SLROC Forum

Wee bit of help required from all you veterans,

I recently got a steering box from Buffalo Bill and wondered what's the best way to approach it, I'll probably have a few questions before this thread is done

1. What's the best way of accessing the pipes into the top of the box?

2. The box I got from Bill is a Disco one and the drop arm bolt is proving difficult so is it easier to put the new box on before swapping over the arms?

3. Is there a sequence of removal hat is best to follow when removing the leaking box?

If anyone has any photos or a how to guide that would be very helpful.

Cheers

Stephen

Hi Stephen

where are you based if its not to far away and DRY! i could pop down and give you a hand.

Cheers Bill

Thanks for the offer Bill,

I'm in the Lanark area so quite a bit away from you. If I get a few hints I should be ok. I'm not sure whether I need to take the wing off to get access. It's just the pipes at the top, do I need to remove anything else to remove them before I drop the box?

Cheers

Stephen

is it petrol or diesel? 200 or 300tdi

if its 300tdi original its easier to remove rad and front grill. 200 remove plastic cowling, i just drill out the pop rivets and replaced them. petrol sorry i dont know but would still imagine the rad removal to be easiest .

as for the drop arm if you have the correct puller it was quite easy to do on car i havent tried it off.

hope this helps cheers  Bill

Thanks Bill,

Yeh, it's the 300Tdi, 4 bolt, looks like Rad is coming off then.

Cheers

Stephen

Well,

That's the old steering box out. Wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be. The most difficult bits were loosening the UJ's on the shaft and releasing it from the box, think it was in there for a long long time.

The other tricky bit was getting the old drop arm off the replacement box as it was a Disco one but after a lot of gentle persuasion it came off.

Just need to wait for the new UJ's to arrive and get the job finished.

You'll be glad to hear that the wing and radiator stayed intact.

Cheers

New UJ's on order so decided to keep myself busy until they arrive.

Made a start on painting the chassis, diff/axle with Hammerite and gave the wheel arches a coat of underseal!

Looks good, just need to try and find time to get the rest done, only done back to the bulkhead outrigger!

Some before & after photos -

Well,

That's the new UJ's fitted to the shaft and back in. Also fitted a new bottom seal to the drop link and put that back on, that's about as much as I could get done today. Is it ever gonna stop raining??

Attempted putting the pipes back into the top of the steering box, their a bugger to get access to, try again on my next day off.

Its a different lifestyle to owning a disco 
I have recently put waxoyl through the inside of my chassis - what a mess. I'm sure it ust be worth it.

Very different Ruari,

I could probably have fixed most things (within my technical ability of course)'with white gloves on for the D3! Lol

I find myself buying tools every weekend to fix the defender, oh and lots of swarfega!!

I used under seal for the arches last week, there is waxoyl in that, that was bad enough its all over the drive!

Steering box replacement completed today.

As I said, the only issue when not removing the radiator or wing is access to the feed & return hoses. Managed to get them tightened this morning then topped up with fluid and quick bleed of the system and good to go.

Went for a test drive and felt good, no leaks either so result.

Recently fitted HD tie rods and steering damper so the only thing to do is tracking, need to get it done before Forrest Estate!