As you know, the purpose of power steering, be it electric or hydraulic, is to provide more comfortable steering wheel rotation. Currently, almost all models of cars produced are equipped with power steering or EUR, and in those cars in which the manufacturer did not provide for their presence, the amplifier can be supplied by yourself. In this article, we will analyze how to put the power steering on the Niva and whether it makes sense.

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The principle of operation of EUR and GUR

Before installing the amplifier in the VAZ 2121 with your own hands, let's analyze the principle of operation of the systems, let's start with the power steering. When the steering wheel is in the center position, it is locked with centering springs. In this position, the liquid circulates through all elements of the system, provided that the distributor is correctly positioned. The power steering pump in this case works in an enhanced mode, which is due to the need to pump fluid through the system. Moreover, it always functions, regardless of whether the steering wheel turns or not.

When the steering wheel is turned, the spool moves, as a result of which the element closes the drain lines, and liquid begins to flow into one of the cylinders. In this case, oil acts on the piston, as well as the rod, under pressure, which leads to the rotation of the wheel, as well as the body in a certain direction. The spool overtakes the body of the device when it stops moving, which indicates that the driver has completed the turning maneuver. In this case, the spool returns to its original position, and then the hose is opened to drain the fluid.

As for the principle of operation of the EUR, the amplifier itself is mounted on the steering shaft of the vehicle. Its constituent parts are connected to each other using a torsion shaft, with an installed engine speed sensing controller. When the driver turns the steering wheel, the torsion shaft twists, this is recorded by the torque sensor. In accordance with the information received from the controller of the torque, speed and revolutions of the engine, the control module determines the compensation force, as a result of which it sends a command to the amplifier electric motor.

Feasibility of installing power steering and power steering

Does it make sense to put an electric or hydraulic booster on your car? The only, but most important thing that such an installation can give is to provide more comfortable driving. But it should be borne in mind that the installation of such a system is a rather difficult task that not everyone can cope with. At the same time, its cost is quite high, and if you cannot put the unit on your own, you will also have to pay a substantial amount for installation. Therefore, it is necessary to decide whether it is profitable for you to install the amplifier from an economic point of view (video author - Gennady Martynyuk).

Detailed guide for installing electric power steering on Niva

The procedure for installing the EUR with your own hands is as follows:

1. Disconnect the battery first.
2. Then the plug is removed from the steering wheel, the fixing nut is unscrewed, the steering wheel itself is dismantled. You also need to unscrew the four screws with a screw and remove the plastic cover.
3. The fastening bolts are unscrewed and the instrument panel is dismantled. Disconnect the steering column switch plug, unscrew the bolt that secures it, and then dismantle the device.
4. Then the ignition switch wiring is disconnected, the device itself is removed, for this, unscrew the two mounting screws and turn the key to position I.
5. The next step will be to dismantle the steering column, for this you need to unscrew the steering shaft screw, as well as several mounting screws and nuts. Please note that Niva screws are used with shear heads, so the best option would be to apply notches with a chisel and unscrew them with pliers. Further, the column itself must be lowered down, and then dismantled.
6. After that, unscrew the nuts on the mounting blocks with fuses, remove them. Also remove the relay trim located under the dashboard.
7. The interior and the engine compartment are separated from each other by a partition, it has an elastic cap, it must be removed. The EUR wire is pulled through the hole. Make sure the laid wire does not come in contact with moving parts.
8. Under the dashboard itself, to the left of the steering wheel, there is an 8-pin connector, two gray wires are connected to it. This connector should be connected to the yellow-blue from the EUR. Then, to the red block that goes from the tidy, it is necessary to connect the orange and blue-pink wires from the electric amplifier. Here, behind the dashboard, you can find a mass bolt, a minus should be connected to it.
9. An amplifier bracket is installed under the tidy; wiring from the ignition switch should be threaded into it.
10. Further, an intermediate shaft should be installed on the splines of the amplifier itself, remember that a ground must be connected to it in advance. The shaft itself should be securely fixed to the steering shaft and the EUR to the bracket. Do not allow the shaft to be pinched or too tight.
11. The assembly itself is fixed to the plate with two bolts and two studs, it is advisable to install nuts under them.
12. Next, the power and information connectors are connected to the amplifier.
13. In fact, this completes the installation procedure. Now you need to reinstall the ignition switch, the steering column switch. To install the steering column pad, it will need to be trimmed, for example, with a hacksaw. The steering wheel and dashboard are put in place. Then the wiring is pulled from the EUR to the battery.
    Note that in the existing plug in the partition between the engine compartment and the passenger compartment, it will be necessary to increase the size of the hole. Perform a hardware test and check all connections again.

