Rebuilding a Steering Rack

[youngcamper]

My Daily Morris, Lily, has recently been caught out twice with steering rack trouble. The first time when flood water seeped in, partially seizing up the rack and making the steering incredibly heavy. I duly whipped the seized one off and replaced it, only to find that the replacement rack is pretty crunchy, and stiff; it seems to be totally worn out.

I can't justify spending £70 on a refurbished rack and I'm fed up of changing them. So rebuilding my own one is the only option, Has anyone done it ?

Cheers,

Will

[bmcecosse]

I haven't done it - but it doesn't look difficult in the Manual. Hardest part is disconnecting the track rods from the rack body. But I would leave them on - and just check out/lubricate the pinion gear and bearings - and apply grease to the rack itself. Are you sure the racks are the problem - not seized up swivel pins ? With the track rod ends off - does each swivel move very easily?

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

I know shims are available but I think these would be to take up excess play.

[philthehill]

Overhauling the steering rack is not a very difficult job but as Bmc says the main difficulty is removing the ball seat housings from the ball joint caps at either end of the rack. See section J4 of BMC Minor Wskp Manual. The BMC wksp manual says that special tool 18G312 is essential to distmantle that part of the rack. I have managed to undo the caps myself but it is not an easy task to achieve without the special tool and without care damage may be caused to the rack making it unuseable. It is best to not to strip unless essential but clean out all the old oil/grease as best as possible, reassemble with fresh oil/grease. Overall there is very little to go wrong with a Minor steering rack and any play found can be mostley taken up from outside the rack itself with adjustment of the steering rack damper shims and the additional damper at the other end of the steering rack - see Section J5/J6/J10 of BMC Minor Wksp Manual for details.
I would also check steering swivels for serviceability as well because if water/dirt gets into the swivel threads it will give you the same effect and may be the main cause of your steering problems. If ignored your car may suffer the fate of many Minors of having the steering swivels part company just when you do not need it or expect it!

[youngcamper]

Thanks for the replies chaps, I will have to have a good look at the workshop manual, as I suspected though the job isn't too tricky.

I am sure it's the rack at fault, I had the car up on axle stands last week for a grease and to change the track rod ends (that's another story) and the rack felt very 'crunchy' and was heavier on its own that my convertibles steering is with the wheels on the floor! the swivel pins are in good condition too and not seized, I had a good grease up of them last week too and they rotate freely.

It looks like this Easter holiday will be a busy one, rebuilding and fitting a steering rack, changing the engine, and dismantling the front suspension to find the illusive knock, still it's meant to be a hobby

[katy]

and the rack felt very 'crunchy'

Is the rack full of lubricant? Either oil or preferably grease. It sounds like it's dry.

[youngcamper]

and the rack felt very 'crunchy'

Is the rack full of lubricant? Either oil or preferably grease. It sounds like it's dry.

no it's been well greased before fitting, and then again when I had it on axle stands last weekend

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Not been turned lock-to-lock with the front wheels off the ground, or equally on the ground when stationary?

[philthehill]

Not sure if you checked the rack on its own when you changed the track rod ends but if you did not so as to determin if it is the rack or anything else disconnect both trackrod ends from the rack and see what happens. If it is no better it must be the rack. If it is better it must be one or both swivels causing the problem

[youngcamper]

Thanks for the replies chaps, I finally had the chance to get the car jacked up this weekend ( took the engine out too! )
With the TREs disconnected the rack was still ridiculously tight, so there was nothing for it but too take it off and inspect why...

With both rack dampers out and the gaiters off the rack was still tight, there was no obvious wear but it screeched as you went from lock to lock. As it still didn't work there was nothing to be lost in taking it apart further, I used a centre punch and a brass drift to get the track rod off one end of the rack, then knocked the steering spine out and then pulled the rack through the other end of the casing. it was in really good condition with no wear or chips. I was stumped, until I tried to refit the splined cog for the steering rack, it was really tight and wouldn't move budge without a lot of force. Upon inspection it was clear that there was dried grease on the face of this and the casing stopping it from rotating freely, a quick oil and a clean up had it moving smoothly again. I THINK I've found the problem, I'll reassemble it with new gaiters and the refit the dampers and let you know....

A lesson to take from this ?

Perhaps using grease in the rack isn't that great an idea, its not as fluid as the oil that's specified. Had oil been put in it probably would've got into the gap between the two faces and the rack wouldn't have seized, although it did last 50 years before seizing so its probably not something worth loosing sleep over....

[IslipMinor]

Before you dismantle the front suspension to find the elusive knock, have you checked the 4 mounting bolts for each of the front dampers? If not tight, they can allow the damper to move very slightly under suspension movement, and being mounted on the front bulkhead, produce a very audible 'knock'.

[youngcamper]

Before you dismantle the front suspension to find the elusive knock, have you checked the 4 mounting bolts for each of the front dampers? If not tight, they can allow the damper to move very slightly under suspension movement, and being mounted on the front bulkhead, produce a very audible 'knock'.

Already found that out, both were loose and one stripped when I tried to tighten it back up, so it's dampers off it repair that It's one of the problems when using thicker oil-more force is transferred though these mounts, a tele conversion is on the cards now...

[bmcecosse]

I do generally advise to check the bolts when using the more viscous oil.. I've never had any problems. Some of the tele conversions use the damper mounting bolts......avoid!

[youngcamper]

I do generally advise to check the bolts when using the more viscous oil.. I've never had any problems. Some of the tele conversions use the damper mounting bolts......avoid!

Agreed, but you can't really check for a thread about to strip. I will indeed look carefully when choosing which tele conversion to go for....

[bmcecosse]

Well. thread stripping is hardly the fault of the viscous oil! But if the bolts were loose - it could have been wobbling about I suppose...

[youngcamper]

Well. thread stripping is hardly the fault of the viscous oil! But if the bolts were loose - it could have been wobbling about I suppose...

Well I would've thought the thicker oil would put more stress on the damper mounts as the dampers are stiffer and more force will be transferred through to them. I suppose they mustof been slightly loose or I wouldn't have been able to tighten them up, but they weren't wobbling hugely...

[bmcecosse]

If they are correctly torqued up - they won't strip (unless thread badly made/damaged in some way) and they will easily support the damper on the bulkhead. It is however not the greatest of engineering designs.......normally something like that should be firmly located with snug fitting dowels - and then clamped by the bolts.