The steering wheel on my 1999 Land Rover Discovery 2 TD5 has developed some play.  The universal joints on the steering column were in good order which eliminated them from the list of possible faulty steering components.  Watching the steering box drop arm while the steering wheel was rocked back and forward indicated that the play was in the steering box.  To get access to the steering box adjuster I removed the plastic engine cover.

The engine cover removed, a little bit of cleaning is required under here.  The top of the steering box can just be seen below the EGR valve.

Once the locknut is slackened slightly, the adjuster can be turned using a 6mm allen key.  Since direct access to the adjuster is blocked by the EGR valve I used a flexible joint on my wrench.  I also welded part of a cheap spanner onto bar so that I could hold the lock nut while making adjustments.

While adjusting the steering box, it is essential to make sure that the steering moves from lock to lock without any roughness or tightness.  The only way to ensure this is to disconnect the steering box drop arm from the drag link rod.  After doing the adjustment, I disconnected the drag link I checked that there steering wheel moved smoothly.

After loosening the lock nut with an 18mm socket, I held the lock nut with my modified spanner.

Adjusting the steering box to remove play out of the steering wheel.

Since the drag link ball joint was disconnected, I took the opportunity to check it for wear.  Unfortunately the ball joint didn’t feel too good so I thought I had better check the one on the other end of the drag link  I disconnected the other end and found that this one also was a little rough.  I guess my next job is to either replace both ball joints or the whole drag link.