[British-cars] [TR] Tight Steering

[Skip Gurnee]

> My question is this:
> When I drive the steering is extremely heavy, hard to turn and does not
> return to center after a turn.  There is a little play in the steering
> wheel, 3"-4"  side-to-side but I don't think that is related to the
> stiffness.  When I jack the front end up, the steering freely moves from
> lock-to-lock, just over two turns.  Could something be too tight that just
> shows up when the weight of the car is on the wheels??
>
> Any suggestions from the list are greatly appreciated.....

Two turns lock-to-lock is pretty quick steering, which means your mechanical
advantage is less than your average american car with, well, I only own one
american car, a Jeep, with about 3-1/2 turns.  I remember some older ones
with 5 or more.  You can slow down the steering by changing the steering arm
at the wheel to something longer, and thus make the steering easier.  Note
that even F1 cars have power steering; there's a reason for it.....
Best,
Skip Gurnee (using Spitfire arms instead of TR arms on the race car)