Loss of steering... Close call....

[montanablur]

This is as close a call as it has ever been for me...

You may remember from an earlier post, I was wondering about loose steering... Well the other night while driving I hit a *** hole, and completley lost steering. The bolt that mounts the steering column to the steering box somehow fell out.

Luckily I was only going 35 and there were no other cars around. To think of what could have happened had I been on the Interstate or with any other traffic is chilling.

The real insult to injury on this one is that just days before I had it in www.britishcarservice.net in Los Angeles to check it out. I paid them $100 to have them tell me I needed a new steering box (which is fine). Not only that, when I took it to Matt Forsyth at The British Car Company he pointed out other issues that should have been easily noticed by an "expert Land Rover mechanic."

So, please check that connection at the steering box. The column is made of aluminum and the steering box is steel. The combination is meant to sheer if you are in an accident, but if you lose that bolt the steel just smooths the aluminum out and causes complete steering loss. Oh, and avoid www.britishcarservice.net at all costs, they may take more than your hard earned cash... Yeah, I'm a little salty...

 

[discomike]

I say this lovingly, it is always and adventure when you drive your Rover, if it wasn't you would be drive a Ford or Chevy or God forbid, the J--- thing.
Just think, in a few more years of Fords influence even Rovers will become boring.
Mike J.

 

[dogfooddog]

I just had the same problem today on my 98 discovery, except the problem came with no warning. I was very lucky to be in a parking lot at the time. I guess the forum members on interstates or other busy roads when this problem hits aren't able to post anymore.

The broken bolt was partially stripped all the way up....how many miles were on your car when this happened? I suspect odometer fraud on mine, it only shows 40k...