Photogallery "Installation Assistance"

Features of the installation of the power steering

Briefly about the features of installing power steering on a Niva:

1. First, the central steering wheel nut is unscrewed, after which it is dismantled. A puller may be required to loosen the nut. The cardan joint is also dismantled with the steering wheel.
2. Then the fan strap is loosened.
3. After installing the hydraulic booster, you need to fill the system - for this, the expansion tank cap is unscrewed, oil is poured into the system to the desired level. After that, the steering wheel should be turned to the extreme positions several times with the motor off, this will get rid of the airlock in the system.
4. When bleeding the system, it is recommended to jack up the front of the car or disconnect the steering link from the bipod. Next, the motor is started, the required amount of liquid is added to the system. If you notice that after adding the oil began to foam, this indicates that air has entered the power steering hoses. Then you will need to turn off the engine and wait for a while until the bubbles stop emerging.
5. The procedure is carried out in an almost identical way to the installation of the EUR, only there are some nuances. Before starting the process, carefully read the service book that comes with the kit (video author - Andrew Humm channel).

The nuances of steering wheel adjustment

As for the adjustment, it is usually performed if the driver is not satisfied with the height of the steering wheel. To adjust the EUR, you need to grind off the edges of the shaft to the desired size or install a gasket between the body of the mechanism and the plate.

Issue price

As for the price, it depends on the type of amplifier, as well as the store where the kit is purchased. The cost of the ESD set today averages about 27-32 thousand rubles. As for the hydraulic booster, on average the installation kit will cost the buyer from 31 to 40 thousand rubles. You can assemble the power steering system from different parts from different cars, for example, install a column from Opel or Nissan, and a pump from BMW or other car models. But you have to tinker, since you will need to do more than one alteration.

Power steering wanted for a long time, the choice was between electric booster and hydraulic booster. I was in no hurry with this question, and quietly collected information on these units. About email. amplifiers had information that they jammed while driving, and they are not cheap. But the hydraulic booster is a reliable thing, but the price of a new one in 1000 USD was not at all impressive, and it is very difficult to find a used one. And once I had to ride in a new field with a power steering, to be honest, I was expecting a little different. The steering wheel on it is certainly easy to turn, but it is too wadded, you just don't feel the car while driving.
But as time went on, it was cold in winter, and when the frost increased at night, the oil in the gearbox apparently froze and the steering wheel simply could not be turned! And just then I had to meet my friend, he had a UAZ and he boasted that he had recently installed a power steering from a BMW 7 series, I looked at the system, in principle it was not difficult to put it in any field - vaz 21213 2121 21214. During the next Several days without any problems I managed to find a gearbox with a pump from a BMW E34 (the reliability of the steering gears of which are legendary), after some bargaining, I bought a gearbox and a pump for $ 100.
We slowly began to install the system at the NIVU. In order for it to fit normally, it was necessary to unfold the bipod, and weld the Nivov shaft onto the BMW gearbox shaft, then the bipod would sit down without problems! Since the bipod became much longer than with in stock, a support was made for it. The pump got up without any problems, only the fuel pump tubes interfered with a little, it had to be turned around a little.
It was not easy with the choice of fluid for power steering, as it turned out there are two types of it: ATF (red) and Pentazin (green) produced by BMW, the store said that if it was filled with red, then you need to pour red. But after climbing the forums a little, and it turned out to FAK that there are different types of ATFs, and if you fill in the wrong type that was filled, then the pump fails, but if you fill in pentazine, then no questions arise! Pentazin turned out to be a rare bird in our area, in stores they often offered some kind of green pile of unknown production. Igor (Gunther-E34) helped to get the pentazine, for which many thanks to him!), Although the price was not cheap (17 euros per liter), but it is better not to save on this! First I ordered 1 liter of liquid, I thought it was enough, but some 150 grams were not enough, and I had to order a liter.
The day came when everything was in place, the liquid was filled, you can start! We started it, everything works just fine! Impressions while driving are just a delight! It was as if the car had been changed, the old sluggish cornfield became light and maneuverable, the steering wheel was not wadded like the Niva! In the zero zone, the steering wheel is slightly heavier and sharper (there is an adjusting screw on the gearbox, which can be used to adjust the weight of the steering wheel)!

