Steering rack refurb

[Matt450]

As further part of the 'refresh', there is play in the steering rack which probably means a refurb and new track rod ends. Any idea what cost I should be looking at on an early 1990 450SE.

Cheers,

Matt

[Number 7]

Not sure about cost, but this guy seems to get positive feedback from TVR owners:
http://www.steering-racks.co.uk/
Track rod ends should be pretty cheap - cant remember the last time I bought them, but would be surprised if they were more than £20 or so for a pair. I think the rack knuckles are much more difficult. Is the steering UJ ok, as they can get shot eventually by all the road muck that gets thrown up in the wheel arch.

[mrzigazaga]

Hi mate..Where is the play?..As said it could be somewhere else..There are 3 things as regards to the column to go wrong..

1. A bulkhead steering bush.
2. A top steering UJ.
3. A lower steering UJ.
Then there are the upper and lower ball joints...Track rod ends..ARB bushes..Drop-links/Bushes..Then theres the suspension and wheel bearings..

If the steering wheel moves up and down then thats likely to be a bulkhead bush..Steering wheel in and out or a little what feels like a slip on full lock could be the column UJ's or the rack..Up and down movement of the wheels..Could be ball joints..Bushes or wheel bearing..

If your rack does need refurbing then you could try these people..

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&...
They are in your neck of the woods and it shouldn't cost more than £200-250 inc Vat..Anymore and they are taking the biscuit...Ziga

Edited by mrzigazaga on Friday 10th October 18:49

[Wedg1e]

Usually, as long as a PAS rack has no steering fluid in its bellows and isn't leaking from the pinion shaft seal, that's about as good as it gets.

[B@man]

Kiley Clinton

"Supra-TVR" type racks are 295+ VAT and carriage. They did min earlier this year and found the alloy housing scrap and the valve body cracked so swapped the guts into a SD1 iron housing for the same price, not cheap but they did keep in touch every step of the way especially when things went a bit pear shaped.

Ford based Racks are lot cheaper, when I asked why I was told simply "The TVR ones are crap..."

[Matt450]

Thanks guys. Handy to know there's a place in Plymouth. As I'm doing a lot of this:

"Then there are the upper and lower ball joints...Track rod ends..ARB bushes..Drop-links/Bushes..Then there's the suspension and wheel bearings..."

I'm going to wait to see how it feels when this has all been done.

Cheers,

Matt