Hi,

I’ve just received a set of used steps from a fellow forum member (cheers, by the way ) and they’ve suffered problems in their time, of not deploying properly.

I’ve trawled previous posts and there’s much discussion about cleaning and lubricating, which I have started doing.

Looking at the mechanism, I guess they’re self-supporting when open and supported by the (worm?) gear arrangement when stowed.

My question is: how free should the hinges be in their perfect state? I have mine to the point where I can pull them (individually) open/closed but it takes some effort, I’d estimate 10x to 15kgs force. Should they be totally free to the point that they’d open/close under their own weight or is there supposed to be some resistance?

Cheers

Hi when they are first fitted they require power to open them? check out the fitting instructions in WIKI?

Tinman, thanks but I might need to re-phrase my question:

I’m not fitting them just yet because I know they’ve had seizing problems in the past. So I have removed the hinged mounting brackets and I’m in the process of cleaning/freeing them. Problem is, I don’t know when I have achieved full freeness - should I be really loose and sloppy and move about when you lift them up, or is there naturally some resistance… As I said, the individual hinges as they are now need about 10 or 15 kg to open or close them… Are they still semi seized or is that normal and what a brand-new one would be like?

I would have thought the same as you are thinking? that they should move freely as the motors open and close any resistance will put a load on the motors?

Hi there

It would be AWESOME if you can take some pics of the cleaning process? I have one of my steps starting to seize and Im dreading taking it off and cleaning it as I dont know what to clean - I think its the motor mechanism

TIA

Alex
 2008 HSE B. Grey
Overfinched
NavTV retrofit

Alex, I’m in the dark as much as you I’m afraid... at the moment, I’m just cleaning everything in sight but the hinges still seem stiff. Am hoping someone has a magic bullet to point me in the right direction. I haven’t tried the motors/gearboxes yet as there’s no point until I’ve cracke the hinge issues. If/when I get to the bottom of it, I’ll take some pics and post them.

Cheers,

It takes force and I figure its not a great idea. However the system allows you to do that as I have found out when changing a tire and I need to take the step off to fit the bottle jack. Kinda of a pain to do but in the process I can see the arms have movement. 2008 HSE B. Grey
Overfinched
NavTV retrofit

When I was working on the set I had briefly, as an example, after lubricating the non powered brackets, they would both move very easily under their own weight.
All of the pivots have DU bushes - which if working well & aligned OK should have virtually no resistance to movement. Paul,
2001 Discovery 2 TD5, 211,000 miles & climbing
2006 FFRR TDV8 Vogue 145,000 miles & climbing
Member of Midland (Land) Rover Owners Club, www.mroc.co.uk

Paul,

That’s useful info. Clearly there’s still work to do on mine then. I’ve cleaned and lubed the 2 non-powered ones but still stiff. Both feel similar so unlikely impact damage/misalignment.

Do I need to just keep cleaning and lubing and they will improve?

Last edited by Hermes on 20th Jan 2021 5:57pm. Edited 1 time in total

I've just replaced a broken bracket with a brand new one and can offer these observations which may help
Mine have been on for 3 years and were working perfectly when I had my "accident" - a snapped front bracket, the new bracket did have quite a bit of stiffness in the hinges but could be operated by hand without the motor fitted. The rear bracket from my car was so stiff could not be operated by hand without a lever so I set about lubricating it, sprays were making no real progress so I soaked the whole bracket in a bucket of kerosene for a few days and kept working the pivots, they finally loosened off a bit but the bracket was still a lot stiffer than the new one.
I tried to dismantle the hinges of the broken bracket to try and find a better way to lubricate them but no amount of abuse worked.
So in short, I can't put any numbers on it but even new ones are quite stiff but the steps will still work even when the hinges are very stiff and they are a tw@ to free off and lubricate.
Hope this helps

muddycharles wrote:

It takes force and I figure its not a great idea. However the system allows you to do that as I have found out when changing a tire and I need to take the step off to fit the bottle jack. Kinda of a pain to do but in the process I can see the arms have movement.

I used plenty of "3 in 1" oil on the moving pivots - obviously off the car to allow the steps to be orientated to maximise penetration of the oil.
I disconnected the motor connections on the powered side to make sure the pivots could be moved easily to maximise oil penetration.

I think that lubricating the pivots on the car might have some minor benefit, but the only way to really maximise their life is to remove them every 2 or 3 years to get plenty of oil back into the pivot bushes.
The steps I had were probably less than 2 years old and were definitely becoming stiff already before I worked them loose again. Paul,
2001 Discovery 2 TD5, 211,000 miles & climbing
2006 FFRR TDV8 Vogue 145,000 miles & climbing
Member of Midland (Land) Rover Owners Club, www.mroc.co.uk

Am in the process of freeing off the pivots.

Have done one of the not motorised ones but have moved on to the motorised one. Trouble is, I am struggling to remove the motor and gearbox unit so I can begin freeing it.

Have removed the 3 bolts but the only thing now is the drive shaft. I assumed it would just pull off. Is there a hidden fastening or is it just a bit seized with time and crud!

Any thoughts?

they are a sh....it design.

there's no way to lubricate them whilst they're on the car. spraying oil on them doesn't help as it just runs off due to gravity rather than in.

i recently replaced one and took the whole step off to investigate the situation and can say the following:

1) new ones are quite stiff and they will not change state (open to close or vice versa) under just the force of gravity.

2) you can tell when the bearings are getting too tight and will shortly seize if, when the step movement is commanded, the the front end moves ahead of the rear end of the step. this is because the rear bearings are getting too tight and this stresses the rod which links the front bracket to the rear bracket until play become apparent on the rod's ends. meanwhile the bearings will get tight to the point that the steps tries to move but then retracts.

3) it's possible to remove the non-motorised bracket (the rear) and turn it through 90 degrees then flood the ends of the shafts in oil then go through open/close/open/close about 50 times at which point some of the oil will eventually find its way into the bearing. Note: this cant be done with the bracket still on the car as the oil will fall off due to gravity rather in the bearing. this process can't be done on the bracket with the motor in it.

4) its also worth pointing out that the bearings seize due to corrosion, not because they have any grit/ dirt in them. since the ends of the shafts have no protection to the entry of dirt I had assumed that mine were tight due to the entry of road dirt but when I cut my broken bracket open with an angle grinder it was clear that this was not the case. the bearings are actually a very snug fit.

5) the thing is crying out for a grease nipple to facilitate lubrication of each shaft on each bracket. it would also be a good idea if they fitted some sort of seal and if the clearance was very slightly more between the shafts and their bearings. 2010 VSE [Roger]

Roger,

Thanks for the comprehensive response.... you’ve even answered some of my earlier questions about how much resistance is normal: top job

I thought the same about grease nipples. And there’s a hundred different ways they could’ve done this and all w
Would’ve been better than this one!

Anyway, it isn’t what it is... shame I don’t have machining facilities - am sure I could press some better bearings into oversized holes.

So, after what you said about the non-motorised hinge, I have them both fairly free and am not immediately concerned about them. Do the motorised ones not seize?