This article will be of interest to owners of Niva produced before 2007. After 2007, they began to install the power steering on the Niva from the factory, until 2007 it was believed that it was not needed. Having driven a VAZ 21214M with a power steering, I now have no idea how you can drive without it, all the same, the steering wheel on the Niva is quite heavy. I decided to tackle the issue of the possibility of installing a power steering. I analyzed information on the Internet and came to the conclusion that there are 2 ways to solve this problem. The first is the installation of the hydraulic booster, the second is the installation of the electric booster.

Power steering.
Two types of power amplifiers can be installed on the old-style Niva. The first is from the Chevrolet-Niva with a ZF gearbox, and the second is Russian-made with a specially designed for Niva 2121-213. During installation and observation, we can say that the fundamental difference in these H / amplifiers is that in the latter, the gearbox housing is steel, not cast iron and should better hold shock loads (more often they put on cars prepared for "active off-road"), and so there is more inversion of the bipod, but so far there have been no complaints about any of the gur designs, according to the firms installing them.

Power steering ZF for Niva

Russian power steering for Niva

Russian power steering kit for Niva

True, it should be noted the difference in the installation of these structures. The Russian-made hydraulic booster is placed heavier. In the case of installation on a 2121 niva, it is often necessary to change the vacuum booster and its bracket on the 214th or Sh / niva model, because otherwise Gur does not become.

Brief technical characteristics of the hydraulic booster ZF NIVA
Full steering speed 2.9
Gear ratio of screw pair 14.5
Working pressure 85 ... 100 MPa
Volume flow 6 l / min
Maximum oil temperature 120 degrees Celsius
The total volume of oil in the system is 1 liter
Oil tank volume 0.4 l

The hydraulic booster for Niva is in the range from 27,000 to 31,000. The kit contains everything you need for installation, including instructions.

If you are a techie, then I think you can easily figure out its installation, as a last resort there are detailed instructions on the Internet with photographs for its installation, but just in case, at the end of the article, I copied the procedure for installing the power steering. If you do not want to strain with its installation, then in the service its installation costs about 5000 rubles.

Electric power steering.
The electric power steering is an original steering column consisting of: a steering column, an electric motor, a worm gear, a control unit. Electric power steering, in my opinion, is easier to install, and its cost ranges from 14,000 to 17,000 rubles .. This is how it looks.

Electric power steering for Niva. Installation kit

After installation on the machine, it visually looks something like this:

Electric booster after installation

Advantages over the hydraulic booster (according to the manufacturer):
Manufacturability of installation - the EURU is mounted in one unit on a car without intruding into the engine compartment.
Reliability - there are no components inherent in hydraulic boosters (hoses, pulleys, fluids).
Environmental friendliness.
Energy saving, lower fuel consumption from 5% to 8% - EURU works only when turning the steering wheel and mainly in parking and low-speed modes.
Informativeness - EURU provides an increase in steering effort with an increase in vehicle speed.
Price - EURU is 1.6 times cheaper than the hydraulic booster.

