Steering Box

[Sam Lever]

I have been meaning for some time to nip up the play in my CSL's steering box. The car is in very good shape with mostly new suspension bits and tyres, but had been feeling a bit sloppy for a while, particularly in mid-corner for long sweepers, where it felt as if the rear geometry was changing mid corner in an alarming way.

Anyway, before getting under the back and looking for something broken, I thought I would adjust the steering box. I don't have the spring balance recommended by the blue manual, but simply adjusted it so that the play when stationary was eliminated. I just went out for a drive and what an improvement! All of the vagueness is gone and it feels as fresh and direct as a car without a rack is ever going to feel. Half an hour very well spent.

Very pleased with myself!

My car has 165,000 miles or so and to the best of my knowledge had never had this done before (I've owned it for the past 20 years and certainly not attempted it). I'd recommend this to anyone who feels their steering might be missing something.

 

[Layne]

I haven't done an E9, but I've actually never had any success adjusting the box on later cars. Reason being, they only wear right in the center, so if you adjust the center to get rid of the play, the sides are very tight. A wheel that does not return from a turn is a weird feeling and not fun at all to drive. My personal theory is that the shimmy that most BMWs are known for, if left untreated for any length of time, beats the box to death. Mileage doesn't seem to play any significant role. I started working on a machine to regrind the gears, but other things got in the way. I'll get it done eventually, my E24 needs it bad.

Anyway, good to hear that it actually works some of the time. It's free to try it.

 

[sfdon]

I've had two customers adjust their steering boxes by getting rid of the slack and not using the torque through center method method. Both boxes eventually froze up on the freeway and wouldn't turn anymore within a year.
It's a difficult adjustment to do correctly. The key is the torque at the center, not the slack at the sides.

 

[Gransin]

Don, when you wrote that the boxes froze up and wouldn't turn, do you mean that they weren't able to steer at all anymore? Or just that it was hard to steer?

Cheers,

 

[Stefan]

Are we talking about hydraulic power steering or muscle steering boxes?

 

[sfdon]

Almost locked up at center
No return to center at all

 

[bavbob]

So a 2002 guru I know uses Meridian in CA for steering box rebuild. They have little experience with the E3 but said many parts are shared and would give rebuild a shot. Anyone ever use them? Also some other place in CA recently featured in Wheeler Dealers.? The worm gear is the problem usually. Boxes are so rare to find and usually have the same issue as the one you seek to replace.