Offroad-Express

Hi

I bought a kzn185 surf about 6 weeks ago and it has a vibration in the steering/vehicle at speeds greater than 80km/h.

I had the tyres balanced but that delivered no noticeable difference.

Just wanting to know if others have had this problem and how they solved it

Cheers
Jeff

Hey,
Is it worst when braking from higher speeds?

It's quite likely warped disc's,

They'll need to be skimmed
costs about $50 + labour if you can't remove yourself
I would also replace the pads at the same time.

Thanks for the reply

Doesnt occur any worse under braking

I put some brand new front discs on when I bought it. Pads were down and discs were a bit rough (but within acceptable limits) so for the sake of $100, I put some new brembos on it.

(Pays to have good brakes when your hurtling around in a 2 ton missile)

Its interesting, because it seems to right itself on smooth asphalt road as opposed to chipseal.

Tending to rule out uj or propshaft trouble and looking toward tie rod wear. Have tested the shocks and they seem ok. Inspection of bushes etc in chassis has turned up nothing much.
Although I have heard that these vibration can come from further afield like the ball joints.


How do you test ball joints for excessive wear

Cheers
Jeff

Hey dude I would lean more towards tie rod ends.

My truck does the same thing feels real bad when your on rough roads but on smooth roads its fine. My tie rod ends are shot need to replace them.

Cheers

Caleb

check your steering box screw adjuster is tight mine wobbled like all hell and after tightening it up it more then halfed the problem. There is still heaps of play left for me so it wobbles a bit.

timmay556 wrote:check your steering box screw adjuster is tight mine wobbled like all hell and after tightening it up it more then halfed the problem. There is still heaps of play left for me so it wobbles a bit.

KZN185's have rack and pinion steering

Thanks again for the relpies

The rack and pinion has some play in the rack shaft as it exits the right hand side of the rack unit.

When the vehicle is jacked up and you wiggle the front drivers wheel with the right hand rack boot off, you can watch the rack shaft move side to side(perpendicular to the way the rack should move) by about 2 or 3 mm. The passengers side is minimal compared.

I have no doubt that this is most likely the problem but I wanted to eliminate all other possibilities before I sign a mortgage to get the rack rebuilt

Cheers
Jeff

have you replaced the rack rubber bushes with good after market ones. makes a big different on the tar and gravel.

Maurice

likemagic wrote:have you replaced the rack rubber bushes with good after market ones. makes a big different on the tar and gravel.

Maurice

This is a well known weak spot on these and 90 series Prado's. Try replacing the steering rack bushes and see how you go. BNT etc sell them.

The Rack bushes have already been replaced by the previous owner with polyurethane ones. I would suspect that they have been attempthing to fix this issue also.

Just hunting round for a cheap second hand rack that I can get rebuilt

Cheers

Why not just adjust the pinion nut?
It is common for the slide in there to wear slightly.
We adjust these all the time. Takes approx 5 mins to sort out.

i will have one in the next few weeks when i get rid of it all in my 185

Hi

I attempted to undo the big nut on the bottom of the steering rack but only succeeded in undoing the whole thing not just the cover.
Wasnt exactly sure what I was doing and didnt have a crescent big enough to hold it place while I undid the nut. (Didnt want all the ps fluid on the garage floor at 10pm on a school night)

Once you get the cover off is there a bolt inside that you tighten?

Cheers
Jeff

There is a big ring type lock nut that you need to loosen, then tighten the centre bolt very slightly till play goes and the rack can still operate smoothly. Then tighten lock nut.

Hammer and cold chisel usually do the job if you don't have a socket big enough.

Just changed my power steering fluid this weekend - made a huge difference to the way the steering feels.
Quite surprised how much very fine black particles came out. Jacked the front, removed the power steering tank and gave that a real good clean with brake clean as well..
Didn't need engine running to flush. Used dexron 3 in a funnel on the big pipe going to the pump, small pipe going to waste container and turned the wheel lock to lock until it was clean for a while. Refitted tank and topped up and then started engine and turned wheel lock to lock quite a few times to bleed any air out.

Maurice

The thing in behind that large nut is the steering rack guide and it can be tightened as discussed above or it can be replaced with the latest type, see the thread below. The way you know it is the problem is as the OP discussed above, only the drivers side has a lot of play. You DON'T need to get your rack replaced/repaired unless it's leaking! (or the other side is clonking up and down as well, then, well, you have further issues...)

http://www.yotatech.com/f2/how-replace- ... es-215931/

Matt