Bishop cam and lever (12:1 ratio), type Q on current models, TQ on first sanction, driven by 17" diameter spring-spoked driving wheel.
Steering box oil is SAE 140 (EP 140).
Lubricate steering box every 3,000 miles (eg.) with Caltex Thuban E.P.140.
Failed gasket leads to oil leaks from steering box.
Slack or overly stiff steering often caused by missing gasket (eg. sealed with sealant), wrong number/thickness of shims or dirty/damaged shims. Adjust shims under lower cover (0.0024, 0.005 and 0.010" shims available).
Inability to select top gear, or reverse gear, with selector may be an indication that the selector rod lengths need adjusting.
Cracked mounting of steering box to chassis - move steering wheel from side to side whilst wheels are on the ground and check for excessive movement at bottom end of steering box.
A rotating horn and indicator switch may be caused by the stator tube not being correctly held in place by the brass nut and olive (bottom of steering box). This will probably lead to an oil leak also.
Damage to horn and indicator switch is most often due to a previous failed attempt at removing the assembly. In particular, check the sliding brass contact is still present (a 'U' shaped, thin brass strip inside the assembly that operates the indicators), since this is prone to becoming lost if the unit is dismantled carelessly. For disassembly of this horn/switch unit click here.
Damage to the worm gear caused by use of a hammer to 'persuade' the link to disconnect at #8 (below) - suspected damage can be ascertained by jacking the front of the car up and very slowly testing the steering from lock to lock, feeling for any 'notches' or irregularities of motion.
1) To gain sufficient access, either remove front wing and radiator assembly, or remove O/S wing and horn.
2) Unscrew central retainer nut from bottom of steering box.
3) Drain oil from box before removing olive (under the central retainer nut).
4) Disconnect wiring through the central tube.
5) Pull horn and indicator assembly (with central tube attached) slowly into the cabin, preventing excess oil from soiling the interior.
6) For disassembly of the horn and indicator assembly
click here
7) Draw off wheel (taper and key).
8) Loosen all screws/bolts securing the selector controls and disconnect support bracket from dash.
9) Remove split pin and nut on lower ball joint, then disconnect drag link (the fit is tapered so may need persuasion). Then remove single transverse bolt holding gear to frame and draw out to front.
When refitting, slide the transverse bolt into position, but do not tighten until the steering column is securely held by the support bracket (under dash).
End play can be adjusted by grub screw in top cover.
When removing the bottom cover, the bottom cover joint will probably need replacing and should be made of gasket paper to the correct thickness to ensure minimum steering slack.
If the steering box is leaking, and if the leak is a slow one, it can be fixed without replacing the seal, by draining the EP 140 oil and replacing it with a suitable semi-fluid EP grease. It is also possible to use Ford grease, type SLM-1C-9110-A (as used in Ford Transit steering boxes).
It has been noted that the steering column does not necessarily pass through the center of the hole in the bulkhead, nor the selector column fit into what appears to be a custom cutout in the dashboard. It has been suggested that one of the reasons for using a large flexible gaiter, instead of a grommet, would have been to accommodate body-to-chassis and dashboard-to-body tolerance errors. A new steering column draught excluder may therefore need to be distorted somewhat to fit.
It is believed that ball pins and sockets for the gear selector rods may be replaced by the Daimler Conquest and Century (Jaguar) part number #581933.
The steering wheel from the Lanchester Leda, LJ, DJ or SP (but not the Daimler Century) may be interchangeable with the LD10 steering wheel.
If removing the steering box, it is recommended to check and replace the steering column draught excluder at the same time. These are available from DS-DS as part #DS0007.
It may be possible to replace the steering wheel with one from a Ford Prefect, although the rim color may differ.
All images are scanned from originals, wherever possible, at 100dpi (unless otherwise noted) and must be scaled when printed to preserve the original size (eg. scale up by 3 times for a 300dpi printer).
Note, however, that due to slight scaling inaccuracies during both the scanning and inevitably the printing, these images should be taken as an approximation for reference only.
In addition, drawings, measurements and notes of materials used are intended as a guide and aid to the restorer, and not necessarily a definitive, or even guaranteed correct, reference.
The steering column draught excluder consists of a flat, hollow, rubber base, held to the inside of the bulkhead by a metal plate (shown left) with 5 screws (the captive nuts can be seen inside the engine bay). From this, a thin rubber shroud extrudes until it terminates (at an angle) in the thicker, slightly rounded, rubber top (shown right) - the two holes being for the steering column and selector column.
Note that the excluder is a single-piece rubber moulding - it is described in its three characteristic sections for clarity only.
Few of these seem to have survived intact, probably on account of the very thin shroud which may perish or tear (the top and bottom sections are more robust).
This metal clip (shown with securing bolt) is one of two that fit around the steering column to hold part of the cable loom (see
Wiring section).
None yet.