I picked up a 2003 Disco 2 for next to nothing. Beautiful truck. Worked great for about two months. Now I've got all kinds of challenges. Today I'm working on the steering.

The Steering Problem: When turning left, the steering would "Bind" when recovering from the turn. By binding, I mean locked up tight. This problem was most acute when turning left while going downhill and attempting to accelerate coming out of the turn and going uphill. If you allowed the steering to recover on its own accord, it did not bind. If you attempted to recover from your turn faster than "organically", it would lock up tight.

I jacked it up and found the Drag Link to be slightly bent, and all boots on the Drag Link and Tie Rod to be ripped to shreds. I parted with some hard earned cash and got an all new set of HD Tie Rod and Drag Link from AB, and a new steering dampner. After installing all that, the "Binding" was definitely minimized, but still definitely present.

I did notice that the "Play" in the steering wheel increased dramatically after installing the new Tie Rod, Drag Link and Dampner. My solution was to adjust the steering box and take out some of this "slop". That took out 75% of the slop. Still binding, but now its moved!!

The "Binding" has now migrated from recovering from a 90 degree left turn, to recovering from a 45% right turn. The steering is wonderfully firm. The vehicle tracks down the road perfectly. I just can't seem to get rid of this Binding Demon.

I'm guessing from the problem changing when I tightened the steering box that the problem is there, in the steering box. I have considered replacing the lower steering column first, but am almost certain that is not the culprit.

So ... does anyone have experience with this particular Demon? I could use some help.

 

Sounds like a bad pump.

Fyi, the adjustment on the steering box doest reduce slack, it adjusts assist pressure. lowering the pressure results in a firmer feel, but the slop remains.

What your experiencing is a pump that can't keep up or possibly a fluid issue.

 

Good call. However ... I replaced the steering pump about a month ago after the gasket blew-out and every bit of fluid drained out in the driveway. I used Rover recommended fluid on the refill. I had the "Binding" issue before and after replacing the pump. I do have the bubbling-caldron thing going on in the reservoir, so fluid is cycling. One thing I have not replaced is the the high-pressure line/hose.

 

I just swapped my fluid over and it helped my steering tremendously. I drained reservoir, used Seafoam TransLube for 24hr, drained, filled with Pentosin CHS11S, bled to solid green, filled reservoir with Lucas power steering additive.

Works like a charm