Steering rack clunky

[Ropariva]

Hi
I have begun the refurbishing of my series 2 FHC and my focus is the front suspension and steering as the car had been in storage for 14 years and all the rubbers are perished. With the rack off it appeared tight and clunky at every revolution. Once stripped the cause became clear.
One tooth only is badly worn. There is a polished look on all the other teeth, but no wear



There is virtually no wear on the rack apart from some marks on the ends where the pinion has scuffed it





I am wondering what options there are for the rebuild of this rack? It is an April 1970 RHD car and I have been offered a second hand pinion if the supplier can find a match for mine. The rest of the rack shows little to no wear consistent with its 60,000 miles so it is a bit strange to see one tooth worn like this. Has anyone seen this kind of wear in a rack or have any suggestions they can share.
Many thanks. Alan
[/img]

[christopher storey]

Alan : that does not look like wear to me . My surmise is that this has been the tooth in contact for many years, and that the result has been corrosion which has pitted it. Frankly, I would try polishing it with progressively finer grades of paper on a dremel type drill and then see whether it is satisfactory when you reassemble it. If this does not eliminate the problem then I think an exchange rack is called for - I would not personally try mixing and matching parts

[Ropariva]

Alan : that does not look like wear to me . My surmise is that this has been the tooth in contact for many years, and that the result has been corrosion which has pitted it. Frankly, I would try polishing it with progressively finer grades of paper on a dremel type drill and then see whether it is satisfactory when you reassemble it. If this does not eliminate the problem then I think an exchange rack is called for - I would not personally try mixing and matching parts

Thanks Chris,
It is strange wear but I'm %100 certain the rack hasn't been touched for a very long time if ever. Also the pics were taken straight after I wiped the copious amounts of grease off and there was no evidence of rust at all on the gears or in the grease. What you see is exactly as it was with grease removed, bright and shiny but worn. As the worn tooth is dead centre it is almost like the car has been driven all its life in a straight line with no grease in the rack, and just before it was stored 14 years ago they cleaned and greased the rack.
I may have to try your suggestion if a replacement can't be sourced, or if a replacement is a bad match. I think the notchy feel is simply from the ridge at either end on the pinion binding on the rack. Possibly grinding this ridge off carefully my make it satisfactory if not perfect. The other thing is that this notchy feel wasn't noticeable when driving the car. That may be because of the poor condition of the rest of the components.

[PeterCrespin]

Steering gear and the various bearing surfaces do tend to wear in the steaight ahead position and used E-type racks do tend to feel more notchy when twirling the steering with the wheels off the ground because the rack is above the pinion and there is no tyre scrub to overcome and disguise the notchiness like in normal use. You will possibly find some heavier polishing/wear in the matching rack teeth either side, but being the smaller of the mating gears the pinion will be worst affected. I assume there was significant circumetential play in the steering about the straight ahead position and the MOT man might have given you an advisory. Dressing the worn surfaces may help the notchiness and refurbing the rack bush ditto but won't help any straight ahead slack which results from a slimmer tooth. There is some rack adjustment possible but it won't fix that problem as the teeth are parallel-sided IIRC. Fitting the gear with a different tooth in mesh at straight ahead would help but as Chris said a refurb rack might be your best bet if all the various parts including new boots etc. end up costing not much less?

Pete

[Ropariva]

To be honest, I didn't notice the notchiness until I removed it. My brother and I recently completed a 1600 mile trip and the steering seemed fine, which is surprising as there was about 1/2 an inch of movement in the rack mounts. They were soft and cracked which was the impetus for the rebuild. No doubt it would have failed its registration inspection. It will be interesting to see what it drives like once back together with a rebuilt front end :-) Alan

[PeterCrespin]

At the risk of opening up an old thread, I'm not clear how there could have been half an inch of movement, and in which plane, if the rack mount safety restraints were correctly fitted. Possibly up/down on the passenger side?

You're right that racks feel less smooth operated in isolation with no contact patch resistance to overcome.

Pete

[Ropariva]

Thanks for that Pete. I'm far from an expert on the mounting system on the E Types. If I was I would have realised when I removed it that the spacers and special washers from the passenger side were missing and had been replaced by 1/2" nuts
This is the passenger side part way through removal


These are the bolts removed from the two sides

Do the 2 spacers that are there look correct look. I'm assuming there should be 2 each side?
I have a short video that clearly shows the movement of the rack but I'm not sure of how to post that on this forum
Thanks for the assistance . Alan

[Ropariva]

I have just found the topic on rack mount fail safes :-)
I shall study! Al