gavinh
Hi guys I have a manual steering rack in my 240, it failed the pits on too much play on pass side inner tie rods,wondering if there's a trick to unscrewing them? Tried but the seems to be a small metal retainer pressed into it?
Cheers
Gav
tbro
When you say a small metal retainer, do you mean a pin punched in? if yes drill it and replace it putting it back together, if not ...................Fucken big pair....................................................of stilsons and hold the actual rack with a shifter near the end of the teeth. Washer under the spring when you put it back together and that will move the punched point a bit further away from previous punch point. I use locktite (RED) as a backup when refitting.
gavinh
Cool will give it a go over the weekend cheers
Anthony
This task can be a real hassle and very, very difficult to do without serious tools as they seem to additionally fold/form the metal over the knuckle as well. (that yr trying to undo). Chance you can over stress something as well.
Smart option is to send the rack to a professional steering company to put a recon kit through it. About $500 bucks (or cheaper as non-power steer) and they put new boots and tie rods on the ends as well. Feels as good as new then.
egads
A mate reckon Wilkinsons in Bayswater should be able to do the rebuild nice and quick and not charge stupid money (aka Perth tax).
jamesinc
You can buy reco racks in eBay for $180
gavinh
Got a link?
jamesinc
I went looking and the item seems to have disappeared :-|
It was a shop in Sydney selling them, maybe they ran out of stock.
gavinh
I was looking for them too, but seem to have disappeared.
tbro
Its a steering joint in Seven Hills, but that's as much as I can remember.
gavinh
Got a inner track rod thanks to @iceton1975 in a very timely manor. I was dreading fitting it, but it was so easy. Removed the retaining nib with a dremel and unscrewed it. Replaced with the new one and used a cold chisel and copper hammer to create a new nib so it won't come loose. Recon it was probably one of the easiest jobs I have done in a while. Cheers for the advice.
Angus242164
In cases where you can get right angle access to the rack ends (eg: 240) I normally just use stilsons, the lock tab is just part of a thin washer and is only there to stop them from vibrating loose, so it bends out of the way as soon as you undo them.
Some rack ends have flats that you can use a shifter on, but stilsons is just as easy.
In cases where you can't get right angle access, like the majority of FWD cars, there are various special tools that you slide over the rack end and turn with a ratchet and extension bar, or with a shifter depending on the design of the tool.
gavinh
@Angus242164, it was like a factory pressed nib into the recessed part of the shaft on the rack. The new one had a recessed collar on it which I was able to push or gently persuade back in the the recess on the shaft and got it pretty tight with the stillies before hand.
familyman
tbro;84660 wroteIts a steering joint in Seven Hills, but that's as much as I can remember.
No need now, but don't forget ebay's "completed auctions" checkbox in advanced search.