Signs and causes of play in the car steering wheel

12.11.2019

Issues discussed in the material:

• Why does play appear in the steering rack?
• What are the signs of play in the steering rack?
• How to remove play in the steering rack with your own hands

The steering system makes it possible to change the direction of the vehicle's trajectory. It consists of a large number of elements. Its most important link is the steering rack. Play in this mechanism is unacceptable and must be eliminated as soon as possible. How to remove play in the steering rack? You will learn about this by reading our article.

What is backlash?

Backlash is a common term not only in automotive mechanics, but also in mechanics in general. It means a gap, a gap, a free play of the steering wheel (occurs when changing direction). Play in the steering of a passenger car most often begins with the fact that the car begins to pull to the side, the steering wheel vibrates in the front part when driving, especially off-road (and if the situation worsens, even just slightly on an uneven road). In addition, unpleasant “symptoms of play” are loss of smoothness, extraneous noise when turning the steering wheel.

Dodge gearbox repair

Even high-status Dodge cars may need repairs to the steering rack gearbox. The unit is subject to constant friction, its condition is affected by general wear, so often after a certain mileage of the car, the steering rack gearbox needs to be replaced.

Signs of a Dodge gearbox failure:

• Knocking sounds in the running car;
• Steering play;
• Leak in the steering gearbox.

Without experience and special knowledge, it will be difficult to understand how to remove the steering gear and repair it. Qualified car service specialists have the tools and equipment that will allow you to repair the gearbox as efficiently as possible.

During diagnosis, a comprehensive examination is often performed. Service station mechanics determine the cause of the malfunction and the time to eliminate it.

• Replacement of faulty components;
• Shaft grinding
• Testing the gearbox using a stand.

Causes of backlash

Popular reasons for the appearance of a gap:

• Huge load on the suspension. Most often, due to driving on poor quality roads, the use of tires made of low quality rubber. The steering system is forced to take on the lion's share of the load.
• Due to wear, the rod ends “fly”. The service life of rod ends can vary greatly. It’s one thing if vehicles drive purely on city asphalt roads, and another thing if they drive on dirt and off-road country roads. Dirt contributes to very rapid failure of the tips.
• Loosening the nuts. The problem is theoretically quickly solvable, but many visually do not even realize that such a problem exists in practice. The fact is that the nut is “hidden” behind the airbags.
• Using low-quality hydraulic oil.
• Wear of splines and hinges.
• Failure of wheel bearings and ball joints.

Permissible steering wheel play

If the vehicle documentation does not indicate other values ​​of the maximum steering wheel play, then the figure (in degrees) should not exceed:

• More than 10 for passenger cars.
• More than 25 degrees – for trucks.
• More than 20 degrees – for buses.

Such standards for steering wheel play are prescribed in the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union “On the Safety of Wheeled Vehicles” (TR TS 018/2011).
This document is taken into account during technical inspection in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus. The steering wheel play measurement, according to the document, is a measurement of the total play in the steering. By this we need to understand the angle of rotation of the steering wheel formed between:

• A position that corresponds to the beginning of the steering wheelbase turning in one direction.
• A position that corresponds to the beginning of the wheels turning in the opposite direction from the position corresponding to the linear movement of a car or bus.

Power steering from Volga on UAZ 469

To install Volga power steering on a UAZ 469, you need to select a UAZ bipod with number 452-2304100-10. Price 800 rubles. Remove the old bipod, unscrew the studs and screw it onto the back side of the bridge. Here, remove the kingpin cover and screw the bipod into place, which was dismantled. Install a new bipod where the cover was.

Weld the plate in place to the frame. The thickness of the metal plate and jib is 10 mm. Remove the bipod from the hydraulic booster from the Volga car and move it to the position required for the UAZ 469. The design of the shaft allows you to install the bipod in 4 different options.

Like the plate, the Volga power steering is also installed locally. Sometimes it is necessary to weld two studs securing the plate to the frame. The tips should be different - one from the Volga, the other from the UAZ 469. The cross member can be made from the UAZ, shortening it. The length of the power steering from the Volga to the UAZ should be 140 mm.

How to check steering play?

Check the steering wheel play with the vehicle parked on a level, non-slip surface.
This could be, for example, an asphalt concrete area. Prepare the wheelbase. The optimal direction for installation is in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the body.

If there is dirt on the wheels, remove it. Otherwise, you may receive distorted data. Before taking direct measurements, it is important to turn the steering wheel left and right several times. This is important for understanding at what point the wheels change direction.

What tool is used to check play?

Use a backlash meter to check the angle.
The simplest measuring device is a mechanical one, the components of which are sliding brackets, a movable carriage, a dynamometer, and a goniometer scale. The playmeter is attached with stops to the steering wheel rim. The dynamometer is installed on the bottom bracket.

But electronic measuring equipment is more convenient to use and superior in accuracy. Instead of a dynamometer, which detects the beginning of the wheel rotation, there is a sensor on it. Using it, you can directly record the moment the wheel begins to turn.

Need for adjustment

Adjustment of the UAZ Patriot steering gear is carried out in order to correct the functioning of the steering mechanism. The setup process does not involve any particular difficulties and can be done on your own at home.

