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Author Topic: Steering damper ?  (Read 1025 times)

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Offline gideon

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Steering damper ?
« on: Sunday,March 04, 2018, 04:09:37 PM »
I discovered that my car has a steering damper fitted.  At least I assume it's a steering damper.  That's odd, isn't it?  Does anybody else have a steering damper?

The attached pictures show one end of the damper attached to the middle of the steering rack, and the other end attached to the tie rod.
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Offline SwiftDB4

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Re: Steering damper ?
« Reply #1 on: Sunday,March 04, 2018, 04:24:55 PM »
Wow that's pretty bizarre. Maybe ball joints or tie rod ends were worn and that's a ham handed way to cover it up? From the looks of your photos you've got a lot of work ahead of you.
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Offline GavinT

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Re: Steering damper ?
« Reply #2 on: Sunday,March 04, 2018, 04:52:13 PM »
Yep, that's weird.
I also wouldn't be surprised if the PO wasn't trying to "fix" something so I'd be extra careful checking out the steering rack for any issues.
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Offline Certified Lotus

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Re: Steering damper ?
« Reply #3 on: Sunday,March 04, 2018, 05:50:14 PM »
Never saw anything like that.  Not even on my jacked up pickup truck.  Very weird !  :WTF:
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Offline gideon

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Re: Steering damper ?
« Reply #4 on: Sunday,March 04, 2018, 08:15:36 PM »
The front T section of the frame is completely rusted out, so I guess it's possible that the beginnings of frame collapse at the front might have affected the steering. Hence the damper.  At least I can hope it's that and not another yet-to-be-discovered problem. 

Yes, I have a lot to do.

I spent part of today being defeated by a succession of rusted fasteners.  I rounded off one of the inner seat belt mounting bolts, so I left that one for later rather than doing more damage now. The outer/lower seat belt mounting bolts are completely rusted and will probably need to be cut off. The master cylinder won't come off, and I don't now why.  I can't get the steering wheel off.  I think I'm going to have to get some more "weapons" for the battle against rusted fasteners.  Maybe an induction heater coil ...
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Offline BDA

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Re: Steering damper ?
« Reply #5 on: Sunday,March 04, 2018, 08:18:26 PM »
Sounds like a big project! Are you going to replace or repair your frame?

Good luck! Keep us informed!

 :lotus:
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Offline gideon

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Re: Steering damper ?
« Reply #6 on: Sunday,March 04, 2018, 08:34:18 PM »
I have a replacement frame.  I talked a bit about it in the "1265R is now in my garage" thread.  PO added some "reinforcements" at the front, probably as an over-reaction to the rusted out one.  I'm going to have to take a close look at that and decide whether to leave it as-is, or undo what he did.  At the moment I'm leaning towards undoing it, but I don't have to decide yet.
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