Steering relay questions

[dave silva]

Steering had scary wandering.

I put a kid behind the wheel and looked for movement- The steering relay arm was very drifty. I did not look at it very closely, i just assumed it
was old and needed to be rebuilt/replaced so i reached out to Dave Lenzi. He sent me a "good used" relay. (note: when dave Lenzi says "good used" he
really means "pristine and practically new")

By this point i have educated myself a little on this part and Dave has explained the design flaw that he corrects for. So i begin to remove the old
one and i realize it is not stock. It has Zirks. I did not scrape the grease off to see it's GM or Golby or Cinnibar.

I put the kid behind the wheel again and see that it is only moving on the center. Now it's looking like this might have been replaced during rehab
and not properly torqued.

SHould i try just retorqueing or do i need to remove it and look for damage?

Any good diagrams or writeups explaining all this?

--
Dave & Ellen Silva
Hertford, NC

76 Birchaven, 1-ton and other stuff

Currently planning the Great american Road Trip Summer 2021

It's gonna take a lot of Adderall to get this thing right.

 

[Jim Hupy]

Drive your best parts. Use second best for emergency spares or cores for
the rebuilders. J.W.I.D.
Jim Hupy
Salem, Oregon

> Steering had scary wandering.
>
> I put a kid behind the wheel and looked for movement- The steering relay
> arm was very drifty. I did not look at it very closely, i just assumed it
> was old and needed to be rebuilt/replaced so i reached out to Dave Lenzi.
> He sent me a "good used" relay. (note: when dave Lenzi says "good used" he
> really means "pristine and practically new")
>
> By this point i have educated myself a little on this part and Dave has
> explained the design flaw that he corrects for. So i begin to remove the
> old
> one and i realize it is not stock. It has Zirks. I did not scrape the
> grease off to see it's GM or Golby or Cinnibar.
>
> I put the kid behind the wheel again and see that it is only moving on the
> center. Now it's looking like this might have been replaced during rehab
> and not properly torqued.
>
> SHould i try just retorqueing or do i need to remove it and look for
> damage?
>
> Any good diagrams or writeups explaining all this?
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Dave & Ellen Silva
> Hertford, NC
>
> 76 Birchaven, 1-ton and other stuff
>
> Currently planning the Great american Road Trip Summer 2021
>
> It's gonna take a lot of Adderall to get this thing right.
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
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>

 

[john r. lebetski]

Sliding on the bolt (up/down) would be improper shimming. Rocking on the bolt would mean center bushing wear.
Originally there was no grease fitting where it goes to the centerlink. Dave remachines that end so it may have been modded before. Not familiar with
what Golby or Cinnabar does. I have a Lenzi in mine and grease often to not have to do that job again.
--
John Lebetski
Woodstock, IL
77 Eleganza II

 

[dave silva]

> Rocking on the bolt would mean center bushing wear.

Does it have to be? If the bolt is not properly torqued I'm thinking it could move around and elongate the hole?

--
Dave & Ellen Silva
Hertford, NC

76 Birchaven, 1-ton and other stuff

Currently planning the Great american Road Trip Summer 2021

It's gonna take a lot of Adderall to get this thing right.

 

[LQQKatJon]

I would replace it with the Lenzi part. you probably will be amazed at how it drives now. Dave can also help make sure you are adjusted properly.

my experience has been there is something with some issues on replacement relay arms. I think some suppliers arms were wrong at one time.

we had a GMC come into a work rally, and we found what we thought the bolt to the relay arm loose. We got the big torque wrench on it, yet that
coach still was screwed up in the steering. someone tore it apart and claims the relay arm was wrong. no idea where the relay was sourced from,
other then the last front end work was done at a "big truck shop"...

--
Jon Roche
75 palm beach
EBL EFI, manny headers, Micro Level, rebuilt most of coach now.
St. Cloud, MN
http://lqqkatjon.blogspot.com/

 

[mark1]

Mine was pretty loose - shims would have helped no doubt, but I was convinced that it was worn out "all around". The new Lenzi arm really tightened
up my steering.

FWIW, here's a short video showing the "before state"...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jRxMjykiw4
--
Mark Hickey
Mesa, AZ
1978 Royale Center Kitchen