To lite steer or not to lite steer

[Joe69]

Hello,
We are currently having quite a lot of work done on our 69 bay and we are contemplating having lite steer fitted.
Living in Jersey we spend a lot of time driving at 30-40mph so the steering can be hard work.
My question is does anyone have this and is it all it’s cracked up to be and just how ugly is it?

 

[KateLovesPurple]

I recently fitted a power steering kit on mine, not a Lite Steer, but a kit off ebay and fitted it myself. For me, with T4 steels and wide tyres it has made it a joy to drive around town and park now. As for ugly? Don't notice it when you are driving it.

Here's mine, see what you think.

 

[gas1man]

I recently fitted a power steering kit on mine, not a Lite Steer, but a kit off ebay and fitted it myself. For me, with T4 steels and wide tyres it has made it a joy to drive around town and park now. As for ugly? Don't notice it when you are driving it.

Here's mine, see what you think.

I would love to do it, nice job madman.

 

[chad]

We had it fitted last year.

It's transformed the steering a low speeds and you can't tell when the level of assistance changes.

Heartily recommend it.

Here's a pic - we bought the cover they sell to conceal it better:

 

[hobbo]

The only thing I dislike, and put me right if I am wrong, but I think you have to do away with the horn push and site it elsewhere. I certainly would like it fitting, but at what cost and who is capable of doing it in the Leeds/Wakefield area of Yorkshire. Don't think I could possibly do it myself. Thanks

 

[KateLovesPurple]

True, it does do away with the horn wiring, but that is easily overcome. I bought one of these:

Remote Switch

Stripped down the transmitter unit and put it inside the horn push and wired the receiver part in to the horn circuit. Works just fine!

For somebody up your way, you could try these guys:

EasySteer

They are in Bolton.

 

[mike202]

We had it fitted last year.

It's transformed the steering a low speeds and you can't tell when the level of assistance changes.

Heartily recommend it.

Here's a pic - we bought the cover they sell to conceal it better:

I cannot see anything at all on your steering column, it must be well hidden by the cover!
unless I need better glasses :lol:

 

[chad]

It's mainly hidden under the junk on the shelf but you can just see it under the red thing.

It's a lot more obvious from the other side when you're getting in but not noticeable when you're driving.

 

[Kyrk72]

We have a Litesteer power steering unit fitted. It's a great bit of kit and works really well. There is no noticable change of weight of steering as you speed up and down, the ECU controls all that automatically just like a modern car. The bus driving characteristics are the same but just a lot less effort to steer at low speeds. The horn fits and works as standard. To be honest I forget its fitted a lot of the time. Visually the steering column is a bit chunkier, however we have a black dash tray and it kinda blends in with that. I'm happy to sacrifice a bit of originality for practicality as i'm getting older.Cheers Andy.

 

[Graham L]

We fit the Lite Steer for customers and it makes a massive difference and is speed sensitive and really good, not sure about the comment about the horn above as with the lite steer kit the horn is retained on the steering wheel and dispenses with the poor original set up of being triggered by earthing across the inner and outer column.

 

[Wannabay]

Had it fitted in 2015 by Neil at Lite Steer, as the heavy steering at slow speeds was increasingly taking the fun out of driving, one of the best upgrades we've had done, doddle to turn wheel at slow speeds now

Chad, can you post a pic from the door side to show the cover and also, how does the shelf fit with the litesteer unit - I had to take the shelf off for the unit to fit, mines alos a RHD

thanks, gerry

 

[chad]

Hope this helps:

 

[vinvan]

Hi Guys, we are fitting power steering to our van over the next few months and could do with some advice, its not a litesteer, bought it of ebay, it looks like we need to fabricate some sort of bracket to stop the unit rotating, has anyone done this before or has anyone got any photos of the bracket we need to make, any help would be much appreciated.
PS its going on a RHD early bay

Vinvan

 

[KateLovesPurple]

Hi Guys, we are fitting power steering to our van over the next few months and could do with some advice, its not a litesteer, bought it of ebay, it looks like we need to fabricate some sort of bracket to stop the unit rotating, has anyone done this before or has anyone got any photos of the bracket we need to make, any help would be much appreciated.
PS its going on a RHD early bay

Vinvan

I'm guessing you probably bought the same one I did by the sound of it. You should have had a template in the kit, trace it on to some steel, I used 3mm I think. Bolt it to the steering column top mount on the dash, assemble the steering and mark on the outer tube where it needs to go and weld it on. Simple as that. As you may be able to see in my photo earlier in this thread, mine has an outer tube on the lower half below the motor. This is made from 75mm dia 3mm thick pipe and a 3mm plate on the bottom, welded to the lower motor bracket. Just to tidy things up a bit and make the column even more rigid. A bit like the litesteer one I think.

 

[mike202]

Hope this helps:

Like the cover, looks good and you kept your under dash tray. Did you have to relocate the horn push as mentioned earlier?



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[vinvan]

Thanks for the info, ours did NOT come with the template it was a second hand unit so we need to try and fabricate some sort of bracket
would it be possible for you to take a couple of photos of the bracket so we can get an idea of what it looks like

Thanks
Vinvan

 

[KateLovesPurple]

Thanks for the info, ours did NOT come with the template it was a second hand unit so we need to try and fabricate some sort of bracket
would it be possible for you to take a couple of photos of the bracket so we can get an idea of what it looks like

Thanks
Vinvan

Sorry, not without taking it all apart again. I will have a look in my garage and see if I still have the template. Failing that it is quite easy to work it out. Give me a day or two and I'll draw up a quick sketch of what it looks like and where it fits and you'll be able to work it out easy enough.

 

[madjack]

Hi

For those that are using the eBay kit keep an eye on your steering coupling rubber it may be I had a poor quality one but it has been ripped apart within 3 years and about 5000 miles but still would not be without it now just know to keep an eye on the coupling

 

[chad]

Hope this helps:

Like the cover, looks good and you kept your under dash tray. Did you have to relocate the horn push as mentioned earlier?



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The horn push stays in the centre of the steering wheel

 

[Joe69]

Well we went with it in the end and so far I love it. We had to drive from Derby to Portsmouth after picking our van up but we’re we really noticed the difference was parking on the boat, normally a nightmare as you have to turn pretty much 180 degrees in a tight space with hardly any forward movement. Was a breeze. For the area we live I think it will be a well worthwhile investment.