It’s been over a year since I last took a spanner to the
Defender. And at this point I’m sure I’ve used all the excuses that I can, so I
will just leave it at this.
In between this time, the Defender has been used for hauling
things around, and the occasional trip out and about, without issue. A few
friends and I decided it would be a good time to go do some more lanes in Wales
as we did in 2015, and while the plans were made and time booked off I noticed
that the power steering box sprung a pretty serious leak. Bad enough to empty
the reservoir – which I class as only the second mechanical failure during my 7
years (can’t believe it’s been so long!) of ownership. There have been other
problems, but these have been caused by my own interference. I also needed to
fit a CB radio, to aid communications on our trip.
So firstly I did the sensible thing and fit the non-critical
item first, while I pondered the thought of running a total loss power steering
system. It was a simple job to do (makes a change) and I found a nice spot for the
unit on the side of the cubby box. Antenna is mounted on the front bumper – for
now.
After this, and a few days had gone by, I’d come round to
fitting a new power steering box, as the already bad leak would only get worse,
and it’s not right to leave large puddles of oil on the roads and lanes of
Wales. I opted for a recon box from Paddocks. And after starting to work on the
Defender again for the first time in a long time the bug soon got back to me,
and I also ordered new HD Sumo Steering bars, and a new steering damper.
First job was to remove the old, very oily box. And of
course the oil was melting the Denitrol wax coating, making this a very dirty
job. Firstly I took off the reservoir, and two fluid connections going to it,
and allowed it to drain. While it was draining I removed the UJ from the
steering column. Next up, removal of the steering bars, or at least as much as
I could. Lastly the bolts holing it in place.
Then the fight was on, the box was a bit of pain to remove,
partly because it was heavy, and mainly because it was too big to fit through
the gap available. On the diesel Defender, the box seems to just fall out. Not
the case on the V8, it catches on the oil filter so it had to come off too. But
it was finally off!
Once all was off, everything was given a clean to remove oil
and wax ready for the install. But before I could install the new box I needed
to remove the drop arm and replace with a new one, as I’d purchased the Sumo
Discovery drop arm conversion kit. So a puller was used to remove it.
Now the easy bit….. or at least so I thought. It seems
lifting the heavy box above my head through a tight space was a bit harder than
I thought, but I got it in! After it was fitted the reservoir was topped up and steering wheel connected. The instructions that came with the pump advised the best way to bleed it was to do so with the engine on, so that was it for the day until my new oil filter turned up! Once the filter arrived bleed process was completed.
I then went about fitting the new drag link and steering
damper.
Next task was to fit the track rod bar. Simple job, would
have been a pain if I didn’t have a ball joint separator.
The finished job.
Not a bad job all in all, bit of a pain for some of it, would
recommend having a friend on hand for the relocation of the box, but I managed
to do it myself. For anyone under taking the same job I’d recommend some specialist
tools:
Two leg puller for removal of drop arm.
Ball joint separator for the track rod ends.
Without these there would have been a lot of hammering / prying
that would have led to a lot of damaged.
Really I should have reset the steering angles, but I'm opting to do this at a later date, as the front axle will be coming off for refurb. So for the time being, all steering bars where fitted with the wheels in contact to the floor to limit any movement on original settings - I'm aware this is not best practice.
