Steering Rack Assessment

[111Robin]

I have no particular experience with racks therefore thought I would ask here. I have never driven the car however when raised on the lift the steering felt fine and there was no play. With the rack removed and held in the vice, when I pull the body/rack back and forward should it feel very smooth or a bit notchy ?. There are no tight spots but you can feel every tooth in the rack going over the pinion as it rotates. This wasn't at all evident when the rack was on the car unloaded, I could spin the wheel lock to lock with one finger and didn't feel the same notchiness. Is this "normal" for a rack ?.

[Polarsilver]

Robin , suggest there is only one way to sort your situation & that is strip inspect,checking component parts & backlash etc..

Back to Mini Steering Racks the last two "new" racks from our fav supplier have both been built wrong in that the Drive Spline has been fitted 180degree out of phase therefore the groove for the Steering Colum Clamp Bolt is out of alignment when centered
One area that cannot be an issue is Steering.

[Peter Laidler]

Interesting question Robin. There are a few interesting articles on steering racks and their overhaul including one by me and another by our Aussie mate Spider. The notchiness when the car/rack/wheels are lifted clear of the ground is because OFF load there's nothing to take up the slack. Whereas with the wheels ON the ground - loaded, there is resistance.

Like Norman says, there are other problems such as incorrect assembly

So far, so good. The problems that I encountered when refurbishing several, as a job lot, was twofold if you eliminate the track rod ends. The serious problem was end float between the horizontal rack and the vertical (?) pinion that can't be cured except with new parts. That's because you can't adjust the positions of the R and/or P to take up the wear pattern. But it's easy to detect.

The next problem is the constant clonking which is a knackered rack to casing bush which is sort-of easily repaired by replacing it with a made to measure bronze bush. Easy to hear of course and to detect by shaking the track rod up and down. I say that no wear is the acceptable limit.

It is quite simple to strip, flush, clean, inspect and assemble your rack Rob. It's surprising how smooth a fully restored and oiled rack feels.

[111Robin]

Thanks all. I should have said it's for the Elan. Now presume there's nothing "special" about it, possibly Triumph origins, but I've been quoted £300 to have it overhauled. New racks aren't available, only refurbished. I may just strip the arms off and re-shim them as they are a bit slack but no axial play, just drop under their own weight. I cann also replace the nylon cups at the same time as re-shimming them. I'll check everything else to see if there are any issues. At the end of the day with a safety critical item perhaps the £300 is money well spent.

[Peter Laidler]

Safety critical, well, yes...... but! It is highly unlikely to catastrophically fail. R&P racks simple wear out as a rule and deteriorate not with age, but USE. There's nothing difficult about them. I;m sure that the workshop manual will go through it. As a matter of interest, the trysty old Haynes manual for the mini was more detailed than the BL/Rover workshop manual. Loose track rods can be corrected by tightening the threaded lock nuts and..... anyway. Simple job for you Rob.

[111Robin]

There probably isn't much wrong with it, no tight spots or play so I'm going to fit new cups and reshim them. All these years working on old motors and never touched a rack, old dog/new tricks etc. It's an easy rack to remove anyway so if it doesn't feel right I'll whip it out again.

[Rubber Sprung]

Elan racks are Triumph Hearld with limit blocks to cut down on the Turing circle .

[111Robin]

You'd think they would be plentiful then, at least as a source of parts.