Main technical characteristics of EURU:
Supply voltage (nominal) -12V;
The maximum compensating moment is from 35 to 42 Nm (corresponds to a decrease in the steering effort from 22kGs to 3.5kgs);
The maximum current consumption is 55A;
The mass of the electromechanism is 10.5kg.

Practice has shown:
1. The steering wheel on a stationary machine can be easily rotated with one hand, in the field the force drops from 20 to 3.5 kgf.
2. In gentle high-speed corners, the effort on the steering wheel increases clearly and unambiguously, adequately informing the driver about the position of the steered wheels.
3. In case of failure of the electric booster, the steering wheel will become a little "heavier" than that of a conventional car.

If we compare the effort of the electric and power steering, then, I think that with the electric power steering the steering wheel turns even easier. But it has its drawbacks. I suppose that if you drive the Niva on a good ford, then hitting the electric booster in the water is fraught with the fact that it may fail. Also, the minus of the electric amplifier is that it does not look very aesthetically in the cabin, in my opinion. But for all its disadvantages, it has very big advantages - this is the price and the fact that it creates a very good effort. A detailed instruction with photos for its installation is on the Internet.

In my opinion, this article will be interesting for Nivovodov who do not have a power steering, but who want to install it. Good luck!

“First of all, we remove the steering wheel of the car. The steering wheel is removed complete with a universal joint. The fasteners of the latter will be used to install the power steering gear. To install the power steering pump, it is necessary to loosen the fan belt. Next, remove the fan, substitute the fan spacer under it and fix it to the hub. To fill the system, remove the oil tank cap, fill it with oil to a certain level. We turn the steering wheel from lock to lock, while the engine remains not started. Thus, we get rid of the air in the tank. When pumping, we hang the front wheels or disconnect the steering rod from the bipod. Then we start the Niva engine, at the same time add oil to the tank. It is recommended to fill with oil at a rate of at least 5.5 liters per minute, this will prevent air from entering the suction line. If the oil in the tank begins to foam, then this indicates that air has entered the system. Immediately turn off the power unit and let the oil settle for 20 minutes until bubbles stop appearing.
We inspect the connections of the hoses with the units and, if damage is found, we change the hose fragment. We let the Niva motor run for 20 seconds and pump the power steering system, then we remove the residual air from the RM, this is done by turning the steering wheel from lock to lock, and we do not linger at the extreme positions, three times in each direction. We close the tank with a lid, tighten the lid nut by hand. In the course of further operation, it is best not to hold the steering wheel in the extreme position for more than 5 seconds, otherwise the oil may overheat and, as a result, the power steering pump will fail. If, nevertheless, the power steering pump is out of order, as well as in case of damage to the hose or pump drive belt, when towing the Niva with an inoperative motor, you can use the PM only for a short time until the breakdown is eliminated. Prolonged use of the steering gear with a defective power steering can lead to premature wear. The power steering pump must be periodically inspected and serviced. The flow and safety valves are flushed if they are dirty. This is done as follows: we unscrew the plug over the pump outlet, take out the spring and the spool of the flow valve, at this time we put the plug in place to prevent oil leakage, wash the spool and the safety valve. The assembly is carried out in the reverse order. "

Steering wheel for Niva (VAZ 2121). To begin with, we will tell you what the power steering is generally needed for. Its main function is to provide sufficient stability in the event of a sharp drop in tire pressure. It is also indispensable in extreme conditions of vehicle operation - the power steering will increase the dynamic cross-country ability. An undoubted and tangible advantage of cars equipped with a hydraulic booster is that it reduces the requirements for the effort on the steering wheel three times, that is, it becomes much easier to control the machine.

Install the power steering on our own

Now let's proceed directly to the description of the installation of the power steering on the Niva. First, we dismantle the steering wheel of the car by unscrewing its central nut. We do all this with a special puller. Remove the universal joint together with the steering wheel. We save the details that secure the latter; we will use them to mount the hydraulic booster. In order to put the power steering, it will be necessary to loosen the fan belt and fix it to the hub.