In order to adjust the steering column, the design of the mechanism provides a special bolt with a locking nut. The adjustment process is carried out due to the fact that the bolt is screwed in to maximum tension, and then it is fixed in this position. After the adjustment process, you will notice that the steering wheel will turn a little tighter. If the adjustment is no longer possible, then the hydraulic booster must be replaced with a new one.

To adjust the gearbox on a UAZ Patriot SUV, you will need the following tool:

• pliers for loosening the nut;
• wrenches for “22” and “16”;
• tip type T-30 in the form of an asterisk;
• WD-40.

When all the necessary tools are ready, you can begin the work process.

Setup process

Let's take a closer look at the process of adjusting the power steering on the UAZ Patriot SUV.

1. When starting work, it is important to install the front wheels of the UAZ Patriot SUV in a strictly straight direction.
2. After this, you need to open the hood and find the steering column of the SUV.
3. Before starting work, the surface of the structure should be cleaned of dirt.
4. On the central part of the power steering housing there is an adjusting screw, with the help of which the adjustment process takes place. This screw looks like this:

5. Getting started, remove the steering tip from the bipod, as shown in the photo below.

6. Now you need to make maximum physical effort and try to move the steering bipod left and right. In this case, it is necessary to determine whether there is any play during its movement, or, perhaps, the bipod stops in the central position. If such defects appear, adjustments are made until they disappear.
7. Let’s begin the adjustment work, and to do this, use a “16” wrench to unscrew the lock nut. It is important to know that the locknut has a left-hand thread, so it is unscrewed by rotating clockwise.
8. After loosening the locknut, use the T-30 sprocket to rotate the screw clockwise or counterclockwise.
9. We check the quality of movement of the steering bipod. If the bipod moves tightly, then it is necessary to rotate the screw to the left, and to weaken the movement - in the opposite right direction, which was actually done.
10. When the gearbox is loosened, play may appear. It is necessary to adjust so that there is play, but barely noticeable.
11. After this, you can tighten the locknut in this position until it stops and secure it with a cotter pin. Upon completion of the work, it is imperative to check the quality of the work done by repeatedly moving the bipod in both directions. The main thing is that after the adjustment process the bipod moves smoothly without jamming in the middle position. Minor play of the mechanism is allowed in the extreme left and right positions of the bipod.
12. The steering ends are reinstalled and the mechanism is checked while the car is moving.

Mechanism repair

Like many other cars, the UAZ Patriot also has some shortcomings in this mechanism. In particular, the steering column housing into which the bolt is screwed can be considered unfinished. During adjustment, SUV owners often encounter problems with thread integrity. Why is this happening?

The reasons for what is happening are hidden mainly in the use of low-quality metal for the production of the steering housing. While tightening the bolt, the thread integrity is damaged, which actually renders the steering column housing cover unusable. You can purchase it separately, but its cost will not be as small as it might seem at first glance. Therefore, we will briefly consider how to repair this device.

Below is a cover on which the threads are broken.

We repair threads as follows:

1. First, a new thread of larger diameter is cut using a tap.
2. Next, you will need to use a bushing with two threads, which is shown in the photo below.

3. The bushing must be screwed into the “newly cut” thread of the cover and glued with special cyanoacrylate glue TK-200.
4. After this, you will need to use a new bolt, which will be the adjustment bolt. Repair involves not only cutting a new thread, but also replacing the steering column adjusting screw.
5. In the gearbox, the adjusting bolt is installed in a special hole, shown in the photo below.

New adjusting bolt in place

A more detailed process of adjusting the steering column gearbox is shown in the video above. It shows the process of setting up a gearbox or hydraulic booster without the help of an assistant. In this case, it will be useful to know what is required.

Source

How to eliminate backlash?

If the clearance norm differs from the norm, meticulous diagnostics is needed:

• It is important to determine the source of the knocking. Very often, drivers think that the reason is due to free movement, but in fact the reason is related to a malfunction of another component of the vehicle.
• Check suspension operation. Often it has to be repaired or even replaced.
• Check if everything is in order with the steering bar. Sometimes, to solve the problem, it is enough to simply tighten it by turning the adjusting screw.
• Be sure to check the ball ends and rubber boots. Their replacement is also necessary quite often for the problem under consideration.
• If there are problems with the steering wheel installation, it is important to understand the reason. Most often, the root of the problem is a worn gear mount. Replacing it will quickly “calm down” the free movement.

If the above steps do not help solve your problem, think about whether you have recently repaired the chassis. A poorly tightened bearing nut can be a direct cause of problems with the steering system. If the problem is low-quality oil, as was mentioned when considering the causes, then the surest method of dealing with “played out” free wheeling is a simple oil change.

Adjusting the steering wheel of the UAZ Patriot. UAZ hydraulic booster: description, installation, operation, maintenance

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The new UAZ Bukhanka is equipped with power steering, which makes operating the bus much more comfortable. However, many owners of this model own older buses that do not have this option.

However, owners of both modifications often encounter breakdowns of the UAZ Bukhanka steering wheel, and therefore it is worth considering the most common malfunctions and the causes of their occurrence. To know what to pay attention to first. As for repairs, it can be carried out at the STOGUR station, which specializes in such problems. Their portal is https://sto-gur.ru/