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MG MGA - Steering concern

I was out for a drive in the Western Australian sunshine then other day and had a strange experience with the sterring on the A. I'd driven about 20k and stopped to drop off something. When I continued I the steering was incredibly stiff. First thought was a flat front tyre. Checked them out and all was fine.

Carried on and it was really hard to turn left or right and had to physically pull on the steering wheel to get it straightened out!

I got home OK and was scheduled to go on a club run the next evening and thought I'd take a chance. Still stiff. However it suddenly felt normal and since then there has been no recurrence. Any ideas as to what may have happened and should I be concerned?

Regards

Paul
P Dodds

Paul, obviously you should be concerned and should investigate. It might be some foreign matter in the rack for example. Maybe the rack mounting is loose and the U-J alignment is out.
Art Pearse

Had a similar thing happen on a MKII Midget many years ago. It turned out to be a set of feeler gauges trapped between the steering column pinch-bolt and the chassis!
Lindsay Sampford

Paul, I know I'm stating the obvious but have you checked the oil in the steering rack and that your not running on almost dry?
J H Cole

Jacked the front end up and steering still very hard to turn. Grease and oil in the rack are both OK.
I wonder what could have caused the rack to stiffen up the go back to normal. Is there anything that could have jammed then freed itself?

The problem is that now it is working OK it's likely to be hard to find the root cause if I pull it to pieces! Bugger!

Cheers

Paul
P Dodds

Unscrew the cap nut plugs from top of rack, pull out the small parts, and check condition of the brass damper pads. They look like a bullet with a bore in the tail end and spring behind it, similar to the oil pressure relief valve poppet. When they wear out it is possible to have a piece of debris caught between the moving rack and the housing that could cause the serious drag that you describe.
Barney Gaylord

My experience like that was cured by new tie rod ends. It never showed up around town or on a twisty road; only after a long straight freeway drive.

Ken
k v morton

You can disconnect the tie rod ends from the steering arms, then see if the stiffness is in the steering rack or in the swivel pins (kind pins). The point is, always do the diagnostic work first, before you throw money at parts you may not need and may not solve the problem.
Barney Gaylord

This thread was discussed between 14/04/2011 and 15/04/2011

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