Leaking Steering Rack

Lambo911 · Post by **Lambo911** » Tue Mar 15, 2016 12:19 pm

Hi All,

Oil is occasionally oozing out of the steering gaiter on my rack, do you think it's time for a rack rebuild? I've also got a few clunking noises through the steering, especially reversing on full lock.

There is a guy advertising on ebay, Kelly Bray Steering and they'll rebuild it for ?225 which sounds reasonable to me.

Your thoughts?

As I'm going to risk driving it to Le Mans Classic in July I also want to give the steering a bit more feel and was going to try Woolfi's tip of cutting the pump spring down a bit. Seems like an easy tweak.

Cheers

MarekH · Post by **MarekH** » Tue Mar 15, 2016 1:10 pm

There is plenty of information about the over assisted power sterring on the jag-lovers.org website and the many approaches to "solve" this. You may also want to read Dick Maury's article on his website before you make any permanent changes. The pump is a Saginaw pump and there is be plenty on the web about how it works and what controls the pressure.

The simplest change is to use a smaller steering wheel - you'll have less mechanical leverage on the wheel without altering the physics of anything ewlse behind it.

kind regards
Marek

42south · Post by **42south** » Wed Mar 16, 2016 8:08 am

Hi
I think the price sounds very reasonable. Down here in NZ it cost me around 400 quid.
As far as rebuilding goes we would have to do it down here to pass the annual safety inspection.
Woolfi's idea sounds simple enough. I was in the process of rebuilding my pump so I took the jaguar approach and fitted the extra 0.050 inch washer inside the piston. This is supposed to reduce the relief pressure from 1150psi to 850psi.
One of the experts will no doubt confirm or deny, but I think one of the reasons that the racks leak is due to the higher pressure, and this mod may help. I hope so, as I have had to do mine every 10 years and its quite a mission to remove the rack with the bonnet on and engine in the car.

Lambo911 · Post by **Lambo911** » Wed Mar 16, 2016 8:47 am

Thank you for the responses. I think I'll let these guys have a go at reconditioning it.

Did the 'washer' make a difference Mark ? May be easier to try that first rather than cutting the spring.

Woolfi · Post by **Woolfi** » Wed Mar 16, 2016 7:17 pm

Rob Beere Offers a Devise to adjustiert the Pressure with a valve, which can be mounted in the cabin. How is this working ?
Regards Wolfgang Gatza

Doddsy333 · Post by **Doddsy333** » Thu Mar 17, 2016 8:09 am

I used Kelly Brae Steering to rebuild my rack and pump two years ago and they were excellent. I would certainly use them again.

This wasn't a straightforward rebuild in the end as the tower internals had been damaged at some point and so a new part had to be sourced. In the end this was machined from new. Everything is working well.

Hope this helps.

42south · Post by **42south** » Thu Mar 17, 2016 8:16 am

Hi Guys
Sorry I cant report on the effectiveness of the pressure reducing washer yet. I've only got the radiator to fit after the engine rebuild, then all will be revealed.
I will report further.

If you do decide to follow this approach, do a google search on Saginaw pump pressure reduction or similar. There is a video of a pump being modified for an American car. There is also a kit offered which looks quite economic, unless you have machining skill to make this tiny washer.
regards

Lambo911 · Post by **Lambo911** » Thu Mar 17, 2016 9:35 am

Doddsy333 wrote:I used Kelly Brae Steering to rebuild my rack and pump two years ago and they were excellent. I would certainly use them again.

This wasn't a straightforward rebuild in the end as the tower internals had been damaged at some point and so a new part had to be sourced. In the end this was machined from new. Everything is working well.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, that's reassuring. I did give them a call yesterday and they seemed knowledgeable on e-types and reckoned they'd done several quite recently. I'm going to get it off the car an post it over to them.

Lambo911 · Post by **Lambo911** » Sun Mar 27, 2016 4:10 pm

So the rack is now off the car, a bit fiddly and I had to remove the radiator bottom hose to make space to extract it but its out.

It seems very floppy, the track rod arms seem quite loose and I could easily turn the pinion with my hand to move the rack left to right. It will be interesting to see if it is any different when I get it back from the refurbisher.

I also had a look at the valve in the pump as I want to try the washer trick to reduce the pressure but it looks like someone has beaten me too it. Certainly looks like there are two washers. I think the mod is to add a 50thou washer, I haven't dismantled it but guess the extra washer is about that size.

Lambo911 · Post by **Lambo911** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 7:00 pm

Refurbished rack now fitted to the car, ready for the Bicester scramble tomorrow. Excellent service from Kelly Bray.

Trying to get the rack in the car and connecting up the steering shaft correctly (so the pinch bolt goes in) is quite tricky when you are on own, lots of cussing and heaving and eventually I managed to get the correct angle to joint them together. The other difficult bit was getting the feed pipe from the pump connected into the rack as there isn't enough room to get fingers or a spanner on it. In the end I disconnected the rack pipe connection above it then was able to get it in. Only took 45 minutes to do that one thing !

I've driven a few miles so far and the steering feels much tighter, the funny clonk has gone now as well so happy so far.

Lets hope it all holds together for tomorrows 100 mile trip!

42south · Post by **42south** » Sat May 14, 2016 8:31 am

I just had the first drive with the extra spacer washer fitted as in the above posts.
What a difference, there is none of the driving on ice twitchy feeling any more.
A great modification

Lambo911 · Post by **Lambo911** » Sat May 14, 2016 8:56 am

When you put the washer on did it end up looking like the one in the picture I posted?

42south · Post by **42south** » Sun May 15, 2016 6:45 pm

Yes the washer is exactly the same as in your picture.

KBSteering · Post by **KBSteering** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 10:14 am

Glad to hear everything is okay with the steering rack.
We do advise classic car owners to keep the power rack moving during times of storage.

You'll be surprised how often we get a call about a leaking rack after it's been in storage for 6-9 months.

Once a week start her up turn the steering wheel lock to lock slowly. This will stop the rack seal sticking to the rack bar. Also do not aggressively rev the car after starting her after a few months of storage. This can force steering fluid around the system and cause a seal to fail

Regards Sam

jagwit · Post by **jagwit** » Tue Apr 18, 2017 1:25 pm

Very interesting thread!

My car has a 14" steering wheel but I still have to be careful not to apply any pressure to the wheel otherwise the car will respond with immediate & radical directional change. (Lovely when parking though...)

So its good to read that adding a single washer (or two) to the PS pump pressure regulator may solve the problem.

koala · Post by **koala** » Fri Jan 03, 2025 8:51 am

Happy new year everyone. I've just discovered a leak from the lower stering column (see picture). It's becomming a huge leak now. It must be a crsushed seal but I don't have any workshop around me.
I guess I will have to remove the steering rack and get it fully refurbished to prevent me from another trouble. Do you see an easier way to fix this ? Changing the original hoses from the pump may be usefull I think. I I've read a topic about CMC steering upgrade but I don't know much about it. Will it sort my problem with the benefit of imporving my car ?

Cheers
François

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