wear at all.

[Ragno124]

+1 on the tire pressure and steering!

It's amazing how much difference 4 psi can make when it comes to turning resistance while going slow. I've maintained mine at 36 psi and can feel a major difference when the tires get to 32 psi or below. Lower pressure makes it impossible to turn with the car stationary.

[vandor]

>Don't you find 32 psi wears the tires?

Not at all.
Like others said, I run higher pressures in my other cars aswell.

[KidDingo]

Well, that's an eye opener.

Will have to give that a whirl.

[azruss]

dont know how much this applies to the modern style tire, but R&T did a test decades ago on tire pressure vs handling. In those days factory recommendations were in the 24-26 range. This was for a soft comfortable ride. The modern tires push high mileage and car mfg fuel economy, so they all suggest much higher pressures. The R&T test showed that each individual car has a sweet spot for best handling and max cornering G's. In those days, it was around 32. Tires have changed so much that i wouldnt know where to start with a modern tire. I do know that more is not simply better. remember you are reducing tire patch size for light steering and fuel economy. (less contact, less resistance). the trade off also increases your stopping distances and cornering limits.

[leftfield6]

Yep, agreed on the fact that modern tires have changed a lot of the old "truths" about how to inflate and care for your tires.

In the end, there is really only one way to find the "ideal PSI" for your car/tire combination. It's a tedious process, but I did do it many years ago on a Miata that I had set up for autocrossing.

(1)With tires cold, set your psi using a calibrated digital gauge.
(2)Drive enough to heat your tires up. For me that was 20-25 minutes of, ahem, spirited cornering.
(3)Stop in a safe place, and immediately hop out.
(4)With an infrared thermometer, check the temp of each tire at 3 places. Middle of tread, and then towards both sholders, about an inch in.
(5)Write down these measurements for each tire
(6)Repeat.

What you are hoping for is for each set of three measurements to be almost identical. My goal was always to have each of the three within a 1/2 degree of each other.

If you find you're off, start playing with the psi, bumping it up or down.

Rule of thumb is that higher temp in the middle of the tread is overinflated, higher temps on shoulders is underinflated.

What you may find is that you wind up with four different PSI settings. One for each tire.

For a street daily driver, this would be overkill, but on the track it may give you that .5 seconds you are looking for.