350i Inner steering rack Joint Part?
Discussion
I have a 1988 TVR 350i and in my last MOT I had an advisory for play in the offside steering rack inner joint. The steering rack is a Ford Granada/Cortina PAS one I believe. It is the one which has the breather pipe between the two bellows at either end as shown below. Does anyone know if these are adjustable or will it need replacing? also, will that standard Ford part fit? I am sure I read somewhere that TVR shortened them but I may be dreaming that!!
Right... I wrote a long reply to this then took another look at your illustration of the rack and decided it doesn't look like the CamGears (ex-Cortina V6) variant I have on the 390SE! Yours also appears to be LHD for some reason.
The most obvious difference is the saddle-type clamp around the rack tube; on the CamGears rack the mounting feet are cast as part of the housing at each end of the rack.
Anyway, what I did say was that on the CG rack the track rod is secured to the end of the rack proper by a large cup and a locknut. In the end of the rack is a spring-loaded plunger. The cup sets the amount of force compressing the ball-end of the track rod against the plunger and spring and the locknut is tightened. The cup and locknut are then secured by drilling the 'join-line' between them and hammering in a pin.
On my rack, those pins had been drilled out and the cups/nuts locked together by welding. On the basis that the service history I got with my car when it was only 13 years old has no mention of the rack being repaired/ reconditioned I've always assumed it meant the welding was performed after the rack was new but before it was fitted and an explanation for this could be that TVR had the Cortina's track rods replaced with those from a Granada which might have been longer as the bigger car had a wider track (the Tasmin also being, presumably, wider than a Cortina). That description also dates back to a pre-Pistonheads forum discussion around 1999/2000.
Although your drawing doesn't show the spring, plunger, cup or locknut it's a fair bet that the method of assembly is similar so you could undo (by whatever means) the cup, adjust the preload and resecure as appropriate.
Here's a scrawly fagCAD I did about 20 years ago showing the CG rack... not a great photo of it so cleaned it up a bit (in PaintShop Pro 9
):
...and the Haynes manual exploded diagram of it. Items 5, 11, 21-24 are the parts mentioned:
The most obvious difference is the saddle-type clamp around the rack tube; on the CamGears rack the mounting feet are cast as part of the housing at each end of the rack.
Anyway, what I did say was that on the CG rack the track rod is secured to the end of the rack proper by a large cup and a locknut. In the end of the rack is a spring-loaded plunger. The cup sets the amount of force compressing the ball-end of the track rod against the plunger and spring and the locknut is tightened. The cup and locknut are then secured by drilling the 'join-line' between them and hammering in a pin.
On my rack, those pins had been drilled out and the cups/nuts locked together by welding. On the basis that the service history I got with my car when it was only 13 years old has no mention of the rack being repaired/ reconditioned I've always assumed it meant the welding was performed after the rack was new but before it was fitted and an explanation for this could be that TVR had the Cortina's track rods replaced with those from a Granada which might have been longer as the bigger car had a wider track (the Tasmin also being, presumably, wider than a Cortina). That description also dates back to a pre-Pistonheads forum discussion around 1999/2000.
Although your drawing doesn't show the spring, plunger, cup or locknut it's a fair bet that the method of assembly is similar so you could undo (by whatever means) the cup, adjust the preload and resecure as appropriate.
Here's a scrawly fagCAD I did about 20 years ago showing the CG rack... not a great photo of it so cleaned it up a bit (in PaintShop Pro 9
):...and the Haynes manual exploded diagram of it. Items 5, 11, 21-24 are the parts mentioned:
Edited by Wedg1e on Sunday 1st November 00:24
I too have an 88 350i and had to replace the rack about 16 years ago. Mine was exactly the same as your images with the saddle clamp at one end, holes in the casting the drivers end. I was lucky and found a company on ebay who had 3 refurbished ones they were selling in Noth London so I went over and chose the best of the three. They were advertised as Cortina Mk 4 / 5 and were exactly the same as mine so I bought one and it fitted with no fettling required.
I had tried fixing the old one and know WEDG1E is exactly right when it comes to the ball and cone fitting on the ends which were not welded on either of mine. I guess these could be adjusted but mine had wear on the rack itself so it could be this the MOT man is feeling. I scrapped my old one as it was knackered.
I had tried fixing the old one and know WEDG1E is exactly right when it comes to the ball and cone fitting on the ends which were not welded on either of mine. I guess these could be adjusted but mine had wear on the rack itself so it could be this the MOT man is feeling. I scrapped my old one as it was knackered.
Thanks for your answers. Last night I disconnected both track rod ends ansd gave the tie rod/inner ball joint a good push and pull. I cannot detect any play in either, even with my finger actually across the ball. So I am not sure exactly what the MOT tester is referring to? Nothing seems to have any play at all so I am leaving it all alone!!
Hmm, the usual test 'when I were a lad' was that if the trackrod was disconnected from the track rod end and placed level with the rack, it should stay put.
If it drooped it was slack (and needed adjusting!).
It could be play in the rack support bushes the MOT man's feeling (part 16 on the CG rack above but I bet others work the same way).
My Connect has had play in the inboard joints as advisory for the last 4 years but I can't feel any, although the track rods don't stay up as described. To simplify things (or maybe not) the inner balljoint is a sealed unit on the track rod and the whole thing unscrews from the rack end, so you can't really get it wrong.
If it drooped it was slack (and needed adjusting!).
It could be play in the rack support bushes the MOT man's feeling (part 16 on the CG rack above but I bet others work the same way).
My Connect has had play in the inboard joints as advisory for the last 4 years but I can't feel any, although the track rods don't stay up as described. To simplify things (or maybe not) the inner balljoint is a sealed unit on the track rod and the whole thing unscrews from the rack end, so you can't really get it wrong.
Edited by Wedg1e on Wednesday 4th November 17:37
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