weight of steering when engine off
 

When the engine is off the steering is very heavy, remember those times when cars did not have power steering?

How much of the resistance as a rough % is the weight of the car via the tyres onto the road and how much is it the power steering system?

macafee2

As a 'feel' from a car on ramps and turning the wheel, I would say 50% - but that is no more than a gut level guess.

Depends on which engine the cars got. The diesel and v6 will have a higher percentage on the front axle than the 1.8's but they definitely aren't a car that has a 50/50 weight distribution. Also depends on how much fuel you've got in it as well!!

Realistically though it's probably going to be 60-65% of the weight of the car on the front wheels

not so much weight I'm after but the amount of resistance you feel when turning the steering wheel with the engine off. How much of that resistance is car to road and how much is it the power steering being forced?

macafee2

Remember non power steering is geared differently as well so will take less muscle to turn....

Possibly not a particularly useful observation, but way back in the days (25 years ago) when old Hogweed was an arrogant young(ish) salesman hurtling around the countryside in a bright red Astra GSI 16V, one day a power steering hose burst.

The car had very fat tyres, and a small steering wheel. It was virtually un-drivable – just about manageable if you kept the speed up, but impossible at very low speeds. You really felt like the steering wheel was going to break off trying to turn the car at walking pace :eek:

Reason for my question, I was always taught not to turn the steering wheel when stationary as it puts a lot of strain on the steering components and can damage what is beneath the wheels.
I'm trying to gauge how much of the steering resistance of our cars with the engine off
is due to contact with road and steering components but not including power steering components.

I seem to recall our Ford Escort Hatchback and Orion were heavy as neither had power steering

macafee2

You could maybe try and work it out but would depend on different factors.

You could jack car up so wheels are off the ground and with airbag removed use a torque gauge to turn wheels or maybe a force gauge on the wheel to see what force is required to move the wheel. This would give you the pressure required for steering alone. Repeat the same with wheels on ground and that would give you the force required to move the wheels deduct the force of the steering alone and you may have the answer your looking for.
It’ll differ from car to car depending on engine type,tyre make,tread depth road condition, even mileage on the components themselves etc.

Seems to me if you wanted to know, you'd have to use a push-pull gauge. Attach the gauge to the steering wheel. Move the steering wheel x amount of degrees then do the same with the engine running. That would tell you the difference.

Easy....

Take the weight off the tyres by jacking it up it, you will then find it turns fairly easily. None power steering heavy cars, tended to have more turns lock to lock, to give more leverage. I still managed to nearly rip my shoulder out parking Granadas with no power steering.