steering rack

[JOHN LEARMONTH]

hi my car has become almost undrivable, the steering rack has been going since i put it back on the road earlier this year
and now it wanders all over the place and is getting dangerous
the insurance was due at the end of last month and as i was going away i decided not to renew it and the mot is due in the middle of this month
so it wont go through the mot without a new rack
i was wondering if anybody has fitted one and how difficult a job it is ?
if its very difficult and expensive i am considering mothballing the car until next spring

thanks John

[shenderson]

Are you sure it's the rack and not other, cheaper components such as track rod ends, inner ball joints or intermediate shaft?

Steve H

[SKOOBY6]

Im going to be fitting a new rack to Skooby this weekend hopefully it's going to resolve the really sloppy steering she started suffering from before i took her off the road.

I'll let you know how it goes.  

[DJT]

John,
It is not too difficult. Just a bit fiddly. Be careful with connecting the hydraulic pipes. Get the threads crossed and you will never get it tight. Also getting the column intermediate joint back on can be fun. Obviously, you will need to get the tracking set up again afterwards. Bleeding the system is easy. Just fill the reservoir, start the engine and turn the wheel from lock to lock a few times and it will self bleed.
It is perfectly feasible (and a lot cheaper) to rebuild the rack yourself as long as you take it carefully and keep things scrupulously clean. Did mine a few years ago. There is good info on the triumphstag.net website.
Dave

[JOHN LEARMONTH]

Thanks for the replies
as i am sure you guessed the car was taken off the road and is now on a sorn
which will give me plenty of time over the coming months to investigate further
i had the track rod ends ect replaced when i had the front springs rebuilt earlier in the year
so i am resonably confident that there is nothing wrong there
skooby how did you get on with doing yours ?

John