OME Steering Dampener Issues/Condition (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Oct 23, 2019
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Location
Western Australia
Wondering if someone can tell me if this little puppy could be ready for changing. The entire lift could probably do with replacing as I am pretty sure it was done after the vehicle was purchased back in 2000. However, it is still quite drivable. The only problem I have, is having to pull the drive line back straight after it decides to go left or right with contours in the road (effortless to do , but I am getting sick of it). A product no doubt of large tyres , which were previously 33s when I bought the car and now 35s.

So these are the pics of general condition of the steering dampener which I'm thinking of swapping to a Tough Dog RTC Steering Dampener. This is an OME dampener obviously, if someone could tell me how old the unit is that would be great, I think its using rubber bushing which I thought these days would be poly and last longer. I can not visually see any leaks of oil, but it does look so old. Rust in some areas, wondering also how well these are known to perform if someone else has used them.

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Maybe post this on the 80 forum.
 
The only problem I have, is having to pull the drive line back straight after it decides to go left or right with contours in the road
Could be the steering gear box too. The damper doesn’t appear to be leaking, so I’d pull it off and compress-release by hand to see if it’s moving ok. If it has good resistance on compression and extends at a reasonable rate, then I’d move on to investigating the steering box for play.
 
Maybe post this on the 80 forum.
Not a bad idea.

Could be the steering gear box too. The damper doesn’t appear to be leaking, so I’d pull it off and compress-release by hand to see if it’s moving ok. If it has good resistance on compression and extends at a reasonable rate, then I’d move on to investigating the steering box for play.
Cheers. Geez right to the source. Awesome tip @JunkCrzr89



Got the low down on that now. Just need more of an idea on how much play is normal between the rag joint and pitman arm. I gather it is supposed to move but not outrageously. I'll try tighten it and mesh the gears a bit closer. See if that fixes it , hopefully works. Try inspect everything else and wriggle it . Wish I had better jacks. might need some stands eventually.
 
Yeah come to think of it , not much play in the steering its more wandering when going over bumps. Worth having a look anyway, try rip the dampener off and test the feedback there as mentioned.
 
I had a defender before the 100, and people over there were always hating on RTC dampers. I bought an OME for that, and was very happy with it.
 

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