Hi Friends,

I have a bit of a strange and infrequent issue with the late Opal steering.

When driving and making a full lock turn (junctions, sharp bends in the road)and then straightening up the steering, the Opal occasionally goes into a fit and the front end starts to wobble quite violently (feels like the front wheels are loose).

As soon as I stop or brake the issue goes away. If I immediately stop and check the steering and road wheels there is no obvious issue. The usual checks for wheel bearing (grabbing the wheel top and bottom and shaking reveals no obvious loose play).

Has anyone experienced similar problems? Could it be the steering box?

Any ideas are appreciated.

Matt

Location: South Derbyshire

Are you wheels snatching at the brake cables on full lock?

Might be worth a check...

Could this be a front brake grabbing? Full lock does tend to pull one or other front brake on, depending on which way you are turning.

Location: Melrose, Scottish Borders

Thanks Ivor, I will check although the problem really occurs once I have straightened up the steering. Any ideas?

Location: South Derbyshire

Thanks Jim, I will check although the problem really occurs once I have straightened up the steering. Any ideas?

Location: South Derbyshire

Does this happen on both right and left lock?

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E", not a "T"!

Have you had the wheels balanced ? If you've recently changed tyres and not bothered balancing them, that can sometimes cause wheel wobble.

Location: France

Matt,
After you have been on full lock and then straightened up, (as we know this also applies the front brakes to some extent) thebrake pull-off springs may not be strong enough to allow the shoes to clear the drums entirely,and if the drums are slightly oval you will experience this effect. Just guessing. I had this on my Ruby once when pulling up to a junction in Sheffield in the 60's. Unfortunately a policeman saw the wheels wobbling and before I had time to move off he stopped me from proceeding. I explained to him that it was a common occurence on this model so he let me go on my way!
Dave.

Location: Sheffield

Another thing to check are the springs in the drag link. They were the cause of similar behaviour in my Box Saloon many years ago. Just a possibility. And even when they *looked* ok, replacing them resolved the problem.

Location: Cambridge

and is there any movement in the drag link caps?

Location: Sunny Devon

A few years ago I had the same problem on a Box Saloon. The steering arms were slightly loose in the axle.

Location: S.wales

The later cars with heavier wheels/tires seem prone to wheel wobble.
The radius arm ball joint must be tight (the later spring loaded bolt gives better control here) and the arms must be straight.
Increasing the caster might help but I an not sure how you can adjust this with the later two bolt ends other than possibly with shims.

Tony.

Location: Malvern, Melbourne, Australia.

I had a similar problem to this whilst going straight over a level crossing. I eventually found the cause of the trouble wear in the steering box. Particularly in where straight ahead would be . At each end of the lock where it gets far less use the wear was minimal but in the centre quite a lot making it difficult to adjust correctly. Either correct in the centre and tight on both locks or vice versa.
My cure was to wash out all the oil and grease put it back together with valve grinding paste between the geared wheel and worm, tightened up the adjusting screw until it was ok in the centre (most worn part) then turned the steering wheel from lock to lock until it all became even and reasonably free. Dismantled again and thoroughly washed out to get rid of any traces of grinding paste then re assembled and filled with grease. No further problems.

John Mason

Location: Nottinghamshire

Hi Martin,

Yes, this does occur when completing a sharp left or right turn.

Cheers,

Matt

Location: Derbyshire

Is there any slop in your King Pins? I have known wear in this area to cause these type of symptoms.

Location: Auckland NZ

Thanks Tony Press and a few of the chaps who attended the Derby and Notts Group meet at the John Thompson a couple of weeks ago.

Following your suggestions, the root cause of the problem was a slightly loose ball joint connecting the radius to the chassis.

I have the later spring loaded type and have now tightened the nut and secured with a locknut.

Just out of interest, how tight should this be? I guess that over tightening will increase the wear on the brass cups? (although they are well greased).

Hopefully no more steering wobbles!

Matt

Location: Derbyshire