STEERING RACK
On my way to this year’s Beatmeeta and on some bumpy roads, the Coupe developed some nasty knocking noises from the front end, and some reasonably severe vibration through the steering wheel. After stopping for a look, I found vertical movement from within the steering rack coincidental with a knock of metal on metal. I’ve been here before, but it was over 20 years ago, and what had failed was the plastic supporting bush that supports the main steering arm from within its tube.
It was safe to drive so I continued Betameeta as planned while ordering a replacement bush (£10) from Mark at the shop, and yesterday I started the task to sort it all out.
With the big rubber track rod boots removed, it’s relatively easy to access the four bolts that secure the rack to bulkhead via two clamps and with track-rod ends and steering column coupling disconnected, the rack is best removed through a wheel arch. LHS worked for me, and I found that with some twisting it just about cleared my exhaust manifold and was extracted with a tilt downwards.
On the bench, I removed the rubber end caps, damper and track arms before sliding off the main concertina boot. As expected, I found pieces of the crumbled bush inside the tube, but I noted the inside of my rack to be virtually dry. It didn’t appear worn, but the lack of lubrication can’t have helped the life of the previous bush. With new push pressed into place and ensuring that the three outer lugs of the bush were seated in their corresponding holes in the tube, reassembly was straightforward; I also chose to take Mr Haynes’ advice and added a good splosh of gear oil.
Refitting the rack was tricky. At first, I struggled to get it past the manifold; then once in place, I spent ages trying to align the splines on the rack to the UJ on the steering column, whilst attempting to secure the rack to the bulkhead. My knuckles were bleeding, forearms cut and bruised, and I’d dug out some choice vocabulary I’d not used in years. I went to the pub instead!
This morning, with the simple addition of my pub mate working inside the footwell to help mating the splines, and with me pushing the rack up and back to get a bolt in the clamp, and it was in. Mr Haynes was right on this... it is a two man job.
The rest of the reassembly was without incident, but there is some oil leaking from the rack. This is obviously what they do for a while until reaching a happy level, but I wish I’d used some grease instead. I remember a small packet of grease that used to come with Landrover swivel joints… I can’t help thinking that would’ve been a cleaner lubricant for this rack?
Grateful for any thoughts?
