I'm going to be doing my steering ball joints soon because my steering seems stiff and heavy i will be checking my swivels as well but.
Do you think because I've this big 3.3perkins diesel engine that it has made my steering to heavy and this could be my problem, any idear on comparison weight to a standard diesel thanks Andy

flyingbanana said:

I'm going to be doing my steering ball joints soon because my steering seems stiff and heavy i will be checking my swivels as well but.
Do you think because I've this big 3.3perkins diesel engine that it has made my steering to heavy and this could be my problem, any idear on comparison weight to a standard diesel thanks Andy

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Considerably heavier. But I ran one in a 109 for years without problems with the steering.
It would certainly pay to fit the ball joints with grease nipples, and grease them regularly.
Increasing the tyre pressures all round might help a bit too, and avoid wide tyres.

flyingbanana said:

I'm going to be doing my steering ball joints soon because my steering seems stiff and heavy i will be checking my swivels as well but.
Do you think because I've this big 3.3perkins diesel engine that it has made my steering to heavy and this could be my problem, any idear on comparison weight to a standard diesel thanks Andy

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Just had a quick search. 635 lbs including all the bits, like starter motor, etc.

Do you know how much the series diesel weighs
What do you think the pressure could be up to to help
Thanks for your info
Andy

flyingbanana said:

Do you know how much the series diesel weighs
What do you think the pressure could be up to to help
Thanks for your info
Andy

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No, but it is probably in the manual. Are you sure it had a diesel in the first place? A lot of the Perkins conversions were from petrol engines, especially 6 cylinders. They fitted the Perks to save on fuel.

Depends on what tyres you have. There should be max inflation pressures on the sidewalls. Doubt if 32 psi all round would hurt with 7.50 16s, though.

The series diesel will be similar to the 200tdi which I weighed at 225kg it has the CI head rather than ally so maybe 250kg 550lbs

Have you jacked up both front wheels? You should get some idea where the drag is coming from i.e.if the steering box is too tight you will feel it through the steering wheel and if you try and push the wheels from side to side it might be the swivels......there's enough play in the steering system to generally get some idea.

Hopefully my job for the weekend if my parts turn up

I run a Perkins 3.3L in my LWB, its ex-mil converted from petrol. Its has the mil heavy duty chassis and springs but they look orginal, no sag. Yes its a heavy lump - as you say about 600lb, but mine rides level and steering is good. Light once its moving. I drive it a lot and really like the 4.203, sounds like there is someting stiff, either a ball joint or steering relay but top the box up too. Have you got oil in the relay? No small task it its got dry. You may have to get penetrating oil in first. I got a full engine overhual kit (less head as it has newish head) for £220 delivered - shells, pistons, liners, gaskets. Rebuilt the engine is a real pleasure, very smooth, not (too) noisy and very economical. I suspect most are clapped out. You can rebuild in situe as its a dry liner engine.

It looks a bit tight under bonnet to do ball joints is it necessary to take out battery and air filter brackets,
Another question as you have a perkins what sort of road speed are you doing mine seems slow at about 50-55 mph is this about normal for this setup I would like to get to about 60-65 if poss just to keep up with traffic

rob1miles said:

I run a Perkins 3.3L in my LWB, its ex-mil converted from petrol. Its has the mil heavy duty chassis and springs but they look orginal, no sag. Yes its a heavy lump - as you say about 600lb, but mine rides level and steering is good. Light once its moving. I drive it a lot and really like the 4.203, sounds like there is someting stiff, either a ball joint or steering relay but top the box up too. Have you got oil in the relay? No small task it its got dry. You may have to get penetrating oil in first. I got a full engine overhual kit (less head as it has newish head) for £220 delivered - shells, pistons, liners, gaskets. Rebuilt the engine is a real pleasure, very smooth, not (too) noisy and very economical. I suspect most are clapped out. You can rebuild in situe as its a dry liner engine.View attachment 219835

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Nice clean 4/203. Good to see. I wish the ones in the boats were more like that.

We don't talk about the battery tray, those 4 little bolts are absolute sods. I've now got a flexy ratchet just for those.
Most stuff is OK to reach, the starter is accessible but very heavy and it needs the biggest battery possible.
Re speeds, now its rebuilt I'm sure it has at least the claimed 63 bhp. Mine is a "road" engine so its 63 hp and hydraulic governor which lets it rev higher (about 3000) than the mech governor on the agri and industrial engines. Speed, its on 31.3/4" wheels, 3.54 diffs and O/D and is geared for 2000 rpm at 60. We are a LWB camper so there the roof, roof rack, a box on that and sometime a loaded Sankey. We cruise comfortably at 55-58 without the trailer but can hold up to 65 at a pinch. Top speed in around 68 perhaps 70. With the trailer we tend to be doing 50 -55 max but we slow a lot on hills. What limits us is head temp, I'm pretty sure the engine is struggling to breath above 2000 revs, the engine temp goes up sharply. I read that the combustion chamber design does not cope with revs, but haveing had a look at it I don't think that's the problem. The conversion exhaust manifold is a very poor design with 90deg bends near the ports and I think this is choking the engine. There is free flow design but I can't find one so I'm going to get one made to match a photo i have. I took off an aftermarket air filter and fitted a STD oil bath and thats improved the power so I think engine breathing is an issue.
I've been folling the snapped cranks on TDV6s with interest, the Perkins crank is about 3x the thickness. There's a Norwegian video of a sunken fishing boat with a Perkins that sat underwater at its mooring for a year. They refloat it (and loose it and re-float it again..). They change the oil put new fuel in and it starts and runs fine!