Loose steering column on Scuderia's?

Hi Anders,
I took some pictures of my steering wheel axle. The first one is with the steering wheel entirely pushed towards the dashboard. As you can see, compared to your picture after tightening, my "H" nut has a good margin to be tightened.

On the second picture, you can see the same axle but with the steering wheel entirely pulled away from the dashboard towards the driver. This makes appearing the extended part of the axle. From what I’ve seen, in this position, the axle seems to be much more fragile. I always drive with the steering wheel entirely pushed towards the dashboard, so I suppose that’s why I never really felt any play in the steering wheel. I followed your advice of blocking the steering column elbow and moving the steering wheel at the same time but I didn’t find any evidence of play. I suppose mine must be quite well adjusted which is good news.

Although, at higher speed >= 170 km/h, since I lowered the car with the new Scud springs and better alignment, I feel a kind of “lightness” in the steering wheel. It feels like the steering wheel is somehow “loose” at the center point.

My alignment details:
Camber Left: -1°37'
Camber Right: -1°31'
Toe-in Left: +1.5mm
Toe-in Right: +1.6mm
Toe-in Total: +3.1mm

What would be the source of this?

Thanks,
Stef
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well I just did it yesterday. Thanks.

The steering effort is a bit higher (nice!), the steering play that was there is now gone (ultra nice!), I did this with the battery disconnected, and when I test drove the car, I got the CST-OFF message and an alarm, so I guess I need to bring it to the dealer to get the steering sensor reset.

I tightened it a good 2 turns. The steering wheel tilts but it doesn't telescope anymore.

I'm extremely happy with the results, I just have to be careful in the rain with my cst-off while I bring the car to a local dealer to reset the steering sensor.

Any idea on how to reset that sensor?

 

Hi Stef, I am not an expert on this, but too much negative camber makes your wheel rotate in a cone. Instable. Depends what you will use the car for. My car is not a racer. A high speed marvelous travelling device. I should have tried with spacers 1.5 mm on the upper front A- arm to reduce the neg. camber. And maybee also set front toe to zero.

Try my setup. -1 deg neg. all around / zero toe front. / 1.5 toe rear each side.
This is really the nice part of it. To try to finetune. It is easy to tune it like a racecar, but if you run 98% on ordinary highways this is no good.
I have been at the shop 3 times this Spring already to change camber and toe. But I have also a delight to drive. No play and that GoCart feeling.

//Anders

 

Thanks for your report on this mod. Sounds great

Some info regarding the sensor reset. The steering angle sensor is connected directly to the CAN bus and can be used by several ECU’s which are also on the CAN bus. Somehow, the steering angle sensor is an autonomous but very simplified ECU. It’s the Brake Node ECU that is managing the steering angle sensor. If you tighten the “H” nut, the sensor is losing its angle reference as the angle has been changed. This will be detected by the Brake Node and store a C158 error after 15 initialization attempts at key on. Vehicle Dynamics Control-VDC and ASR will be deactivated so be aware when driving the car to your dealer .

After tightening the “H” nut, ask your dealer, with the SDX, to go in the Brake Node and run the Calibration Check Cycle. The steering wheel must be kept in straight position (tolerance of +/- 5°). So it’s not really a reset but a recalibration of the steering angle sensor

 

Thanks Anders. I'm like you, my car is mainly for street driving and I'm looking also to get that GoCart feeling. I will try to reduce the negative camber and 0 toe in as my car will need to go back to the shop for a new rear bumper/diffuser.

 

The quickest way to change toe is to put some shims on the upper A-arm. Use your mathematic skills and you can calculate easily how thick the spacers shall be. This operation takes just 15 min becauce there is no load on this bolts when tire is off and suspension is hanging free.

Now - if you reduce the camber you will also increase the toe in so you have to make a new aligment.


//Anders T.
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Thanks for this info Stef. This is what AutoCura told me.

//A.

 

Got down under the dash today, and think I found the source of the dead-spot in my steering assembly. It appears to be in the knuckle against the floor board - not high up the assemby as has been suggested in the this thread so far. All connections from the steering wheel, all the way down to just before the last knuckle are super tight. Not sure if the slip is in the splines that travel through the floorboard, or if the slop is in the lower knuckle itself (part #50/51 in the scehmatic that was attached earlier). Can hear clearly a "ticking" sound by roating the column back and forth very slightly. Once there is load on the assembly, the "looseness" goes away. A definite dead-spot translating into a darty handling car. I checked my F355, and no such slop/slip. Also checked 4 other of my vehicles, and none of them have any slop/slip/"tick" with light movement of the steering wheel. Definitly an issue.

I'll report back after the Ferrari technicians look at it Tuesday.

 

Just got a call from the dealer, and the lower U-joint in the steering column is defective, causing the play in the system and making the car feel very nervous on the road.

They will be replacing the entire steering column assembly next week. Can't wait!!

 

I had the play in the steering as well in my 09 Scuderia, this is what the dealer did, and I quote, " tightened tortional axion steering column nut to 18KG load" end quote.
Steering is now perfect!

 

Look forward to hearing about the results!

 

Do I need to get it to the dealer to reset the steering sensor or can any shop get this done?

Like everyone I do have the dead spot issue.

 

very helpful thread..

will check if my scud has the same issue

 

managed to get the car to the dealer to fix the dead spot issue, the dealer adjusted the steering column screw, not enough but the changes are dramatic, very happy with the outcome but will definitely have it tightened a bit more next time.

 

Mine will get a complete steering rack change !!!
They have changed like 5 with my dealer.

 

Went to the dealer because my alignment was off on my 09 Scuderia. They showed me the before and after on how off things were across the board, but the car still does "seem" to pull to the right. The dealer also mentioned this "play" in the steering and that "it will be progressively worse over time" - he also suggested that I have to replace the entire steering column.

I'm curious if the pulling sensation I'm getting is related to this steering play. I have the steering wheel all the way out, so will try pushing it in per recommendations on this thread. I don't get why the entire column needs to be replaced if there is nothing mechanically different, won't the problem persist? I'm curious for those that did have the entire column replaced, did it entirely eliminate the issue and how much did it cost?

 

Which direction should tighten the nut (H)? clockwise or anti clockwise?

 

1st: not on a scud, but on my 360, which I assume has the same column. if there's play in the column when car is engine off, standing still, most likely you need to tighten the nut under the steering(almost around you foot area), let me know if you need a diagram. You can actually see the play around the nut area.

2. if you trust your feeling of "pulling to the right" or you have a scientific way of proving it, you might have an adjustment issue on the arms. I.E. your 4 wheels are not forming a rectangular.

 

You are a funny man.

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My question is clockwise when looking down from steering wheel or clockwise when looking up from behind the steering wheel?

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Push steering wheel as far in as possible, and use a 27 mm open end spanner and you will easy feel how to adjust. Looking at this photo you will have to go clock-wise.
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Does anyone know if the 599 series has a similar setup and adjustment procedure?

 

just read this thread and have nearly completed the same repair. question about tightening nut H....while holding the nut with a wrench you can use the steering wheel to tighten correct? sorry if this is a silly question.

 

Did you ever figure it out?

 

Had this play when I received my (used) 09 430 Scuderia back in 2015. Ferrari of Seattle was very familiar with the issue, saying something about the splines have play, and they could tighten the fit. They made an adjustment and I have never had an issue since, been over four years.