xantia steering groan

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jsruddy
Posts: 6
Joined: 16 Jun 2004, 01:40
Location: United Kingdom
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xantia steering groan

Post by jsruddy »

Today I managed to stop a persistant groan when turning yhe steering wheel, moving or not. After checking many of the threads on this site, lubing the steering ram, also the strut rams, steering columb u/js, rubber and nylon spray all rubber bushes, bottom ball joints o/k, track rod ends o/k, drop link ends no play at all. however i then noticed that the drop link end on one link was very stiff and if i turned the wheel and gripped that end and rod i could feel a vibration. It turned out that end was dry and although the joint only moves a few degrees it was enough to produce a noise. Pulling off the rubber cover and packing with grease cured the problem. sneaky little suckers ain't they.
alan s
RIP 2010
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Joined: 26 Jan 2001, 15:53
Location: Australia
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x 6

Post by alan s »

Good to see you had a win with it.
I've long argued that most of the clunks that used to eminate from BXs were created by partially seized balljoints and I do a run over them every so often just to be sure.
To get into the actual area that seizes isn't as hard as many imagine and as you obviously found. The boot is often held on by a thing that looks like a key ring and can be spun off and slid up the shaft towards the thread. When refitting, a coat of grease or silicone can cause hard ones to go on fairly easily but on occasions can alsoo cause them to fall off depending on the style of mounting groove for the boot so a bit of discretion is called for. I found that a slight tap to the back of the ball joint using a small ball pein hammer often frees the tight ones to allow for lubrication and I have also used a special nipple on a grease gun that has what appears to be like a hypodermic with a large hole to get right in around the back of the actual ball.
A word to the wise and caution though, if you remove that type of nut, what's known as a "Nyloc" or self locking nut, it is always adviseable to replace it with a new one as it has been known for them to self lock well <i><b>once</b></i> after which it becomes a game of Russian Roullette up to a point.
If it's any help, here's a write up I did on a BX a few years back which my be of help in the future.
http://www.aussiefrogs.com/snippets/bx_clunks.htm
Alan S
jsruddy
Posts: 6
Joined: 16 Jun 2004, 01:40
Location: United Kingdom
My Cars:

Post by jsruddy »

alan s yes as you say it does't take long, and locking compound seems to hold the nylocks, but you can just feel the vibrations when you turn the wheel.
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