We refuel the system: remove the oil tank cap, fill in oil to a certain level. Then we turn the steering wheel from one extreme position to another with the engine not running. Thus, we remove air from the system. When pumping, it is necessary either to hang out the front wheels, or to disconnect the steering rod from the bipod. Then you can start the engine. Add oil to the reservoir at the same time. Try to pour it at a rate of 5.5 liters per minute so that air does not get into the suction line. You can judge about the ingress of air into the system by the state of the oil in the tank: if it begins to foam, it means that the air has nevertheless entered the line. In this case, it is necessary to turn off the engine and let the oil settle for about twenty minutes until bubbles stop appearing.

We inspect the hoses, if we notice damaged ones, then we replace them with new ones. We start the engine and let it run for twenty seconds, we pump over the power steering system. We turn the steering wheel from lock to lock, thereby expelling air from the system. We do this three times in each direction, for more than 5 seconds we do not hold the steering wheel in the extreme position so as not to overheat the oil.

Maintenance of the power steering on the Niva

In further operation, the power steering on the Niva is periodically inspected and serviced. In case of contamination of the supply and safety valves, they will need to be flushed: remove the plug over the pump outlet, take out the spring and which must be cleaned. At this point, the cap must be screwed on to avoid oil leakage. Putting it up in reverse order.

Now we will describe in detail the process of installing the power steering on a VAZ 2121 (Niva) car. But before starting the process, let's find out what the power steering is generally used for. The main task it performs is to provide the necessary stability in the event that the tire pressure has dropped sharply. In addition, it increases flotation in difficult conditions for the machine. And, of course, it reduces the effort that should be applied to the steering wheel during the car turns by three times.
All these qualities will only push the owners of the Niva to install an amplifier on the car. Niva, of course, is not a KAMAZ car, but it is also a rather powerful car.

Removing the steering wheel, filling the system

So let's get down to tuning. The first step is to remove the steering wheel, and using a special puller, unscrew the central nut. Together with the steering wheel, we will also dismantle the cardan joint. Do not throw away the parts, they will come in handy when installing a new steering wheel and its amplifier. Before proceeding with the installation of the pump, loosen the fan belt a little. Now we remove the fan, insert a spacer under it, and finally attach it to the hub. The system will need to be refilled, for this we remove the cover of the oil barrel and fill it with oil to the desired level. To get rid of unnecessary air in the tank, we will turn the steering wheel in different directions until it stops. In this case, the engine remains uncranked. During pumping, the front wheels should be hung out, or simply disconnected from the bipod the steering rod. It's time to start the engine, in parallel with this we will add oil to the tank. In order to isolate the suction line from unnecessary air entering it, we advise you not to fill in oil quickly.
Let the flow rate be approximately 5 liters per minute. You can tell that air has entered the system by the presence of foam. In this case, the car engine should be turned off immediately and a twenty minute pause should be made for the oil to settle and bubbles stop appearing.

System check, air purge

We carefully inspect all hose connections to the units. No damage is allowed. If you find a problem area, then the hose fragment must be replaced. Before we get rid of the residual air in the steering gear, we pump the power steering system with the engine running for about 20 seconds. After that, we remove the residual air, this is done in the same way of turning the steering wheel from lock to lock. Bringing the steering wheel to the limit, do not hold it in this position, immediately turn to another. We do these operations about 3 times. The tank cap can be screwed on. Remember that during the further operation of the machine, do not hold the steering wheel in the extreme position for more than 5 seconds, this can lead to overheating of the oil, which leads to pump damage.

Security measures

In the event that your pump has failed during the operation of the car, or the hose is damaged, or any other breakdown associated with the steering mechanism - urgently fix the breakdown. Reduce driving as much as possible in this state. It is not safe.
The power steering pump periodically needs to be inspected and cleaned. Do not bring it to an inoperative state.