Morris Minor Owners Club

Did you manage to get enough oil into the rack?

Ive decided to go with grease after speaking to the suppliers
Given the application I can see no reason why grease wouldn't be the best option
It was certainly easier for me
Time will tell..

Grease is good if you have grease nipples at both ends of the rack. But grease will not travel to the opposite end of the rack from the one and only grease nipple.

Understood Phil
On assembly the rack was packed with grease at its extremities leaving it to be fully filled on delivery
This was due to the difficulties of filling with oil re posting

the difficulties of filling with oil

As mentioned on this messageboard a year or three ago, you can unscrew the nipple, squirt in the oil with a syringe and replace the nipple.
Motor factors usually carry syringes that are intended for this type of situation.
Don

Sorry I wasnt quite clear
ESM do not fill with oil because as this presents difficulties with Royal Mail /Carriers regarding transport.
Its not due to the difficulty of physically getting the oil in

Ah. Thanks for the clarification. I admit that that I didn't understand that your text was about potential problems with oil leakage during shipping.
Nevertheless, I think it is worth repeating for the benefit of others, that there is a simple alternative to obtaining a fancy oil gun to get oil into the rack.
On another tangent, I have seen lubrication products that are a cross between oil and grease. I wonder whether such a product might be the best of all worlds for the Minor's steering rack.
Don

Don,
As far as I know such lubricants are a mixture of ATF and lithium grease. I use something similar on the speedo corrector gearboxes that I build.
Regards
Declan

Thanks Declan

I have had a snoop around on the web to learn more about this thick oil / thin grease.

It is referred to in the lubricant industry as 'semi-fluid' grease.

Many lubricant manufacturers supply their version of this product. They all seem to contain lithium soap as you say. One or two say that it is suitable for 'steering boxes'.

Here is a link to an Australian product.
https://www.penriteoil.com.au/products/ ... uid-grease

Don

Just found it on web here in UK. Shriver cars in Bedford. Google it ,as I can't send link.

Brilliant
Thanks

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MILLERS-DELT ... SwhiZad1mZ

There are other similar products available on 'e' bay.

Morris Minor owners have for many years been mixing oil and grease to lubricate the steering rack.

Additional grease nipples can be fitted to the steering rack to ensure a good spread of semi-fluid grease along and around the rack. You do not have to rely on the one grease nipple.

The link below is for reference:
https://www.moss-europe.co.uk/shop-by-m ... 51-71.html

As regards additional grease/oil nipples - this is a guide to what I have done to get grease/oil to the off side of the rack.

I have removed the cap over the off side thrust pad (item No: 78 in the link above). I have drilled and tapped the cap and fitted a 1/4" BSF 90 degree grease nipple.

I have also drilled a small hole in the centre of the thrust pad (item No: 75 in the link above) to allow grease/oi to get to the rack

I have removed the brass cap (item No: 83 in the link above) which fits over the bottom of the pinion and drilled and tapped for a 1/4" BSF 90 degree grease nipple.

There is very little thickness of brass metal at the bottom of the cap (there is no loading at this point) so what I have done is to shorten the thread of the grease nipple (so that it does not foul the bottom of the pinion) and screw & solder the nipple in place. The nipple must be facing the outer end of the rack when soldering.

The pinion (item No: 80 in the link above) is a tight fit in the brass cap so restricts the movement of the grease past it. To allow grease to pass the pinion shaft I have very carefully ground a 3mm wide flat along its length where it fits into the brass cap.

I have reassembled the rack and greased the additional nipples. The grease flows to the rack, pinion, thrust pad with ease.

If correctly aligned the two additional grease nipples can be easily accessed from the offside wheel arch.

Cricky
Why didnt Alec think of that

An additional point:-
Before fitting the pinion - centralise the rack in the rack tube - insert pinion with the ground flat towards the rack - this ensures that the max loading on the pinion is kept on the original pinion bottom bearing surface - the rack is pressed/loaded towards the pinion by the two damper pads.

My solution to getting oil into the rack was eventually to buy a grease nipple and drill it out and fit to an oil can
A bit more agricultural than all the other proper suggestions but it seems to have worked