worn rubber!

[strongy]

Just cleaning my car up today and I have noticed that one of the steering rack rubber gaiter-thingies has a small tear in it. Are these difficult to replace and can anyone advise me on the best procedure and also what lubricant to put in?

 

Also what is the best polish to use on the exhaust and the rear sill protectors?

 

Cheers Strongy

 

 

[scooby dooby doo]

couple of quid for a pair from Caterham.

To replace:

loosen the lock nut against the track rod end

Pop the taper (ball joint spliter - this may damage the gaitor - redline sell them for about 20p each and they are dead easy to replace - just pack with grease when reassembling)

Take careful not of exactly where the rod end is (put a bit of tape round the thread to mark it)

unscrew the track rod end

pull off the old gaitor - its should be greasy in there but not huge amounts)

slide on the new one (the left and right are different)

Rubber lube will help get the gaitors on/off - Halfords sell it in a yellow/red can.

put the trackrod end back on up to the bit of tape

redo the taper (you'll need to press down to get the taper to bite)

do up the lock nut tight against the track rod end.

 

 

 

HOOPY 500 kg R706KGU

[SLR No.77]

Hoopy, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it possible to actually unscrew the track-rod from the track rod end, leaving the track rod end ball joint assembled - in the same manner that you adjust the tracking, just keep going?

The tape is still needed to identify where to return to, but seems pointless doing unnecessary work. If it aint broke don't fix it!!!!

BTW a quick fix if you don't have time to do a proper job yet is to use a bicycle puncture repair kit. This used to be fine for the MOT but I think they may have tightened up in recent years.

 

Stu.

[strongy]

Thanks for the advice, it sounds quite complicated for a novice, but i'm a fast learner. Is there a decent manual or book that would cover stuff like this?

 

Cheers strongy

 

 

[scooby dooby doo]

Stu - thats what I said/meant didn't I 🤔

 

 

ah! do you mean unscrew it so you get more and more toe out until eventually it screws so far it comes off 🤔 I think its probably easier to pop the taper if you have a decent bal joint spliter.

 

OTOH - if you don't have a spliter then its a LOT easier to do it your way 😬

 

 

 

Strongy - its not complicated as such - but there are quite a few steps. Since the rack is custom made for caterham there won't be a book with exactly the correct instructions in. Although many cars will be similar. That's not really anything you can really mess up in terms of breaking or damaging things - just make sure the lock nut and nut under the taper are done very tight using a spanner*. if you get the rod end a thread or so out it won't cause a problem, you'll just get *slightly* sharper/less sharp turn in from the front of the car when driving (which you might like to play with anyway).

Just one step at a time and if you get stuck there are loads of us here on blatchat to help

 

 

* the spanner length will mean you get the right sort of torque, ie don't use a socket set with a very long arm on it. I believe Mr Royce (of Rolls-Royce fame) actually designed spanner so that the length of handle meant the average man got the right torque for the size of nut

 

HOOPY 500 kg R706KGU

[ChrisC]

Has anyone removed the steering rack arms before?

 

Mine are looking a little sad, when compared to the recently fitted wide track suspension arms, so they need powder coating.

 

 

Edited by - ChrisC on 29 Nov 2002 11:11:44

[scooby dooby doo]

steering arms out is more awkward.

 

you really need to take the rack out to do that which means partially removing the rad and removing both trackrod ends so you can slide it out.

 

then you need to slide off the gaitors as above.

 

then drill out the retaining pin on each track rod end. undo the lock nut and unscrew the cup/ball socket thingy that holds the track rod arm.

 

the powder coating shouldn't go on the ball end of the arm - I guess you'd have to polish it off...

 

Then to reassemble you need two pins, drill a new hole through the locknut and cup, put a new pin in, peen it mightily and reassemble the rest as the reverse of dissassembly....

 

HOOPY 500 kg R706KGU

[ChrisC]

Can you buy a Long arm kit to replace the short arms and extensions fitted to my car, for the wide track suspension? I know you can buy the wide track rack. If you can buy a kit any idear of cost?

 

Chris...

H15 SVN - Get It!

 

Edited by - ChrisC on 29 Nov 2002 12:30:21

[scooby dooby doo]

You'd have to ask titan (who make the racks) direct. Caterham only sell whole racks.

 

HOOPY 500 kg R706KGU

[Jonathan Kay]

Quoting sforshaw: 

... isn't it possible to actually unscrew the track-rod from the track rod end, leaving the track rod end ball joint assembled - in the same manner that you adjust the tracking, just keep going?

Just done this job for the first time. Excellent tip.

 

Thanks

 

Jonathan

[WobblyWeb]

Caterham do this kit:

 

wide track tie rod kit

 

When I went wide-track ('95 dedion) the wide-track tie rod extensions gave extremely excessive toe-out when fitted. Caterham recommended cutting down the rack's tie rods to suit. I had to cut about 20mm of thread off each tie rod to achieve in-service tracking adjustment at the extension-to-tie rod junction! When you work out what you have to cut off the tie rod, and what you gain once extensions are fitted, then look at the short amount of thread the extensions put into the tie rod ends (about 11mm from memory), I could have just wound-out the tie rods from the ends without cutting them and without fitting extensions and still achieved +11mm overlap! As standard I had about +30mm of thread into the tie rod end.

 

Something to check if you are converting a pre-96.5 dedion to wide-track before getting out the hack saw. Apparently later racks had shorter standard tie rods necessitating extensions.

 

Contemplating the above kit one day as it's irritating to think I could have avoided the extensions (which are quite heavy)!

 

ww

 

I

 

Edited by - WobblyWeb on 1 Sep 2013 17:07:43