Urgent help needed. Steering locked up

[timbar3]

Hiya,

 

Any rapid help or advice would be greatly appreciated:

 

I just rolled my Caterham out onto the road for the first time this year and did some pre-flight checks (Oil pressure, water, tyres, the usual stuff. Unfortunately battery had gone flat so I had to turn the car around to get my other car in front. Did this by pushing it out, and twiddling the steering appropriately. This worked fine. Unfortunately, once I had started the engine and tried to re-park the car on the drive, the steering stuck pointing right and will not now budge. I've removed the steering lock (Breakable bolts fortunately hadn't been broken. Anybody with any ideas how to get the car pushed back onto the drive with the steering locked (OR obviously how I unlock it) I just can't think what the problem could be. I guess that the rack must have been jammed somehow

 

HELP PLEASE....

 

 

[Marius]

Sorry to hear that. To move the car from the street jack it slightly up at the front just beneath the cross-member right in the middle but take a big piec of wood between the jack and the chassis to spread the load, otherwise you could bend the chassis. I´m sure one of your neighbours will have a jack with wheels. Sounds indeed as if the the rack has jammed inside. Did you also check that clamp between the bulkhead and the pedal-box ?

 

Maybe the rack loosens again when the car is jacked up at the front.

 

Good luck.

 

Marius

 

[timbar3]

Thanks for that Marius. What do I need to do to check the clamp ?

[tiddy1]

Timbar

 

Take the bonnet off, jack up the front of the car and have some one rock the steering wheel, follow the steering colomn from teh steering wheel down to the universal joint on the rack and check that nothing is jamming it, up by the brake master cylinder there is a square clamp whick has two bolts and an allen screw, this clamps the top of the steering colomn to the lower section. check all round this as this could be fowling on something.

 

Also check nothing has fallen into the univerasl joint where the column joins the rack,

 

It should be fairly obvious if something is fouling,

 

you will probably need to remove the nose cone to check the rack and universal joint

 

Simon

[timbar3]

Thanks tiddy,

 

OK. Careful inspection (can't rock the steering, it is completely locked) suggests that nothing is fouling the steering column (or the wheels or near the suspension). What I have found is that the gaiter on the tube (piston ?) coming out of the steering rack is lose, (the tie holding it on had come slack and was probably like that all winter) and the tube (piston?) on the steering rack has got some rust on it where it goes into the steering rack box (What's that bit called ?)

 

I'm guessing the rust is jammed in the steering rack and this is what's caused it to lock up and that I will need a new steering rack or something. Anyway, given my obvious mechanical skills ( :-) ) I think I will be calling Ryders in Liverpool to pick it up and fix it tomorrow (Hoping they can get it onto a trailer with the wheels pointing in the wrong direction ?