Steering Solutions?

[LWA55DAL]

It's all "Return to Center". Because the truck doesn't return to center well it makes the truck dodgy. Normally in a gentle highway turn you ad pressure to make the turn and then you release the pressure and the truck comes back to center. My truck and many others apparently do not behave this way. This combined with a relatively large amount of dead band in the steering wheel makes the truck dodgy. It wants to dart around which ever way it was last pointed either by the steering wheel or a defect in the road. It's very much how old school full hydro steering feels.

I will agree with the characteristics you described when 1st took delivery but at 5k+ it started to break-in (the steering stabilizer) and once I did the alignment and asked the dealer to go a little heavy on the caster - it handles great. The Return to Center is not perfect and it jumps, but that is the steering stabilizer. It’s VERY still and oversized for the application compared to similar vehicles.

It’s a bit of a joke, but try turning on the lockers. The IG handles amazing with the front lockers and doesn’t kill you with steering feedback. This is the compromise that INEOS made in the design. Try a triple locked 80series Land Cruiser and it’s miserable. Steering jumps all over the place and very hard to try and even turn the wheel. The IG on the other hand - was designed to be driven locked and it works great. The recirculating ball also causes a bit of steering play, but this was another compromise to make the steering robust and the only way to really do it in a solid front axle application.

I know the “road manors” were compromised, but at the same time - there are big advantages that all other auto manufactures have compromised on that make the IG a true off road vehicle.

 

[Dokatd]

There are other types of steering gears for this type of application. Worm and sector is a very reliable setup. It's what Rovers used. It's much easier to adjust the free play as you just push the sector shaft into the worm. This would have given the same reliability, less complexity, more serviceability and better feel. I have to assume there is some reason Ineos chose the recirc design, but I couldn't guess why. Maybe they are easier with loss of power?

Try rebuilding a recirc box, I have and they are a bitch. Sector and worm is brutally easy.