charlie_pank Posted April 30, 2003 Share Posted April 30, 2003 I had decided that I was imagining things when I said that I'd had steering rack probs, so I set of merrily yesterday. I drove from Eltham to NW london through the centre, which was fine, then back round the M25 - BAD CHOICE Coming around M25 @ 11pm sharing it only with lorries is really nasty when your steering rack randomly gets very very stiff indeed. They symptoms are as follows: When going along twisties it's fine because it stays freed up, but on a motorway where you go relatively straight for a mile or so, the steering gets so stiff you can hardly turn at all. The only way to free it up seems to be to slow down a lot and weave from side to side to get some movement back into it, otherwise it gets so tight that you are worried it requires so much force to turn, that you are going to turn too far when it finally does give. I've called Caterham about it in the hope that they will see it as the serious safety issue that it really is and offer to fix it gratis (their first response was that the rack is 166 + VAT and labour is 52 + VAT). This is a 2001 de-dion academy car (with a PLASTIC bush under the large nut on the rack) and has just gone over the 5000 mile mark. I really think this is a defect that they should fix rather than it coming out of my pocket. It is unreasonable to experience a failure of this type after 5000 miles, especially when these cars are so well looked after. If I had an accident resulting from this failure, which, given the nature of the problem, is not altogether out of the question, Caterham's name would surely be mud? I will let you know how I get on. In the meantime, preparing myself for the worst, is it a difficult job to change the rack? I can see that I undo the bolts holding it onto the chassis to get it off, but is it easy to unbolt the arms from the uprights and put the new ones in. Is there anything I should know about aligning it all? C Charlie'n'Kermit The plan is: the lakes this weekend, not the Kent Blat on Sunday morning! S5EVN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bare Posted April 30, 2003 Share Posted April 30, 2003 Not having this problem.. I'm curioustho. Why do you feel that the plastic bush causes problems? These have been in widespread use since the mid/ early '80's by a variety of Auto manufacturers. There are literally Millions of Cars running all over the Planet with plastic bushes. I suspect It another example of "Fine Workmanship" . Having said that tho, it's not necessary to remove the rack to replace the bushing with one that may work reliably in your rack. Just undo the adjuster and pull out the spring and Bush.. easier said than done.. as always.. but not overly so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_pank Posted April 30, 2003 Author Share Posted April 30, 2003 Bare, Looking through the archives there is someone else who describes the same problem. The responses to this suggested that if you had a rack with a brass bush, you should try a plastic one as this was not prone to sticking. In fact I think they said that this was Caterham's fix. This is why I mentioned that it was a plastic one. Caterham do seem to be aware of the problem on a "small number of cars" and were interested to know the age of it and who they originally sold it to. (I wonder if there's a faulty batch of racks out there - this information would probably allow them to trace it back to the batch the rack came from). C Charlie'n'Kermit The plan is: the lakes this weekend, not the Kent Blat on Sunday morning! S5EVN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted_7 Posted April 30, 2003 Share Posted April 30, 2003 Had exactly the same problem on my car ! Had exactly the same answer from Caterham ! Didn't have the proposal to fix it for free though But most curious is, that this problem suddenly... disapeared... Se7enly, Ted_7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby dooby doo Posted April 30, 2003 Share Posted April 30, 2003 changing the rack is fairly easy. rebuilding the rack isn't too bad either. its possible that something has bent slightly or there isn't enough grease in there. Somewhere there's a topic about this where I described hoe to rebuild the rack. searching for titan may help as they make the bits and I mentioned it in the thread. IT'll be about 6 months ago i think. HOOPY 500 kg (and soon) 200 bhp R706KGU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_pank Posted April 30, 2003 Author Share Posted April 30, 2003 Ta hoopy, BTW I owe you money. Was it 10 or 20 squids? If you let me know I'll give it to Rich Hooker to give to you. Well done C Charlie'n'Kermit The plan is: the lakes this weekend, not the Kent Blat on Sunday morning! S5EVN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_pank Posted April 30, 2003 Author Share Posted April 30, 2003 Does anyone know the root cause of the problem I'm having here. If it just needs some more grease somewhere, can I remove the gaiters and shove as much grease as I can manage into the ends of the rack and move it around a lot to distribute it? I don't think it's something bent as that would surely cause a problem all the time, rather than just when motorway driving... Hoopy, when you talk about rebuilding, which bits are you proposing I replace, or do you think that taking it apart and reassembling is enough to make it all work again? C Charlie'n'Kermit The plan is: the lakes this weekend, not the Kent Blat on Sunday morning! S5EVN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevefoster Posted April 30, 2003 Share Posted April 30, 2003 I would try greasing it first. If you can face another stiffy (bad French accent) on the steering that is. I used the gaitors preloaded with grease and then tiewrapped tightly on to pump grease in. For a different reason to yours though. My racing pics, 7 DIY, race prep. Updated often here Photo's of the year here Hants (North) and Berkshire Area club site here Edited by - stevefoster on 30 Apr 2003 23:50:57 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bare Posted May 1, 2003 Share Posted May 1, 2003 Unfortunately I've had the pleasure of "rebuilding" or more accurately repairing a few steering racks over the years. Items of wear are: 1)the bushing at the opposite end of the rack tube from the Pinion.. check for any sideways slop, usually this a plastic insert on current and not so current racks.. easily replaceable if needs be. 2) the back part of the rack shaft itself, it can wear where it rubs against the adjuster tension Bushing IF it was badly adjusted for a long time 3) the Pinion bearings, more of a problem with low quality racks that use sleeve bearings (bushings) rather than sealed ball races, this is evidenced as slop in the pinion shaft when examined 4)worn rack teeth Usually just 1, the critical centre tooth:-), evidenced as a 'dead' spot in the steering at the centre position usually, no fix short of a fresh geared shaft 5)Worn adjuster bush.. rare actually as only serious neglect overtightening can possible hurt the adjuster bushing, and at that over a surprisingly long time. 6) usual wear out/adjustment of the inner tie rod ball joints, but unless damaged a simple tightening/reshim cures it. be cautious greasing.. most modern racks require V little grease.. some in fact specify that grease only be applied as a light spray coating... so No going in there and putting a 'alf pound of Lard.. yer doing harm not good ;-) Sport of kings .. this patching ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_pank Posted May 1, 2003 Author Share Posted May 1, 2003 Having never had a rack in pieces before I've got a couple of questions caused by peoples advice so far... I have a picture in my mind of how it should all work, I'm expecting to find a rack with a rod sticking out from each end of it.The free end of each rod is attached to the wheel, somewhere on the upright. Is there a difference between "tie" rods and "track" rods? I'm assuming that if they ARE different, one of them is the rod that goes to the wheel, the other must be somewhere under the gaiter. I've been thinking about Hoopy's description of rebuilding the rack, to try and understand how the rods fit onto the rack itself, and I've come to the conclusion it's just better to ask, or even better, does someone have a nice schematic diagram of how it all fits together? - I'm not holding out much hope, but it's always worth asking!! C Charlie'n'Kermit The plan is: the lakes this weekend, not the Kent Blat on Sunday morning! S5EVN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevefoster Posted May 1, 2003 Share Posted May 1, 2003 Better grease in it than dry wearing out metal / plastic. My racing pics, 7 DIY, race prep. Updated often here Photo's of the year here Hants (North) and Berkshire Area club site here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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